PRACTITIONER

INQUIRY
Ann Lee
Qualitative Methods
University of the Incarnate Word
November 17, 2015

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

Ah-Ha connections to this methodology:

Leverage
Collaboration (Teamwork)

Problem solving

Overview
Definitions and clarifications
Historical evolution
Figuring out How
Application & Review

DEFINITIONS &
CLARIFICATIONS

Definition
Practitioner Research
Research concerned with issues and problems that arise in professional
practice. It is conducted by practitioners and aims to bring about
change, or influence policy in the practice arena. Practitioner research
provides a framework for formulating practice knowledge and allows such
knowledge to be disseminated to other professionals.
Through practitioner research, practitioners become researchers into
their own practice and engage in a continuing process of professional
development.
Gillman & Swain, 2006

Purpose

For a practitioner, doing research alongside practice develops

knowledge for practice and can assist with one or more of the
following:

Solving a specific problem, such as how to reduce crime on a particular

housing estate.
Contributing to the learning of a discipline such as education or social
work.
Influencing government policy, e.g. welfare or health policy.
It is also held to improve the quality of the practitioner-researcher's
practice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practitioner_research

Practitioner Inquiry - AKA

Action inquiry

Participatory research

Action research

Curriculum Inquiry

Collaborative action research

Practitioner research

Emancipatory action research

Teacher research

Narrative inquiry

Teacher action research

HISTORICAL
EVOLUTION

History The Progressive Era

Francis Wayland
Parker

Political, educational and social reforms

Corruption in politics
Expansion of high schools
Enacted child labor laws
Four constitutional amendments

Progressive education movement

Schools should be about personal growth,
learning through experience in school-ascommunity approach
Scientific approach to studying education
Practice as a basis for theory development

Founding of research-oriented professional

organizations
National Council of Teachers of English
American Educational Research Association

History Laboratory Schools (Curriculum Inquiry)

John Dewey

Teacher questions, knowledge and actions were

basis of developing theories of knowledge and
inquiry
Founded laboratory school (1896 1904)
Curriculum focused on personal growth rather
than a mastery of a discrete body of
knowledge
Collaborative inquiry with teachers critical to
developing new forms of pedagogy and
curriculum
Ultimate aim transformation of society into a
democratic community

History Action Research

Understanding the impact of social change on
individuals or groups and promoting social change at
the societal and group level
An approach to community development
Social activism for political social and educational reforms
Inquiry as ethical actions

John Collier

Kurt Lewin

Group dynamics, fate and task interdependence,

impact of leadership and social organization
How change impacts behaviors, actions, attitudes of
individuals within the group
How to achieve more democratic form of group dynamics
Applied to teacher education

Action science actual, tacit, spontaneous theoriesin-use in practice and research

History An Umbrella of Practitioner Research

PRACTITIONER INQUIRY
Action
Research

Teacher
Research

Self
Study

Scholarship
of
Teaching

Practice as
Site for
Research

Common Characteristics
Assumption: those who work/live inside particular situations have significant knowledge and
perspectives about the situations
Knowledge needed to improve practice is influenced by the contexts of the day-to-day
experiences of practice
Collaborative, locally-situated, recursive research process
Professional context is the site of inquiry
Critical reflection on the intersection of theory and practice

Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009, p. 39

FIGURING OUT
HOW

Practitioner Research Theoretical Frameworks

Democratic social theory and
social change
Knowles how practitioners
(adults) learn
Kolbs learning cycle
Reflective Practice (on-action
and in-action)

Common Characteristics
Practitioner as researcher
Assumptions about links of knowledge, knowers, knowing
Professional context as site for study
Community and collaboration
Blurred boundaries between inquiry and practice

New conceptions of validity and generalizability

Systematic data collection and analysis
Public knowledge and critique
Cochran-Smith & Lytle (2009), p. 39.

Practitioner Research is an Iterative Process

Identify an area of practice to

improvement/change/discover
Collaborate with colleagues, other
stakeholders get initial data

Shared, parallel, or intersecting

inquiry; inquiry support

Develop and execute a research plan

Analyze and reflect on your findings

Write up the inquiry

Share what has been learned

Tools & Methods

Data collection
Field notes
Documents/Artifacts/Student
Interviews/Focus Groups
Digital Pictures/Video
Reflective Journals/Weblogs
Surveys
Quantitative measures of
achievement (i.e. test scores,
grades
Critical Friends Group feedback
Literature

Data Analysis
Coding
Memoing

APPLICATION &
REVIEW

Reflective Exercise:
Opportunities for Practitioner Research Near You?
What is something that bugs you in your line of work?
What would you change in your job?

More competitive
Solve a problem
Innovate
To know more

Who could you partner with?

Inside your organization
Outside your organization (community, other stakeholders)
Professional affiliations

How would you use your research skills to plan and execute?

Review - What IS Practitioner Inquiry?

What is Practitioner Inquiry?
(2015). What is Practitioner
Inquiry? [Online video]. Available from
http://srmo.sagepub.com.uiwtx.idm.oclc.o
rg/view/what-is-practitionerinquiry/SAGE.xml

Review
Defined Practitioner Inquiry/Research
Historical evolution
How it works
Application & Video Review

QUESTIONS?

References
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (2009). Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. New York: Teachers College Press.
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. (2009). Teacher Research as Stance. In S. Noffke & B. Somekh (Eds.), Sage handbook of educational action
research (pp. 39-50). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
Dana, N., & Yendol-Silva, D. (2009). The reflective educator's guide to classroom research: Learning to teach and teaching to learn
through practitioner inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California.: Corwin Press.

Developing the Practitioner Researcher. (2007). In M. Fox, P. Martin, & G. Green (Eds.), Doing Practitioner Research. (pp. 180-196). London,
England: SAGE Publications, Ltd. doi: http://dx.doi.org.uiwtx.idm.oclc.org/10.4135/9781849208994.n11
Gillman, M., & Swain, J. (2006). Practitioner research. In V. Jupp (Ed.), The SAGE Dictionary of Social Research Methods. (pp. 234-236).
London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd. Retrieved from http://srmo.sagepub.com.uiwtx.idm.oclc.org/view/the-sage-dictionary-of-socialresearch-methods/SAGE.xm

Lytle, Susan L. (2008). At last: practitioner inquiry and the practice of teaching: Some thoughts on "better". Research in the Teaching of
English, 42(3), (pp. 373-379).
Practitioner Research (2013) In EdFutures.net. Retrieved from
http://edfutures.net/Practitioner_Research#Why_do_practitioner_research.3F
Putney L G and Green J L (2010), The roots and routes of teacher-based action research and curriculum inquiry: An historical perspective.
In: P. Peterson, E. Baker, & B. McGaw, (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education. 1, pp. 355-361. Oxford: Elsevier.
Sage Research Methods (Producer). (2015). What is Practitioner Inquiry? [Online video]. Available from
http://srmo.sagepub.com.uiwtx.idm.oclc.org/view/what-is-practitioner-inquiry/SAGE.xml.

PRACTITIONER
INQUIRY
Ann Lee
Qualitative Methods
University of the Incarnate Word
November 17, 2015