Extra attention to improve work
Right to equality
Experience freedom with justice: read beyond my guide to get other perspectives.
A form of self-reflective practice.
Systematic investigation into your own behaviour.
Does not begin with a fixed hypothesis (!) check what type of methodology that is.
Identifying a problematic issue, imagining a solution, trying it out, evaluating it, and changing practice based on evaluation. Basic problem solving process, but turn it into ARP you need to rationalise why the work is needed (including data – with evidence).
We already have a lot of professional knowledge, and we know how to uncover new knowledge, this just provides the scaffolding to do so.
Aiming to influence your colleagues for the better.
You must evaluate your situation – are you really improving the situation? Need to consider a suitable metric for measuring this.
ARP is a means of celebrating our development.
- We review current practice
- Identify an aspect we want to investigate
- Imagine a way forward
- Try it out
- Take stock of what happened
- Modify what we are doing
- Monitor
- Review and evaluate modified actions
- And repeat
Practice is non-linear, people are unpredictable.
Action research can help us make sense of our lives, arguably we can look beyond the surface structure of method.
There are no overarching rules of values for us to abide by – that can make things more challenging.
Not unusual for value systems to be in conflict (that’s a perfect connection to me!). ARP is driven by values.
The action plan that is most popular is Jack Whiteheads: ask critical questions about your own practice and find out answers for yourself. Only you can say what is right for you and your situation, the process of using questions is as useful as finding answers.
Jumping off prompts:
What issue am I interested in research?
Why do I want to research this issue?
What kind of evidence can I gather to show why I am interested in this issue?
What can I do? What will I do?
What kind of evidence can I gather to show that I am having an influence.
How can I explain that influence?
How can I ensure that any judgements I might make are reasonably fair and accurate?
How will I change my practice in the light of my evaluation?
Must provide evidence that you have improved practice if you claim that.
Identifying the conditions that cause the issue and then examine how you can change the conditions. Be practical and ask if I can actually do something about the situation. If it is outside of your scope, be realistic and leave it. So, aim to address one small aspect of your work.
Formulate the question as ‘How do I’:
- I am asking a real question about something that is important to me, and I am hoping to find ways of engaging with it;
- I am a real person;
- I am trying to improve something; this might be my own understanding, or it might be an aspect of the social situation I am in (remember: improvement does not mean perfection. Any improvement is still improvement, no matter how small).
‘We are not aiming for end products’: it is unlikely that we will ever get to a situation where our work and situations are entirely congruent with our lives. But we are not aiming for ‘end products’; we are aiming to find right ways of living.’ LOVE THIS.
Aim to gather as much data as you feel are right – people often gather too much to begin with.
Important to consider a ‘validation group’ – invite to look at your work from time to time, to offer feedback. This is drawn from your professional circle, and are 4-10 people. Scrutinise your data and listen to your progress reports. They can offer critical feedback.
How do you explain your educative influence – how can you show that your influence was as you wished it to be. You need to know how they perceive their relationship with you. Remember you are not trying to show cause and effect, but it should be changes took place as you changed your practice, particularly in myself, and my relationships evolved.
‘The word ‘prove’ does not exist in ARP, but you can provide reasonable evidence […] you need other people to critically validate your claim.’
Perhaps in addressing one issue, you will uncover a new issue. There is no end – it resists closure. Each ending is a new beginning. You are thinking and searching all the time, you are never complacent.
Criteria are set in the values that inform practice. Make your criteria clear so that you are able to demonstrate that your research is evidence-based. For example:
- Do you show that you are trying to live in terms of what you believe in?
- Do you show that you can hold yourself accountable for your claims to knowledge?
- Do you show how you have changed your own thinking and practice, and how this has possibly influences others educationally.
Learning is a lifelong process which is as natural as breathing.
Check your perceptions against others perceptions of you – it is a negotiation. Therefore it moves from i-enquiry to we-enquiry.
Case study as a research method:
- Need to demonstrate how we are practicing what we preach.
ENDED NOTES ON ‘WHOLE ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT’: