Action research is an inquiry into a problem done by the people who work everyday with this problem.  It is not research done by an outside firm, or some outside group with no background knowledge on education.  This elimanates the unrealistic ideas and solutions that outside groups or parties might come up with.  Action research is led by a campus principal, this campus principal knows what issues they are having and knows specifically what the problems are.  This allows the proincipal to focus directly on issues that ocur on campus.  Also it allows the principal to have control over what is being researched, and also allows them to see first hand what options are available to the campus.  This does not put the power in the hands of some specialist that does not know the school, or the educational profession.  I would use action research as a major tool to help diagnos problems on my campus, and also place the responsibility on me, as to whether or not I come up with a solution to the schools problems.  This places more responsibility on the campus principal to know what the problems on campus are, and consequently, how are they going to be fixed.  This takes away any excuse a principal could have, cant blame it on outside firm, or the people in central office.  This allows a campus principal to take ownership of their campus.  The campus principal should know what issues their school is having, this allows them to focus on their schools problems, nothing else.