Systemic Action Learning and Action Research: A Fidelity Analysis of Protocol Delivery

Abstract

This paper presents Systemic Action Learning and Action Research (SALAR) as a twelve-item sequenced, transferable protocol for ecosystem-level participatory inquiry, and reports its first external application at a clean energy co-design event at an Africa Centre of Excellence at a public university of technology in West Africa. The event convened 230 stakeholders across eight roundtables. The paper introduces implementation fidelity analysis as a standard reporting obligation for participatory methodology, applying a four-component fidelity framework to identify six protocol departures — in instrument versioning, registration pipelines, data capture capacity, session sequencing, roundtable instrumentation, and governance — and the precondition each departure reveals. The central finding is structural: data yield was determined by research apparatus, not participant willingness. The analysis generates five specific protocol revisions, including a mandatory governance pre-agreement for hosted delivery and an explicit data capture capacity requirement. The contribution is methodological: a deployable protocol with an fidelity account provides research teams with both a roadmap and a credible constraint inventory.