This text has as its theme the research in education, seen as work and place that can be defined by those involved in the investigative process. The objective of the approach is to promote a reflection on the meanings and methods of action research, also understood as social research and qualitative research. It was followed the methodology of the bibliographic research, with a descriptive approach, which was developed from the dialogue with the, theoretical contributions on the relationship of research in education, qualitative research as soft research, such as action research, action in cycle, which suggests interminality, systematization guided by indications that permeate the participant, the place where he is and refer to the understanding that the task of research presupposes constant reelaborations. The results suggest the understanding of the process of action research as work, in which there is a need for the researcher – along the way – to observe the “winds” that guide him to searches, allowing himself the uncertainty to then redefine directions in a collaborative way with the other, recognizing that estrangement is effective and that familiarity can place the researcher before blind spots, which can compromise both the relationship with the other and make it difficult to find the answer(s) to the problem investigated. To illustrate this aesthetic and sensitive process, care is taken in the forms of data collection, with emphasis on the narrative interview and observations, on the looks that can be made with the other - teachers, students and members of the folkloric associations of the Border Duel, a cultural event in the city of Guajará-Mirim, state of Rondônia, in which the Bois Flor do Campo and Malhadinho are the main characters. It is concluded that action research requires the researcher to articulate between him and his others, in the investigative steps of the spaces and places of collective, local and regional memory, which bring representations of knowledge, celebrations and forms of expression in the various domains of social practice that, definitively, will give emphasis (the tone) to what is meant by social research.