Theoretical analysis of “time” in action research

Abstract

This paper examined “time” in action research from a theoretical perspective. Two crucial elements of time were distinguished: “objective time,” which provides an external framework for human actions, and “subjective time,” which arises from the human experience of perceiving the passage of time. Examples of subjective time include the feeling that “more than ten minutes are left before the exam is over” or “more than three years has passed since the catastrophic disaster occurred.” Subjective time always generates two mutually counter-directed temporal modes: “completeness” or “post-festum,” and “uncertainty” or “ante-festum.” Together they form a paradoxical dynamism. The two-dimensional “instrumental” time sphere, comprising both subjective and objective time, forms another paradoxical dynamism with a totally different aspect of time, namely, the “consummatory” aspect. For an action researcher, there is particular significance in properly understanding these two time-related dynamisms and actively using them, with constant self-awareness of one’s own passive involvement in the dynamisms.