The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how and why educators who conducted an action research project to satisfy the completion requirements of an online early childhood education graduate program continue to use action research to inform practice and create social change in educational settings. The theoretical framework incorporated systems theory and living educational theory. Systems theory provided a means to create knowledge across the dissertation elements and reinforced the use of a constant comparative data analyses approach, while the living educational theory established how to understand the lived experiences of the participants with an emphasis on maintaining participant voices. The dissertation focused on the lived experiences of three participants using an action research methodology that incorporated the constructs of phenomenology and multiple case study approaches. Data collection occurred across a twelve-week period and included the collection of action research exit projects completed in an online early childhood education graduate program, one in-depth open-ended interview, and the participant selection of one action research project completed post program graduation within an early childhood education setting. A constant comparative cross-case analysis approach derived from the work of Fereday and Muir-Cochrane (2006), Saldana (2013), Stake (2006), and Yin (2012) was utilized as a six-step data analysis process. The six-step process allowed the findings to be woven together to identify inductive themes representing individual participant voices and deductively to cluster the themes within categories for the data to be examined across all three case studies. Using Saldana's (2013) second cycle approach, the four action research phases for early childhood education (ECE) described by MacNaughton and Hughes (2008), as well as the five findings of research conducted on the prior ECE graduate program action research projects described by Barbosa, Blanchard, and Kaye (2014) were important in generating the deductive categories for the dissertation. Four significant findings were revealed related to the importance of using the action research phases, confirming the continued presence of the five findings evident in current uses of action research, the importance of the core principles of reflection and intentionality, and the incorporation of action research into teacher preparation programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]