Is Quasi-Scientific Research Beneficial?

Piggybacking on our last post on the Science behind Action Research, there are situations where Action Research is better suited.  Grant and Wall (2008) suggest that there are 5 of this situations:
(a) strengthening causal inference when random assignment and controlled manipulation are not possible or ethical;
(b) building better theories of time and temporal progression;
(c) minimizing ethical dilemmas of harm, inequity, paternalism, and deception;
(d) facilitating collaboration with practitioners; and
(e) using context to explain conflicting findings.