Varieties of Action Research Practice
Wed 17th to Sat 20th September 2008
Hawkwood College, Stroud, UK
A collaboration between
Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice
School of Management
University of Bath
Research Center for Leadership in Action
Wagner School of Public Service
New York University
Download a booking form 
or pdf version 
Emerging Approaches Workshops and Reading Lists
Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice (CARPP) and Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) are delighted to offer this conference as a joint venture and as one fruit of our developing association over the past years. The conference both continues a tradition, being the twelfth in the series inaugurated by Judi Marshall and Peter Reason in 1986; and at the same time is a new venture as we bring our different approaches and disciplines into a new collaboration.
Our interest and concern is with approaches to inquiry which integrate action and reflection, so that the knowledge gained in the inquiry is directly relevant to the issues being studied; and in which there is increased collaboration between all those involved in the inquiry project. In practical terms this means developing forms of inquiry that are relevant to social change practice; in academic terms it means exploring approaches to inquiry that go beyond the positivist and objectivist scientific paradigm, which, while challenged, continues to hold much power in academia and in popular images of research. On the one hand CARPP has championed the development of action research in a variety of forms, on the other, RCLA has pioneered an integration of participative inquiry with more traditional forms of qualitative research. Both Centres see the process of inquiry as broad ranging, diverse and evolving, essentially a creative process of engagement with others, with ideas and with practice.
At this 2008 conference we will seek to explore some of the varieties of qualitative and action research approaches which both Centres have been drawing on. We wish to offer participants an opportunity to deepen their understanding and skills in these specific methodologies, and explore the particular challenges that these varieties of action research practice pose, while at the same time locating them within a broader context of action and participative research.
The methodologies the two Centres have been most engaged with include
- Co-operative inquiry: Both centres have drawn extensively on co-operative inquiry in our work over the past years. In particular we wish to explore questions of practice—the establishment of a co-operative group, the nature of facilitation, the cycles of inquiry, the process of sense making and reporting; the developmental potential of the Co-operative inquiry and the place of inquiry groups within wider systems change;
- Narrative inquiry is both an inquiry method in its own right and has a place at many points of other inquiry methods. We can also see that narrative is a medium of expression, a way of knowing, and a way of touching deeper meaning through metaphor as participants tell stories of their experiences. Narratives are created as part of the reflection and sense making process. The outcome of inquiry can take the form of stories aimed at changing the conversation, but also the process of narrative itself can surface and share knowledge that catalyzes change in organizations and communities;
- Learning History: closely linked to narrative inquiry is the learning history method which CARPP has been increasingly drawing on as part of our inquiry into the adoption of low carbon technologies.
Engagement with these methods has raised the following themes, among others, in our work
- The links between action research and qualitative inquiry: Embracing participation in research projects opens up and enriches the research in many ways; it also generates tensions and challenges beyond those of a traditional qualitative research path; this marriage is not straightforward. RCLA in particular has been exploring the tradeoffs of combining these approaches;
- Inquiry as educational practice: Both Centres see action research as part of their educational practice, RCLA in their work in developing leadership capacities, CARPP particularly in the MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice
- The ‘appreciative’ dimension of inquiry: how can we integrate the lessons of Appreciate Inquiry in our work? what does it mean to take an appreciative stance within the approaches we use?
- Arts based approaches to knowing: Action research theorists often stress our need to recognise that we know the world in many ways beyond the intellectual. How we understand, receive and respond to ourselves, our contexts and others comes from tacit and explicit knowing in our bodies, our hearts, our senses and our hands, as well as from the ideas, assumptions and theories that live in our heads. What might be the possible landscape of a holistic action research which more fully realises different ways of knowing, especially the presentational knowing of the “arts”?
- Living Life as inquiry. The practices of ‘first-person’ inquiry that bring inquiry into more and more dimensions of our living is fundamental to all forms of action research practice
Conference Design
Our aim in this conference will be to build a community of inquiry where we can explore together how to create living inquiry from these, and other, influences and practices. We will as usual emphasize conversation and experimentation rather than presentation and listening. The Conference will be designed around three learning forms:
- World Café. Plenary sessions of the conference will draw on the World Café process to create a network of conversations where everyone has the opportunity both to contribute in a small group and link the small group conversations with the whole community. Through such a growing network of conversations everyone can contribute to the creative ideas which emerge.
- Participative workshops. Members of CARPP and RCLA will lead parallel streams of workshops where experience and ideas drawn from the themes listed above will be presented and explored. These workshops will take diverse forms, some will be presentations and discussion, others more experiential.
- Open Space. Many people will be familiar with Open Space conferencing technology which is designed to provide maximum opportunities for participants to create and learn from their own agenda. By combining Open Space with World Café we hope to provide forums for diverse discussions and for integrating the themes that arise.
- Court Jesters and Clowning. We are also seeking to invite two or more ‘court jesters’ who will draw on improvisation to mirror back our process as we work together in a means of deepening our reflection.
Conference Faculty
Conference Faculty will include Professor Sonia Ospina, Faculty Director of RCLA and Professor Peter Reason, Director of CARPP, and leading researchers from both Centres: Amparo Hofmann-Pinilla, Bethany Godsoe, Jennifer Dodge, Waad El Hadidy from RCLA; Chris Seeley, Gill Coleman, Sue Porter; Tim Malnick, Geoff Mead from CARPP
The Conference will be small - around 50 people altogether. We expect to be over-subscribed, and so suggest you reserve a place as soon as possible.
Venue
Hawkwood is a conference centre set in beautiful grounds near Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It offers a comfortable, informal environment with a range of pleasant meeting rooms. Sleeping accommodation will be in single and twin-bedded rooms with separate shared bathrooms (i.e. not en suite). There are limited numbers of single-bedded rooms. These will be allocated to those who request them on a first come first served basis; an extra charge will be made. There will also be a small number of non-residential places.
Stroud has a railway station, connecting through Swindon to London and through Gloucester or Cheltenham to Birmingham. It is close to Junction 13 on the M5 and 20 miles (travelling through Tetbury) from Junction 17 on the M4.
Conference Fees
Single Room: £630
Shared Room: £575
Non-Residential: £500
BOOKING INFORMATION
Programme Details
Registration will be between 12.00pm and 1.00pm on Wednesday 17th September 2008. A light lunch will be available from 1.00pm and the first conference session will begin at 2.00pm. There will be working sessions most evenings. The conference will end after lunch on Saturday 20th September.
People who wish to stay over on Saturday evening can be accommodated at Hawkwood if there are sufficient numbers, at a rate of £33.48 for bed and breakfast or £42.88 for dinner, bed and breakfast(single room, including VAT) and £22.91 bed and breakfast and £32.90 for dinner, bed and breakfast in a shared room. (again, subject to sufficient numbers requiring a meal). Alternatively, bed and breakfast accommodation can be recommended locally.
Conference Fees
The Conference fee includes accommodation and meals from lunch on Wednesday to lunch on Saturday inclusive.
The non-residential rate excludes accommodation and breakfasts. Only a limited number of non-residential places will be available.
Please note: that most of the accommodation will be in SHARED rooms. If you would NOT be comfortable sharing a room, you may prefer to have a non-residential place and book bed and breakfast accommodation nearby.
Closing Date
Since we expect this Conference to be oversubscribed, please apply early.
The closing date for bookings is Friday 11th July 2008 with a cancellation fee of £100 for cancellations received after that date.
All registration fees to be received by Monday 18th August 2008 to secure your place, these will be non-refundable after that date.
For future conferences, details will be placed on the CARPP web site and forwarded to people on our conference email list. We will no longer be sending information by post. If you wish to receive details of future conferences for the CARPP community please send your email address to kat21@management.bath.ac.uk
To book a place, please complete the booking form or pdf version and return it to:
Kate Tate
School of Management
University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY
Or fax to: 01225 386473
Phone number for enquiries:01225 383175
or e-mail: kat21@management.bath.ac.uk
Emerging Approaches Workshops and Reading Lists
| Workshops: | |
| Workshop 1 Cooperative Inquiry as a Research and Leadership Development Tool - (11kb)The Tapestry of Leadership: Lessons from Six Cooperative-Inquiry Groups of Social Justice Leaders - Reading list The Layperson's Guide to Cooperative Inquiry Cooperative Inquiry for Learning and Connectedness - Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: Helping Others Become More Strategic, Conceptual, and Creative: A Cooperative Inquiry - A Dance That Creates Equals: Unpacking Leadership Development - |
Bethany Godsoe, Amparo Hofmann, Geoff Mead, Diana Castro, Cidra Sebastien |
| Workshop 2 Wild Margins playing at work and life Course Outline - The Fool and the Great Turning - |
Chris Seeley |
| Workshop 3 Living Life as Inquiry |
Judi Marshall and Waad El-Hadidy |
| 3a Workshop 3 Outline - (11kb) |
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| 3b Self Reflective Inquiry Practices, Handbook of Action Research, Judi Marshall - (43kb) |
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| 3c Living Life as Inquiry, Judi Marshall - (51kb) |
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| 3d When first-person inquiry is not enough, European-American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness - (100kb) |
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| Workshop 4 Combining Qualitative and Action Research |
Sonia Ospina, Jennifer Dodge, Peter Reason |
| 4a Workshop 4 Outline - (10kb) |
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| 4b Taking the Action Turn: Lessons from Bringing Participation to Qualitative Research, Sonia Ospina, Jennifer Dodge, Erica Gabrielle, Foldy and Amparo Hofmann-Pinilla - (237kb) |
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| 4c Choice and Quality in Action Research Practice, Peter Reason - (101kb) |
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| Workshop 5 Voyages of Discovery |
Geoff Mead, David Adams, Amparo Hofmann |
| 5a Workshop 5 Outline - (11kb) |
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| 5b Meanings, moments and movements: storytelling and constellations - (93kb) |
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| Workshop 6 Learning History |
Margaret Gearty, Sue Porter, Jennifer Dodge, Gill Coleman and Michelle Williams |
| 6a Workshop Outline - (23kb) |
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| 6b Articles about Learning History as developed at MIT A readable Harvard Business Review article from 1997 (Kleiner and Roth 1997) Kleiner, A. and G. Roth (1997). "How to Make Experience Your Company's Best Teacher." Harvard Business Review 75(5): 172-177. - (2.5MB) |
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| 6c One of the many academic papers from which this is derived (Roth and Kleiner 1998) Roth, G. and A. Kleiner (1998). "Developing Organizational Memory Through Learning Histories." Organizational Dynamics 27(2): 43-60. - (1.3MB) |
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| 6d A recent article looking at Learning History as an emerging genre (Amidon 2007) Amidon, S. (2007). "The Learning History: An Investigation into an Emerging Genre." Reflections: The SoL Journal 8(3): 31-40. - (130kb) |
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| 6e A recent article describing the development of a story-based approach to Learning History to enable innovation for sustainability in Local Authorities (Gearty 2008) Gearty, M. (2008). "Achieving Carbon Reduction: Learning from Stories of Vision, Chance and Determination." The Journal of Corporate Citizenship Summer(30): 81-94. - (530kb) |
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| 6f Short working paper on Learning History exploring its characteristics and its potential use on a forthcoming CARPP project (Appetite for Life) - (32kb) |
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| 6g Short working paper on Learning History exploring its characteristics and its potential use on a forthcoming CARPP project (Appetite for Life) - (162kb) |
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| 6h ‘Histories for the future here’: A complementary approach that uses Histories to inform actions in the future. - (145kb) |
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| Weblinks: | |
| Margaret’s Learning History website Learning History work on innovative approaches to carbon reduction More stories from the Lowcarbonworks project Gill’s work in Sri Lanka: A zero carbon factory Michelle’s work with a food manufacturer in the UK Where there's muck there's energy Margaret’s work with Local Authorities Blog your place in history |
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| Further Reading: | |
| A description of Hilary Bradbury’s work using Learning History at the Natural Step Bradbury, H. (2001). Learning with the Natural Step: Action Research to Promote Conversations for Sustainable Development. Handbook of Action Research. P. Reason and H. Bradbury. London, Sage Publications. |
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| Rupesh Shah’s PhD describing the use of Learning History with Shell and a partner NGO Living Earth Shah, R. (2001). Relational Praxis in Transition Towards Sustainability: Business-NGO Collaboration and Participatory Action Research. School of Management. Bath, University of Bath. PhD |
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| A more recent article in the Handbook of Action Research that is part retrospective, part descriptive of Learning History as an action research approach Roth, G. and H. Bradbury (2008). Learning History: An Action Research Practice in Support of Actionable Learning. Handbook of Action Research. P. Reason and H. Bradbury. London, Sage. |
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| On narrative analysis for the researchers likely to be handling stories. Helpfully addressing the reflexivity aspects Catherine Kohler Riessman (2008). Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Sage Publications |
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