Peter Reason

A Participatory Inquiry Paradigm

This article starts with a critique of Guba and Lincolns outline of competing paradigms for research, in particular arguing that the constructivist position fails to account for experiential knowing. The arguments for a participatory worldview are articulated based on a subjective-objective ontology; an extended epistemology of experiential, presentational, propositional, and practical ways of knowing; a methodology based on cooperative relations between coresearchers; and an axiology that affirms the primary value of practical knowing in the service of human flourishing.

Choice and Quality in Action Research Practice

This article explores the nature of quality in action research practice. The origins and purposes of action research and its relation to social science methodology are reviewed. Action research is described in terms of four characteristic dimensions—worthwhile practical purposes, democracy and participation, many ways of knowing, and emergent developmental form—that present a broad range of criteria beyond those of the empirical research paradigm against which quality research might be judged. Recent debates concerning validity and quality in qualitative research are explored. It is argued that action research is characteristically full of choices, and the argument is made that quality in inquiry comes from awareness of and transparency about the choices available at each stage of the inquiry.

Integrating Action and Reflection Through Co-operative Inquiry

Co-operative inquiry is a radically participative form of inquiry in which all those involved are both co-researchers and co-subjects. The methodology of co-operative inquiry is set out in a ‘Layperson’s Guide’ which might be used to introduce the method to a new group. This is followed by a reflection on the learning process of an inquiry group, particularly the process of research cycling, the importance of the peer group, and the paradoxical self-reflexive quality of attention. Finally, co-operative inquiry is compared with other action approaches.

Action Research: An Opportunity for Revitalizing Research Purpose and Practices

In this overview the authors describe the underlying principles of action research as: (1) grounded in lived experience, (2) developed in partnership, (3) addressing significant problems, (4) working with, rather than simply studying, people, (5) developing new ways of seeing/theorizing the world, and (6) leaving infrastructure in its wake. We refer to the role of social workers as frontline implementers of important social policies and suggest how action research can be used to both implement and also influence the creation of such policies. We offer examples of action research efforts that can be applied to the social workers practice-scholarship repertoire.

Initiating action research Challenges and paradoxes of opening communicative space

The success or failure of an action research venture often depends on what happens at the beginning of the inquiry process: in the way access is established, and on how participants and co-researchers are engaged early on. ‘Opening communicative space’ is important because, however we base our theory and practice of action research, the first steps are fateful. We draw on Habermas’s theorizing of the boundary-crises between system and lifeworld to explore the theory behind the idea of communicative space. We attempt to bring these abstract concepts to life, and to illustrate key aspects of action research practice through a review of some of the key challenges, opportunities, and paradoxes which emerge in the early stages of action research projects. Drawing on the literature and on exemplars, we show how the process of opening communicative space can be mapped onto a theory of group development that suggests a progression through phases of inclusion, control, and intimacy. Furthermore, we review an example of third-person action research to illustrate some of the issues raised by the need for both external and internal validation. We conclude that the practices of opening communicative space are necessarily paradoxical, and put forward a list of paradoxes with which facilitators and initiators of action research may need to engage in the start-up phases of their work.

Political, epistemological, ecological and spiritual dimensions of participation

After briefly introducing the paradigm of experiential, participative action research, four dimensions of participation – the political, epistemological, ecological and spiritual – are explored. The political dimension concerns peoples’ right to have a say in decisions which affect them, and is linked with participatory economics and the development of learning communities; the epistemological dimension concerns that nature of human knowing in a subjective-objective world; the ecological dimension counters the threats to the natural ecology which result from the positivist mindset; and the spiritual dimension suggests that one of the primary purposes of human inquiry is to heal the splits which characterise modern Western consciousness.

Pragmatist philosophy and action research: readings and conversation with Richard Rorty

Richard Rortys distinct brand of positivism is explored in relation to action research. Rortys opposition toward the dualisms which haunt western philosophy is briefly described, his nonfoundationalist, anti-metaphysical pragmatics and his views on the contingency of the language that we use outlined. Since we can neither appeal to universal reason nor to an external reality as foundations for our claims, argument must move through a process of redescription. It is argued that just as Rorty is redescribing philosophy, so action researchers are redescribing inquiry. Rortys ideas are compared with five basic characteristics of action research: practical knowing, democracy and participation; ways of knowing; human and ecological flourishing; and emergent form. Finally, Rortys notion of the ironist is compared with the action researchers as reflective practitioner. The stimulating quality of Rortys thought suggests that action researchers must find new language to describe their work, rather than be caught in the old academic metaphors of research.

REFLECTIONS ON SACRED EXPERIENCE AND SACRED SCIENCE

This article argues that a secular science is inadequate for our times and points to the pressing need to resacralize our experience of ourselves and our world. It suggests that a sacred human inquiry based on love, beauty, wisdom, and engagement is one of the highest virtues and possibilities of human consciousness.

Quality in research as “taking an attitude of inquiry”

Purpose – The paper aims to offer the notion of “taking an attitude of inquiry” as a quality process in research, enabling researchers to be aware of and articulate the complex processes of interpretation, reflection and action they engage in. The purpose is to consider this as a quality process that complements more procedural approaches.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on 25 years experience in an action research community – in which the authors have developed theory and practice in the company of colleagues – to articulate and illustrate what “taking an attitude of inquiry” can mean. The paper seeks to make quality practices thus developed available to a wider community of researchers.Findings – Two schema with illustrations are offered. Qualities that enable taking an attitude of inquiry are suggested: curiosity, willingness to articulate and explore purposes, humility, participation and radical empiricism. Disciplines of inquiring practice are identified as: paying attention to framing and its p...

Co-operative inquiry as a discipline of professional practice

The article puts forward the thesis that the purpose of inquiry is human flourishing, and that this purpose is best met if inquiry is experiential, participatory and action-oriented. A participatory worldview is articulated to support this argument, which is illustrated by a thought experiment suggesting a participatory approach to epilepsy.