Research partnerships: collaborative action research in nursing

This methodological paper discusses and critiques the 'insider' and 'outsider' models of action research described in the nursing literature. It highlights tensions and problems with these models and demonstrates how the models developed by the authors--the 'double-act' and 'collaborative group' partnerships--overcome these difficulties. The success of this approach suggests that such partnerships of nurse practitioners and a researcher should be considered when practitioners want to introduce innovation and facilitate change in practice and generate and test theory which is relevant to practice. The paper is presented in the form of a commentary, interspersed with reflective conversations in which the authors illustrate and reflect upon their attempts to make the methodology described a reality.