IDEA NETWORKING:

CONSTRUCTING A PRAGMATIC CONCEPTUAL FRAME

FOR ACTION RESEARCH INTERVENTIONS

Najmeh Hassanli and Mike Metcalfe

University of South Australia

Adelaide

Australia

mike.metcalfe@unisa.edu.au

1

IDEA NETWORKING:

CONSTRUCTING A PRAGMATIC CONCEPTUAL FRAME

FOR ACTION RESEARCH INTERVENTIONS

ABSTRACT

Action research interventions require use of some form of conceptual

frame to guide and evaluate the intervention. Pragmatism offers an

explanation of ideas that enables this conceptual frame to be

constructed inductively from diverse participants’ ideas. They define

ideas as experienced patterns of activity. The purpose of this paper is

to explain why and how this pragmatic explanation of ideas can be

used to induce an action research conceptual frame. As a

demonstration, the paper inducts (emerges) a conceptual frame using

idea networking for service providers in an emerging cultural

accommodation industry. Fifty hours of interviews and site visits

provided 117 individual idea statements which were networked. The

conceptual frame that emerged had five elements: sufficient-

legitimation, selected-market, inclusive-boomi, appropriately-financial,

and collaboratively-empowered. This provides a coordinated, multi-

part, way of evaluating any possible future changes.

2

Keywords: Intervention, Conceptual frame(work), Ideas, Pragmatism,

Accommodations Industry

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Action research interventions need a conceptual framework to organize and

evaluate the impact of any intervention (Baskerville and Wood-Harper1998; Midgley

2003; Midgely 2006; Houston 2008; Ison 2010). This frame can be induced from the

participants rather than imposed by the researcher. When conducting action

research, the initial problem definition interviews result in numerous diverse

statements from participants. These express their ideas for how the future

might be. Networking these ideas has been suggested as a means of

consolidating these statements into an induced or participatory conceptual

frame (Alexander 1968; Metcalfe 2007). Idea networking is an auditable

qualitative method for abstracting from participants ideas to something that

can structure action research. However, this fairly new method needs more

explanation of its underlying philosophy of ideas, and more examples of its

application. The purpose of this paper is to explain how and why networking

ideas might be used to induce or emerge an action research conceptual

frame.

There are two main theories or philosophies about ideas. The dominant

Western philosophy of ideas comes from idealism. Plato talks of ideal forms,

3

where everything we see is a poor example of some ideal form, as in the

ideal form of a dog, a woman or a lake. Hume (1748/1999), in more modern

times extends this to ideas. The idea of a lake is the mental image of an ideal

lake. This philosophy of ideas as ideals makes it hard to think about how to

collate peoples’ concerns into conceptual ideas of how to act in the future

(Rorty 1982). There is an alternative philosophy of ideas which is attributed

to neo-pragmatism but which draws heavily on continental philosophy (Rorty,

1982). It does not use the notion of ideal forms. Rather ideas are patterns

recognized from numerous past experiences, mainly from social interactions,

that can be named and provide a means of reflecting on the world. Further

explanation of this is provided below. However, it was not obvious how this

pragmatic explanation of ideas could be used to consolidate the overlapping

and contradictory concerns of groups of people trying to improve the world.

Researchers have used cluster analysis, causal mapping, content analysis

and Axelrod’s decision mapping (1976) to demonstrate that groups have and

need conceptual ideas to direct and coordinate their actions. However many

of these methods are either too time consuming to use with large numbers of

dispersed participants or else they fail to provide practical and actionable

insight (Huff & Jenkins, 2002; Walsh, 2011). Moreover, some have failed to

give much consideration of the philosophy underlying why and how the

conceptual ideas (concepts) are conceived. Some have also failed to align

their assumed philosophy with the research methods used and the purpose

4

of the resultant conceptual ideas (Walsh, 1995). This paper will explore

Alexander’s (1964) suggestion that ideas can be networked. Modern

networking software makes this feasible and their clustering algorithm does

seem to offer a means of consolidating providers’ concerns into manageable

clusters from which patterns can be abstracted. This networking method is

also in need of further explanation, but it does offer a philosophically

grounded means of abstracting the patterns that are conceptual ideas

explained in pragmatism.

The following section will first elaborate on the philosophy of ideas, then the

pragmatic approach be further explained. This explains why ideas might be

usefully networked (Alexander 1964). Next, how idea networking was used

to emerge a conceptual frame for some boomi accommodation research, is

explained. It emerged a five element conceptual frame for how the

accommodations industry might think about its future. The resultant

conceptual frame demonstrates how and why sense can be made from the

pragmatic philosophy of ideas.

DEFINING IDEAS

The term idea, rather than thought, suggests innovation, insight, agreement,

usefulness, and being sparkling or imaginative (Weick, 2006). For those who

believe in rational process, sparkling ideas need to be able to be created

5

from an organised and repeatable process. There has been a tendency in the

past to suggest that creative acts are not able to be produced through

explicit organization. Rather, ideas were portrayed as being the outcome of a

mystical gift, only available to a few clever individuals (Bailin, 2003). The

exact mental processes of the intuitive leap that often precedes an idea are

beyond our present cognitive or neuro-scientific understanding. However,

organizing a rational process for structuring useful, creative, collaborative

ideas seems to be a required and necessary step in creative community

problem-solving.

In everyday language, some ideas are very large and significant while others

are useful but every day. Some do not require much of an intuitive leap but

have a significant impact on whole societies – others are imaginative and

impractical. They can make us gasp or laugh, suggesting some significant

cognitive shifting. If they are new, then, new to whom? Some ideas spawn

others, alter mind-sets and are the key to social and economic innovation. If

anything there are too many ideas.

Like any word with a significant history, the word idea has changed its

meaning and has a range of differing meanings depending on its use and

user (Peirce, 1878; Vandenbosch, Saatcioglu & Fay, 2006; Warfield & Perino,

1999; Watson, 2006). It is often caught up in issues of free will, reality and

whether or not we are born with conceptual ideas like individuality or survival

6

already implanted in our heads. The old philosophical debate over what are

ideas, a word that stems from the Greek “to see”, revolved around the issue

of mental images. An idea, according to David Hume (1748/1999), is

something you can imagine, recollect or recall in your mind’s eye. The idea of

a tree or lake can be formed as an image of a tree or lake in the mind. This

draws on the Platonic view mentioned earlier where this mental image is an

ideal form of a tree or lake of which real trees or lakes are imperfect

examples; ideas are ideals and actual examples are to be compared with

these ideals. The controversy over the definition of ideas in the past has been

whether you can conceive the idea of something you cannot imagine like “a

democracy”. You cannot bring up an image of a democracy in your head,

only examples.

The historic ideals definition of ideas also seems at odds with the modern or

innovation meaning of ideas (Anderson, 2003). Innovators’ ideas are typically

new designs of objects, systems or processes: “He had an idea about how to

redesign the light switch”. Here an idea is how the switch might be rather

than how ideally it is. There needs to be some connection between ideas and

future actions including what needs to be done. The pragmatic interpretation

of ideas as patterns requires these abstraction have some practical

consequence, they are useful. For example conceptual ideas relevant to

switches might include minimalism, micro touch, biometric sensors,

7

elegance, or control centre. Each of these suggests particular and differing

future actions. Pragmatic ideas suggest alternative future actions.

The Pragmatic Definition of Ideas As Actions

Pragmatism, at least the stream being referred to in this paper (James,

1911/1996, 1907/1910; Rescher, 2005; Rorty, 1982) is thought to be an

ethical epistemological basis for participatory action because it is pluralistic,

focused on actions, community based, concerned about consequences and

yet still scientific (Shields, 2005). Being pluralistic makes it relevant to policy

makers as idea managers, operating in a social world with powerful

stakeholders who need to be appeased.

Pragmatism seeks useful alternative actions as solutions to social problems,

to improve the world yet adopt the basic tenets of science. It wants

knowledge or ideas to be reasonable, rational and open to empirical study, in

the provision of explanations and justifications to a sceptical audience.

Knowing is an act of interpretation justified with evidence and reasoning

(Dewey, 1938; Metcalfe & Powell, 1995; Rorty, 1982). Experience and

experiment, as learning through social interaction, are given more emphasis

by pragmatism, than under positive science. People learn from experiences

by reflecting on the consequences of past actions. The absence of any use or

8

consequence from a knowledge claim or idea makes it useless. The term

‘useful’ is very pragmatic; knowledge needs to be useful, full of uses or at

least have some use. Knowledge needs to provide suggestions of what

actions to take in the future, how usefully to act to resolve a social concern.

Pragmatism provides an explanation of how we ‘sense-make’ (Weick, 1995)

events as they occur to us, how we think, as we move through the world. We

abstract and then use conceptual ideas or concepts to conceive or interpret

events as they occur to us. Put another way, conceptual ideas provide the

stance, perspective, a priori, or intent (Dennett, 1989; Toulmin, 1972) used to

make sense of or structure our concerns. This reflects Rittel and Webber’s 9b

characteristic of a wicked problem (1973); how the problem is conceived will

affect what is seen as a viable solution. These conceptual ideas are patterns

abstracted from our past experiences. They interpret and so provide what

seems to a reasonable response.

For example, if we are required to attend a meeting across town, the

conceptual idea or concept of punctuality suggests different arrangements

from the conceptual idea of energy conservation. Pragmatic conceptual ideas

or concepts are names for patterns of activity or language generals, not a

representation of something in an abstract mind. Punctuality is the name

given to the abstracted pattern of activities of arriving on time, being reliable

and perhaps being inflexible over timings. The conceptual ideas we are using

9

by default to think about a situation come to use from our past experiences

and may not be obvious to us without careful reflection on why certain

actions seem reasonable. Continuing the example, if we felt being late was

unacceptable and using large car acceptable, then the concept of punctuality

is being used over energy conservation. Pragmatists argue that clear thinking

requires us to make our conceptual ideas explicit. Applying explicit novel

conceptual ideas to think about a problem situation provides explicit creative

alternatives of how to react.

The pragmatist, William James (1890) argues that conceptual ideas need to

be created and justified by their uses, consequences or the activities they

suggest. He used the much debated example of the concept of God. One of

the uses, consequences or patterns of activities this concept suggests is the

alleviation of peoples’ concerns over dying. This makes the concept useful

because it suggests alternative ideas for how to act when facing a life-

threatening situation. James also refers to the uses, consequences or

patterns of activity lost by not having a concept. In the example of “freedom”

this includes increased appreciation of tyranny and the need for sensible

restraint of individuals. The concept of freedom is useful because it suggests

alternative ideas for how to act when facing difficult decisions. James also

explains that new concepts can be derived, implicitly or explicitly, from the

three pattern recognition steps of “compare”, “reflect”, and “abstract”. His

example is the formation of the concept of leaves. He suggests a process of

10

comparing a wide range of different foliage, reflecting on the leaves’

functional similarity, and abstracting the concept of a leaf as a generic term.

The concept of leaves names a pattern of photosynthesis activity undertaken

by plants.

Pragmatism therefore suggests that conceptual ideas come from recognizing

patterns which can then usefully inform future actions. For example,

regarding the boomi accommodation providers in this study, the idea to

develop a collective identity would be a conceptual idea. This might suggest

the action of joining into a professional network of similar businesses. Clearly,

there is some dependency between the conceptual idea and future actions.

Conceptual ideas seem to drive, make intentional, or rationalize possible

alternative actions. However, action, like experiences, may generate new

conceptual ideas. Continuing the example, it may have been the business owners’

experiences in having to deal with the challenges and problems of running the business alone

which generated the new conceptual idea that they form a collective identity.

Idea networking: Background

Recognizing patterns by James’ method of compare, reflect, abstract is easier said than done

especially when dealing with the many varied and conflicting concern of stakeholders.

Community meetings can be used to collect these concerns, but some form of auditable method is

11

needed to analyse them to find pattern is required. Pragmatism tells us the outcome needs to

be some language based, inductively formed, artefact that the participants

can use to structure their future thinking. Pragmatic philosophy provides an

explanation of why stakeholders’ apparently independent concerns should be

collected and somehow patterns be extracted into a conceptual frame. The

individual concerns represent specific examples from which conceptual frame

can be abstracted by pattern recognition. If Miller’s (1956) corrected magic

number is right then abstracting a five element conceptual frame will be

enough. A pragmatist, Alexander (1962) suggested networking as a means

of finding this handful of elements in a conceptual frame from stakeholders

statements.

Networking stakeholders’ idea statements enables them all to be displayed

relative to each other and a clustering algorithm assist in the process of

pattern recognition. The nodes of this network would be the idea statements

and the links represent which concerns are thought to be similar. Rather than

being prescriptive about how to produce and use this network, potential

users are encouraged to research how best to produce and use the basic

notion that participants’ statements be networked linked, paired. For more on

the mechanics of producing an idea network see Metcalfe (2007). These

statements can be collected at planning meetings using focus group,

consensus groups, at interviews or any other idea generation format.

12

Alexander (1964) sees the process of linking participants’ ideas as an

intuitive creative act best performed without formal explanation by those

experienced in the problem domain. However different epistemologies

suggest different ways this judgment is made. Interpretivists and

ethnographists, will want an experienced person to use their experience to

do this creatively and intuitively. Positivists will want impartial judges, and

communitarians will want the participants to do it in a consultative ethical

manner (Trochim, 1989). However done, a random numbered list of idea

statements is required to become the nodes of the network diagram. To

provide the links it is necessary to work down this list underlining keywords

and then deeming idea statements are similar linked, paired) if they have

similar keywords. By similar it is meant the keywords are synonyms, draw on

a similar root metaphors or there is similar intent (Alexander, 1964; Buckle,

2003; Morgan, 1986). However, because of how the resultant network

diagram appears, about 100 statements as nodes) each with between one

and five links has been found to produce a workable network (Metcalfe,

2007).

The numbered statements and their links can be drafted as a matrix. The

rows and columns are the numbers of the statements. In the body of the

matrix a link can be shown as a “1”. This matrix then provides input for

producing the network diagram using network analysis software, e.g.

UCINET6/NETMAP (Borgatti, Everett & Freeman, 2002) or NODEXL.

13

UCINET6/NETMAP is a popular and affordable software with spring embedded

algorithm which will cluster adjacently linked nodes. Discussion on the best

algorithm for clusters is also left for discussion elsewhere. The UCINET6

algorithm has the effect of making the nodes repel each other so

encouraging clusters to be more clearly seen. Typically, the clusters can be

quickly visually identified from the resultant network diagram although

sometimes this requires the use of density and path metric analysis.

METHOD DEMONSTRATION

The Iranian boomi tourist accommodation industry is a loose collection of

informal, locally owned, culturally authentic, accommodation homes for

tourists (Khoshesar, 2012). Boom being a Persian word for “area”, “region” and boomi is

anything of that area or region, native to that location e.g. boomi culture. The families

involved typically also act as tour guides around the local cultural points of

interest. The demand for boomi accommodation has been growing

significantly in recent years, from a very small base. The providers felt it was

time to consolidate themselves as a distinct industry and coordinate any

future plans for how the industry might develop. This would need to be done

in a participatory manner to be effective. Research was required to both

collect the providers’ ideas for the future and also to investigate how these

might be usefully consolidated into a conceptual frame. This conceptual

frame was needed to make sense of their emerging identity and thus

general guidance for how providers might act in the future without 14

diminishing healthy competition (Aas, Ladkin & Fletcher, 2005; Sautter &

Leisen, 1999; Vernon, Essex, Pindar & Curry, 2005).

That strategic groups use conceptual frames to interpret themselves is well

recognized (Kaplan, 2011; Tversky & Kahneman, 1981; Walsh, 1995). Religious and

political groups provide the obvious examples with their differing ideologies.

Conceiving of tourism as an idea exchange industry, cultural preservation or

as co-competition are other examples of conceptual frames that make sense

for a strategic group. But how these sorts of ‘conceptual frames’ can be

methodically complied for a specific problem, from the concerns of individual

stakeholders, is less clear (Huff & Jenkins, 2002; Kaplan, 2011; Walsh, 1995).

Our research investigated how to consolidate the future of the boomi tourist

accommodation providers in rural Iran1. These small businesses can have a

significant contribution to local economies (Lynch, 2005) are regarded as a

key economic development tool in rural regions and can act as a catalyst for

tourism development (Kastenholz & Sparrer, 2009; King & White, 2009).

Their role may be particularly significant in developing countries such as Iran.

One of the key long-term tourism objectives in Iran’s National Tourism

Development and Management Master Plan is the creation of employment

and generation of new income opportunities, particularly in rural areas, with

1 This case study has been published in more detail elsewhere and is include here only to illustrate how a conceptual frame was emerged.

15

a focus on small scale businesses such as guesthouses and home stay

facilities (National Project Office, 2002).

Despite the long history of these accommodation types in many countries

(Moscardo, 2009) and the long history of hospitality in ancient Iran where

caravanserais were used as hostels for tourists (O'Gorman, 2007), the use of

home for the purpose of generating income through accommodation letting

(Lynch, McIntosh & Tucker, 2009) is very new and recent in this country and

goes back to nearly two decades ago. Within the last few years, a network of

boomi accommodation providers has been formed which links those who

have incorporated elements of their local culture in hosting tourists. This

includes the use of boomi architecture, authentic boomi cuisine, boomi music

and handicrafts. These operators live close to nature in villages and country-

side and away from the common bureaucracy and administrative structure of

the country, restoring and preserving the values related to cultural heritage,

handicrafts and tourism (Khoshesar, 2012).

Those involved in this largely informal industry were interviewed in their

native language to ask what problems the industry faced. The data collection

period coincided with the network’s second annual meeting which allowed

access to rich data through the Iranian co-author’s attendance at the two-day

meeting and also helped in building trust with the participants who were to

be interviewed. Interviews lasted on average two to two and half hours with

16

the longest going over three hours. Following each interview, the co-author

recorded details of the setting and her observation of the interview including

how welcoming the hosts were, their relationship and interaction with their

guests, etc. This helped in establishing a context for interpreting and making

sense of the interviews at the analysis stage. In addition, to check the

consistency of the information gained, often observation notes and interview

transcripts were compared. According to Patton (2002) this period of

reflection and elaboration is critical and neglecting it would be to undermine

the rigor of qualitative inquiry.

To gain further insight into government policies and strategies in dealing with

this tourism sector, the researcher also conducted several interviews with the

relevant employees of the national Cultural Heritage, Hospitality and Tourism

Organization CHHTO. These interviews mostly yielded responses that

portrayed lack of recognition of this emerging sector by the government

which led to its lack of support for the businesses.

The Iranian co-author then transcribed and translated fifty hours of interview

and the minutes form the network’s annual meeting into English. Using an

ethnographic epistemology, she used her experience to identify 117

significant statement sentences from the translations. These were numbered

and then analysed by first drafting a table or matrix of statements deemed

similar linked. This involved some interpretation and judgment from knowing

17

the language and being involved in the interviews. An automatic analysis of

the statements would have missed synonyms, pronouns and metaphors plus

would not have easily allowed statements to be linked for differing or

contextual reasons.

For example, statement 25 was linked to statements 31 and 88 because all

three referred to the lack of financial support from government officials and

also “gradual development” as a specific feature of these businesses.

(25) “To reduce the costs, I did most of the things myself…

Whenever I had a bulk of money from the guests who stayed, I’d

spend it on the house…Every time a group of guests left, I used

the money earned to purchase new facilities needed. Having

access to big loans would make things easier but there is no

need for a loan to be able to do this job...”.

(31) “...Getting some financial help would have helped me

achieve my goals quicker but working slowly and persistently is

also possible. You can spend little by little instead of having to

pay the instalments of a loan. Even when you’re offered a loan,

the amount you spend time, energy, money) outweighs the

benefits gained”.

18

(88) “Government supports exist if someone goes after them.

But they do make troubles and difficulty even if they help…

Gradually whatever I earned out of the guests, I spent on the

house. I haven’t asked for a loan but I know if I do I will have to

go to a lot of trouble. The conditions are so hard that it would not

be convenient to get a loan”.

RESULTS OR OUTCOME

The network analysis software UCINET6/NETMAP was then used to produce a

network map from the statement table or matrix which is shown in Figure 1.

The nodes represent the numbered statements and the links represent

similar statements.

19

FIGURE 1.

Boomi Tourist Accommodations Idea Network

Using close visual inspection, the 3D rotation option and/or the Girvan

Newman subgroup identification analysis available within the UCINET6, five

clusters of nodes were identified from the network diagram. These are

highlighted by the use of separation lines and different node shapes in Figure

1. Separating out too few clusters limits the opportunity for creativity and too

many becomes hard to remember. Miller’s magic number 1956) suggests

around five to seven clusters be identified. The clusters give pattern to the

117 statements, where each cluster represents a grouping of like statements.

20

The statements within each cluster were then examined for internal patterns

and what they had in common. From James (1911/1996), a process for giving

recognition to any pattern found within each cluster is to name them, to

represent the cluster as an element in the final conceptual frame. To do this,

the Iranian researcher first listed all the statements within one cluster in a

table and then carefully reflected upon them to determine a conceptual idea

that encompassed the list. Identifying a representative concept for each

cluster is an important interpretative creative act, one that is informed by the

statements within each cluster and by the whole research context. Therefore,

the names selected should be justifiable to the accommodation providers. If

time and access opportunities had permitted, then it would have been

preferable for the participants to have named the clusters.

As an example, looking at the “square” shaped nodes in the left hand cluster

of Figure 1, this was made up of statements like:

(70) “Some guests come here to see “Farzin” [me] and I think

this is putting too much emphasis on individuals... [it] should

become more social and move away from individualism. Maybe

some sort of educational/training program could be implemented

among locals so they’d know how to communicate with tourists

and offer them services”.

21

(12) “Whether we participates the locals or not, depends on

our personality and attitude and our techniques of managing the

accommodation unit. I cannot see it happening any other way.

The characteristics and attitude of the locals is also important in

the decision to participate them or not... At the end, a balance

should be maintained between our want, economic security of

our business, and the locals’ satisfaction”.

(74) “Trying to get familiar with our region’s local culture and

also creating jobs for the people stated as our core values would

make the experience for the guests more authentic”.

Reflecting on these and the other statements in this cluster, the researcher

started to think about the role and support of these businesses for the local

community. The cluster also included statements which implied less

emphasis on the host being the main attraction “host-oriented”) towards

more emphasis on the overall boomi experience for the guests. This

suggested for the accommodations to be sustainable, the operators needed

to use locals more in offering services to guests. So Cluster 3 was named:

Inclusive boomi experience. This concept seems to give pattern to the

statements. The same sort of synthetic thinking was used in identifying the

conceptual idea encompassing the remaining clusters.

22

These were named:

Cluster 1 Sufficient legitimation: a balance needs to be

maintained between interaction of operators and government

bureaucracy.

Cluster 2 Selected market: consciously selecting those

tourists/guests who cause less harm and damage to these

operators and to the local community.

Cluster 3 Inclusive boomi experience: needing to involve locals

in offering primarily a home-oriented cultural experience.

Cluster 4 Appropriately financially structured: looking to sources

of funding which will not distract from the intent of the industry.

Cluster 5 Collaboratively empowered: developing a collective

decision-making identity for the boomi accommodation network

which empowers its members.

Discussion On Conceptual Frame

Idea networking has emerged a five element conceptual frame from a

diverse community. The frame generated provides structure for the

research and for the providers; how they might organize the future of

the boomi accommodations business. Put another way, the five

element conceptual frame makes sense of the diverse list of unrelated

idea collected from the interviews. It can be used to allocate

23

resources, to draft plans and as a system of criteria for evaluating

future decisions. As a Strategic Statement of Intent (Hamel & Prahalad,

2005) the conceptual frame acts as high level objectives, or priorities

that they intend to develop by seeking sufficient legitimisation, a

selected market, offer an inclusive boomi experience, be appropriately

financially structured and seek collaborative empowerment.

The conceptual frame can also be used creativity by calling for suggested

actions that will fulfil two or more of the concepts. For example, some

operators suggested applying for permits from the government. Doing this

can be evaluated against the concepts of legitimisation, and collaborative

empowerment. Having a permit system would help these businesses to be

formally and legally recognized and thus minimize unwanted pressures from

formal and informal organizations. However, to avoid too much interference

from the government, they need to seek an optimum level of legitimisation.

Their collaboration encourages them to have an active role in determining

the required standards and principals for a permit. Also these discussions

could include how best to use relevant regulations and legislations related to

their businesses through some form of lobbying.

Clusters 2 and 3 can be used to evaluate the operators’ suggestions that

they should be attracting more professional tourists considerate of the local

people’s culture and beliefs that tend to cause less tension. However, some

means of increasing awareness among non-professional groups by educating 24

and informing them of the relevant issues could offer alternative

opportunities. The education and training programs for locals who in turn

might educate tourists could itself offer supply chain employment

opportunities and result in an even more authentic and genuine culture

appreciation experience. However, a balance would need to be maintained as

too much reliance on the local services, rather than interaction with a

personable host may reduce the “sense of home” for guests, one of the

distinguishing features of boomi accommodations.

The boomi accommodations collaboration has empowered operators and led

to numerous benefits. They now see that this has placed new obligations on

them about how to collectively develop their industry. Concepts 4 and 5

enable evaluation of the suggestions that this might include collectively

developing some form of financial or market cooperative. Cooperatives are

something the national government is trying to encourage as part of its

economic development program for all industries. Forming a boomi

accommodation cooperative may obligate the government to provide the

accommodation operators with financial support/incentives such as low

interest loans and tax exemptions.

Reflecting more generally, the conceptual frame just inducted from the concerns of those

involved provides a means of coordinating or making sense of possible future actions. As action

researchers have long highlighted, before changes can be made there needs to agreement on how

the problem is to be conceived (interpreted, perceived) (Baskerville & Wood-Harper,1996;

25

Checkland, 2000; Huzzard, Ahlberg & Ekman 2010; Coghlan, 2011; Kajamaa 2012;

Mackenzie, Tan, Hoverman & Baldwin 2012). For example, are their problems to be seen to be

about efficiency, innovation, caring, or so on? Choosing this frame is not easy and yet is crucial

to how the situation is interpreted. Idea networking provides this frame from the concerns of all

those involved, it is participatory not from the literature or from an elite few. Checkland, (2000)

in his soft systems thinking, has long highlighted the need for a frame but does not elaborate

about how this might be induced from the situation itself. Midgely (2006) talks of observation

itself being a form of intervention. However, even observation needs to first make explicit what

frame is to be used to ‘see’ the situation (Rittel and Webber 1972). Otherwise a default frame will

be used which later may not provide the sort of solution being sought from those involved. Not

making the frame explicit might also concern some that the frame has been imposed. Working

on the pragmatic assumption that those who do the work understand more than those to only

theorise, the use of all participants to form the frame is anyway likely to lead to something more

insightful. The frame produced from idea networking is a system for thinking that comprising

five elements (Checkland 2000). This allows for dialectic, which holds the opportunity for

creative thinking provided the combination of concepts is well managed. The suggested method

for inducing this frame is well grounded in pragmatic (James 1907) philosophy. This does not see

ideas as ideals but rather as experienced patterns of activity. This makes the frame much more

suited to action research including as an aid to thinking of possible future actions by the

participants.

CONCLUSION

26

We have argued that the pragmatic theory of ideas provides a basis for

inducing or emerging a conceptual frame in action research from the ideas of

a diverse group of participants. In the example used this was the providers in

the emergent Iranian boomi tourist accommodations industry. Their ideas

were consolidated into a five element conceptual frame for how the industry

might be researched. The five elements or concepts were identifiable from

the clusters generated by networking of the ideas. The abstracted conceptual

frame provides something of an inverted root cause analysis and the

evaluation criteria for the action research. Individual events can be discussed

in reference to one or more of the concepts in the frame. The conceptual

frame provides criteria for evaluating individual actions. For example, the

providers’ suggestion to form a cooperative can now be evaluated and

modified using the collective conception of wanting an organisational

structure that empowers other through collaboration. Also industry norms

and processes could be developed to more directly improve the conceptual

idea of being collaboratively empowered regardless of the cooperative idea.

As a conceptual frame, that organised the ideas collected from those

operating in the boomi accommodation providers industry, it has some

legitimation to claim it represents the research strategy.

Much of the literature in ideas management, including innovation

management assumes the idealism theory of ideas. This includes the

assumption that ideas mysteriously come from gurus (Keupp, Palmié &

27

Gassmann, 2011). However, alternative theories of innovation include the

wisdom of crowds (Surowiecki, 2005), the need for more democracy in the

collection of ideas (von Hipple, 1988), and bottom up idea creation in

workplace routines (Martin, Metcalfe and Harris, 2009). These alternative

theories use a more collective and action based understanding of ideas.

Moreover the extensive literature on innovation (Tropman, 1998) tends to

assume good ideas are precious, hard to find things. However, pragmatism

assumes that there is a problem of an excess of ideas, the problem is rather

how to collate them in a collaborative yet useful manner. The use of

networking was suggested as an alternative to the automated text string

matching of content analysis, cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling

software. All require the social construct of naming, drawing on interpretation

and context to name collated ideas. Networking uses the clustering and

visualization functionality of network analysis and mapping. It explicitly does

not, like cognitive maps, concept maps, frames and mental models, even hint

that its visualizations represent knowledge structures in the mind of

stakeholders (Dreyfus, 2007a; 2007b). Rather, what is being produced is a

shared, linguistic mobile (Latour, 1986) for abducting a conceptual frame

from the clusters as patterns of participants’ individual ideas. It is easier for

participants to express their individual ideas rather than be asked to

articulate a coherent strategy for the future.

28

Based on Alexander’s (1964) Synthesis of form, idea networking is attractive

as a conceptual frame construction method because it displays these

participants’ ideas as a network akin to social network analysis where the

ideas are nodes and the links represent similar or overlapping ideas.

Visualizing the conceptual frame using a network map provides a

classification system that visualizes the number, density and relative position

of each concept in the frame. The overall shape of the network demonstrates

the interrelatedness of the five concepts. It also provides a dynamic, three-

dimensional classification scheme which does not prejudge the names of the

classes, the number of them, or their relative positions, allowing statements

to be a member of any number of concepts. This provides a very egalitarian,

visual, conceptual frame development system, the output of which can be

used to structure decision trees, provide variables in causal models, as

events in Boolean analysis or as the starting point for cognitive mapping

(Huff & Jenkins, 2002).

The use of pragmatic theory to think about ideas in terms of patterns

overcame the assumptions of idealism. Pragmatism fits the role of organising

well in a changing, globalised, pluralistic world. It provides a linguistic, social

interaction, action based, problem solving interpretation of how we think.

Ideas are not objects with attributes to be discovered. Rather they are names

for patterns that inform actions, names that can be part of a collective. Some

of which will be more generic than others, the consequences of enacting

them greater.

29

Future research may look more closely at how the idea statements are linked

(paired), the clustering algorithm and how the resulting clusters are named,

including by whom. However, the pragmatic ideas philosophy used here

would appear to have potential for other action researchers to develop useful

justifiable conceptual frames from participants diverse ideas; ideas that

articulate what the research problem is and how any research might be

structured to design an improved future.

REFERENCES

Aas. C., Ladkin, A., & Fletcher, J. (2005). Stakeholder collaboration and

heritage management. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(1), 28-48.

Ackoff, R. L., Magidson, J., & Addison, H. J. (2006). Idealized design.

Indianapolis: Wharton Business School Press.

Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the synthesis of form. Boston: Harvard

University Press.

Anderson, C. (2003). Finding ideas. Harvard Business Review, 81(11), 18–19.

Axelrod, R. (1976). The structure of decisions. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

30

Bailin, S. (2003). Is argument for conservatives? Or where do sparkling new

ideas come from? Informal Logic, 23, 3–17.

Baskerville, R., & Wood-Harper, A. T. (1998). Diversity in Information Systems Action

Research Methods. European Journal of Information Systems, 7, 90-107.

Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M., & Freeman, L. C. (2002). Ucinet for Windows:

Software for social network analysis. Harvard: MA Analytic Technologies.

Buckle, P. (2003). Uncovering system teleology: A case for reading

unconscious patterns of purposive intent in organizations. Systems Research

and Behavioral Science, 20, 435–443.

Burt, R. S. (2004). Structural holes and good ideas. American Journal of

Sociology, 110(2), 349-399.

Checkland, P. (2000). Soft Systems Methodology: A Thirty Year Retrospective. Systems

Research and Behavioural Science, 17(1), S11-S58.

Coghlan, D. (2011). Action Research: Exploring Perspectives on a Philosophy of Practical

Knowing. The Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 53-87.

Dennett, D. C. (1989). The intentional stance. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Dewey, J. (1910). How we think. New York: Dover.

Dewey, J. (1938). Logic: The theory of inquiry. New York: Holt Rinehart and

Winston.

Dhanaraj, C. & Parkhe, A. (2006). Orchestrating innovation networks.

Academy of Management Review, 31, 659–669.

Dreyfus, H. (2007a). The return of the myth of the mental. Inquiry, 50, 352–

365.

31

Dreyfus, H. (2007b). Why Heideggerian AI failed and how fixing it would

require making it more Heideggerian. Philosophical Psychology, 20, 247–268.

Hamel, G. & Prahalad, C. K. (2005). Strategic intent. Harvard Business

Review, 83(7–8), 148–161.

Hendrix, R. & Brazell, R. (1995). The idea economy. New York: Publisher

Distributing Co.

Houston, D. (2008). Systemic Intervention in a University Department: Reflections on Arrested

Action Research. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 21(2), 133-152.

Huff, A. S. & Jenkins, M. (2002). Mapping Strategic Knowledge. London: Sage.

Hume, D. (1748/1999). An enquiry concerning human understanding. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Huzzard, T., Ahlberg, B. M., & Ekman, M. (2010). Constructing interorganizational

collaboration: The action researcher as boundary subject. Action Research, 8(3), 293-314.

Ison, R. (2010). Systemic Intervention Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World

Springer London.

James, W. (1890). Principles of psychology Vol.1. New York: Henry Holt.

James, W. (1907/1910). Pragmatism. Cleveland: World Publishing Meridian.

James, W. (1911/1996). Some problems of philosophy. Lincoln: University of

Nebraska Press.

Kajamaa, A. (2012). Enriching action research with the narrative approach and activity theory:

analyzing the consequences of an intervention in a public sector hospital in Finland. Educational

Action Research, 20(1), 75-93.

Kaplan, S. (2011). Cognition and Strategy. Journal of Management Studies, 48(3), 665-695.

32

Kastenholz, E. & Sparrer, M. (2009). Rural dimensions of the commercial

home. In P. Lynch, A. McIntosh & H. Tucker Eds.), Commercial Homes In

Tourism: An International Perspective, 138-149. Oxon: Routledge.

Keupp, M. M., Palmié, M., & Gassmann, O. (2011). The Strategic Management

of Innovation: A systematic review and paths for future research.

International Journal of Management Reviews, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-

2370.2011.00321.x

Khoshesar (2012). About Khoshesar. Retrieved January 2013, from

http://khoshesar.com/index.php/1388-12-13-07-20-06.html .

King, B. & White, L. (2009). The diversification of the commercial home. In P.

Lynch, A. McIntosh & H. Tucker Eds.), Commercial Homes In Tourism: An

International Perspective. 179-193. Oxon: Routledge.

Latour, B. (1986). Visualization and cognition. Knowledge and Society, 6, 1–

40.

Lynch, P. (2005). The commercial home enterprise and host: A United

Kingdom perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 24(4),

533-553.

Lynch, P., McIntosh, A., & Tucker, H. (2009). Introduction. In P. Lynch, A.

McIntosh & H. Tucker Eds.), Commercial Homes In Tourism: An International

Perspective , 1-22. Oxon: Routledge.

Mackenzie, J., Tan, P.-L., Hoverman, S., & Baldwin, C. (2012). The value and limitations of

Participatory Action Research methodology. Journal of Hydrology, 474(0), 11-21.

33

Martin, C., Metcalfe, M., & Harris, H. (2009). Developing an implementation

capacity: Justifications from prior research. Journal of the Operational

Research Society, 60, 859- 868.

Metcalfe, M. & Powell, P. (1995). Information: A perceiver-concerns

perspective. European Journal of Information Systems, 4, 121–129.

Metcalfe, M. (2007). Conceptualizing problems using idea networks. Systemic

Practice and Action Research, 20, 141–150

Midgley, G. (2003). Science as Systemic Intervention. Systemic Practice and Action Research,

16(2), 77-97.

Midgley, G. (2003). Science as Systemic Intervention. Systemic Practice and Action Research,

16(2), 77-97.

Midgley, G. (2006). Systemic Intervention for Public Health. American Journal of Public Health,

96(3), 466-472.

Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some

limits on our capacity for processing information. The Psychological Review,

63, 81–97.

Morgan, G. (1986). Images of organization. Beverley Hills: Sage Publications.

Moscardo, G. (2009). Bed and breakfast, homestay and farm stay

accommodation. In P. Lynch, A. McIntosh & H. Tucker (Eds.), Commercial

Homes In Tourism: An International Perspective pp. 25-37. Oxon: Routledge.

National Project Office. (2002) . Iran Tourism Development and Management

Master Plan.

34

O'Gorman, K. D. (2007). Iranian hospitality: A hidden treasure. Hospitality

Review, 9(1), 31- 36.

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. California:

Sage.

Peirce, C. S. (1878). How to make our ideas clear. Popular Science Monthly,

12, 286–302.

Rescher, N. (1977). Dialectics: A controversy-oriented approach to the theory

of knowledge. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Rescher, N. (2005). Pragmatism at the crossroads. Transactions of the

Charles S. Pierce Society, XLI(2), 355-365.

Rittel, H. W. J. & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of

planning. Policy Sciences, 4, 155–169.

Rorty, R. (1982). The consequences of pragmatism. Minnesota: University of

Minnesota Press.

Sautter, E. T. & Leisen, B. (1999). Managing stakeholders: A tourism planning

model. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(2), 312-328.

Shields, P. (2005). Classical pragmatism does not need an upgrade.

Administration & Society, 37, 504–518.

Surowiecki, J. (2005). The Wisdom of Crowds. New York: Anchor.

Toulmin, S. (1972). Human understanding: The collective use and evolution

of concepts. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

35

Trochim, W. M. K. (1989). Introduction to concept mapping for planning and

evaluation. Evaluation and Program Planning, 12, 1–16.

Tropman, J. E. (1998). The Management of Ideas in the Creating Organization.

Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Tversky, A. & Kahneman. D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice,

Science, 211(4481), 453 - 458.

Vandenbosch, B., Saatcioglu, A. & Fay, S. (2006). Ideas management: A

systems view. Journal of Management Studies, 43, 259–288.

Vernon, J., Essex, S., Pinder, D., & Curry, K. (2005). Collaborative

Policymaking: Local sustainable projects. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(2),

325-345.

von Hipple, E. (1988). The Sources of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Walsh, J. P. (1995). Managerial and Organizational Cognition: Notes for a Trip Down Memory

Lane. Organization Science, 6(3), 280-321.

Warfield, J. N. & Perino Jr., G. H. (1999). The Problematique: Evolution of an

idea. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 16, 221–226.

Watson, P. (2006). Ideas: A history of thought and invention. New York:

Harper Perennial.

Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. New York: Sage

Publications.

36

Weick, K. E. (2006). The role of imagination in the organizing of knowledge.

European Journal of Information Systems, 15, 446–452.

37