Neither the scientific nor the humanistic research paradigm is completely appropriate for the education field. Human service situations yield research results that are tentative descriptions or generalizations due to continuous change. An action research paradigm should reflect the ongoing need of the subjects to act without waiting for research results. Action research has the following characteristics which make it suited for the nature and requirements of the human services professions: (1) ongoing tentativeness; (2) recursions, or infinite revisions; (3) empirical evidence and intersubjectivity; (4) connotative definitions; and (5) collegial sharing. Appropriate fields for action research include macroeconomics, diffusion research, and clinical medicine. In all three fields, there are areas where certainty dissipates, or where the human element intrudes. To relegate education research to the hazy realm of "art" denies the possibility of alternate methods of inquiry, such as action research. (FG)