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Entries from July 2008
Somewaht baffled
July 29, 2008 · Comments Off
Sometimes you will find gems on the way. A colleague got interested / curious about this wiki and edited a page telling a deep truth.
| You can do this on every page in the Workspace. | You can do this on every page in the Workspace. |
| [What if I make a mistake?] | [What if I make a mistake?] |
| —- | —- |
| _Try writing here:_ |
_Try writing here: As allways i am somewaht baffled by all the different possibilities, and realise that working with this requires a focus that is not allways mine_ |
Indeed personal focus takes an effort and the possibilities – technically – are overwhelming. Indeed the typo is part of the experience….
Categories: Do not know yet
Napkins
July 29, 2008 · Comments Off
-
http://escherman.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 07/ 17/ dan-roam-and-the-21st-century-feed…
How’s this for a piece of zeitgeist? I posted yesterday about Dan
Roam’s book The Back of the Napkin. Overnight, he picks up a Google
Alert about my blog post and in turn, comments – and posts a very nice
response in return. Might need to look at updating my sketch to map the
ongoing impact…. -
A portrait of the artist as a book buyer
http://digitalroam.typepad.com/ digital_roam/ 2008/ 07/ a-portrait-of-t.html
This modern world our ours works in mysterious ways. The Guardian
newspaper (the London one, not the San Francisco Bay Guardian one where
I started my career twenty years ago, nor the Moscow Guardian one where
I served as Art Director fifteen years ago) asked me last week to write
an article about my book and visual thinking. -
Dan Roam’s “Back of a Napkin” approach to visual thinking (and how I bought the book).
http://escherman.wordpress.com/ 2008/ 07/ 16/ dan-roams-back-of-a-napkin-approac…
Dan Roam’s “The Back of the Napkin” book about visual thinking is a
novel approach to problem solving (and deserves a blog post all of its
own) Informative blog too. However, I thought it worth examining how I
went from not knowing a thing about Dan Roam at midday on Saturday, to
understanding -
Napkin tools: now downloadable!
http://digitalroam.typepad.com/ digital_roam/ 2008/ 07/ napkin-tools-no.html
Ever since The Back of the Napkin appeared, people have been asking me
for download-friendly versions of the key visual thinking tools I
introduce. So due to popular request, here they are; high-resolution
PDF files for: The Visual Thinking Toolkit. (A visual summary of all
the lessons in the book.) The Visual Thinking Codex. -
I always suspected that Google was designed on a napkin…
http://digitalroam.typepad.com/ digital_roam/ 2008/ 07/ i-always-suspec.html
Turns out I was right. Click here for the WSJ video. Thanks Arnie for
pointing me towards this WSJ clip with Tim Armstrong of Google drawing
out the company’s vision on a napkin. According to Tim, Google has been
refining this single napkin sketch (as an alternative to a canned
presentation) for seven years, and plans to continue refining it for at
least another five. -
the back of a napkin
http://www.ysmarko.com/ ?p=2986
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with
Pictures, by Dan Roam. i was really disappointed with this book. i tend
to be a visual guy, and had a high level of expectancy about how fun
this book would be to read, and how helpful it would be. but i was
bored — crazy bored. -
Visual Thinkers—This Means YOU!
http://stephaniediamond.typepad.com/ marketingmessage/ 2008/ 07/ visual-thinkers…
Visual thinking, has been quitely sweeping through the halls of
business picking up converts. As a devoted Mind Mapper and visual
thinking evangelist I was thrilled when Dan Roam’s new book “Back of
the Napkin” was released. Many people profess to lack artistic skills
and shy away from this topic. -
Visual Thinking
http://livingthedash.tv/ 2008/ 07/ 09/ visual-thinking/
I am a visual thinker. For me, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Dan Roam’s book, The Back of The Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling
Ideas With Pictures, has been on my Amazon Wish List since it was
released earlier this year. -
Napkin teleseminar with Seth Godin, Anil Dash, and Rich Sloan — now this is going to be fun!
http://digitalroam.typepad.com/ digital_roam/ 2008/ 06/ napkin-telesemi.html
Thanks to Elizabeth Marshall at Author Teleseminars, on July 9 at noon
EST I’ll be giving a live Back of the Napkin session online with Seth
Godin, Anil Dash, and Rich Sloan. We’re going to talk about solving
problems with pictures, drawing our way out of business conundrums, and
saving the world through simple sketching. -
Napkin teleseminar with Seth Godin, Anil Dash, and Rich Sloan — now this is going to be fun!
http://digitalroam.typepad.com/ digital_roam/ 2008/ 06/ napkin-telesemi.html
Thanks to Elizabeth Marshall at Author Teleseminars, next week I’ll be
giving a live Back of the Napkin session online with Seth Godin, Anil
Dash, and Rich Sloan. We’re going to talk about solving problems with
pictures, drawing our way out of business conundrums, and saving the
world through simple sketching.
Categories: Do not know yet
Once this is sorted out I will share my lit review.
July 29, 2008 · Comments Off
am above fifty and beyond conditions, patronising, blackmail, bitching, what ever. In respect to the title – from an e-mail I got when promoting a wiki – : ‘knowledge can only be volunteered’. Time will tell if this lit review will be shared. The principle of a wiki – and I stick to that – is the ‘ anybody can add / change’. Also anybody can keep track of lists (of pages) too.
Ik ben 52 jaar en te oud voor condities, patronising, chantage, bitching, what ever. Er wordt gezegd ‘ knowledge can only be volunteered’. Dat zal nog blijken in XYZ. Het principe van een wiki – en daar houd ik aan vast – is dat een ieder ZELF de content kan wijzigen / aanvullen. Een ieder kan ook zijn eigen lijstjes samenstellen.
Much of the text going to and fro by e-mail I understand as a result of ‘ just some quick words, pop out an idea and bend and spin it’; little contemplation thus and far and foremost viewed from the own ego! I have been accused of ‘ le project, c’ est moi’ thinking, but given the e-mail reactions others might fit that label better.
Veel van de tekst die over e-mail heen en weer gaat begrijp ik als resultaat van ‘ snel maar even wat zeggen, een idee spuien, er een draai aan geven’ ; weinig nadenken dus en bovenal steeds maar vanuit dat eigen ego! Je verwoordt het goed, slechts tegen de foute persoon 
ik ben XYZ niet, maar gezien de reacties denken anderen dat wellicht.
Problem with this project is co-operation. Without disqualifying efforts by others – I look for a reference within them to refer to – that means more then contracts and money flows and titles and meetings etc etc. And it will also be difficult and will contain theory – also in a newsletter pretending to be more then a mere listing of activities in the agenda of him or her.
Probleem van XYZ is dus samenwerken. Zonder je inspanning te willen diskwalificeren – ik zoek een referentie kader bij jouw waar ik aan kan refereren – betekent dat wel meer dan contracten en geldstromen en titels en vergaderingen etc etc. En dat is ook moeilijk en bevat veel theorie – ook in een nieuwsletter die meer wil zijn dan een opsomming van de activiteiten in een agenda van deze of gene.
Working together entails managers knowing it takes more then orders, phrasing of conditions and uttering of remarks fed by the own small reality and the vain of the tiny here and now. Asking a question does miracles!
Samenwerken houd in dat managers weten dat er meer nodig is dan geven van opdrachten, stellen van voorwaarden en het maken van opmerkingen gevoed door de eigen kleine werkelijkheid en de waan van het minime hier en nu. Een belangstellende vraag doet echt wonderen hoor!
The newsletter is the FIRST product for which we work together slightly more at scale and better aiming for quality. The only comment we – the comm boys / girls – get from management are negative; you pointed out rightly:
Nothing works:
- the strategy is too thin
- the logo is actually not wanted by XYZ
- the flyer is dry
- the wiki to difficult (revisiting needed)
- the newsletter is cranky
- fill out the blanks …….
De newsletter is het EERSTE product waarbij er een beetje op schaal en niveau samen gewerkt moet worden. Het enige wat wij – de comm boys / girls – mogen ontvangan van het management is negatief; dat heb je juist gezien.
Er deugt niets:
- de strategy is ‘dun’
- het logo eigenlijk niet wat XYZ wilde
- de flyer te droog
- de wiki te moeilijk (en moet worden ge-revit??)
- de nieuwletter rammelt
- etc
Categories: Do not know yet
action research
July 29, 2008 · Comments Off
In this article we explore the development of some different traditions of
action research and provide an introductory guide to the literature.
contents: introduction | origins
| the decline and rediscovery of action research |
conclusion | further reading
| how to cite this article. see, also:
research for practice.
In the literature, discussion of action research tends to fall into two
distinctive camps.
The
British tradition – especially that linked to education – tends to view
action research as research oriented toward the enhancement of direct
practice. For example, Carr and Kemmis provide a classic definition:
Action research is simply a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken
by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality
and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these
practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out
(Carr and Kemmis 1986: 162).
Many people are drawn to this understanding of action research because it
is firmly located in the realm of the practitioner – it is tied to
self-reflection. As a way of working it is very close to the notion of
reflective practice coined by Donald
Schön (1983).
The second tradition, perhaps more widely approached within the social
welfare field – and most certainly the broader understanding in the USA is
of action research as ‘the systematic collection of information that is
designed to bring about social change’ (Bogdan and Biklen 1992: 223). Bogdan
and Biklen continue by saying that its practitioners marshal evidence or
data to expose unjust practices or environmental dangers and recommend
actions for change. In many respects, for them, it is linked into traditions
of citizen’s action and community organizing. The practitioner is actively
involved in the cause for which the research is conducted. For others, it is
such commitment is a necessary part of being a practitioner or member of a
community of practice. Thus, various projects designed to enhance practice
within youth work, for example, such as the detached work reported on by
Goetschius and Tash (1967) could be talked of as action research.
Origins
Kurt Lewin is generally credited
as the person who coined the term ‘action research’:
The research needed for social practice can best
be characterized as research for social management or social
engineering. It is a type of action-research, a comparative research on
the conditions and effects of various forms of social action, and
research leading to social action. Research that produces nothing but
books will not suffice (Lewin 1946, reproduced in Lewin 1948: 202-3)
His approach involves a spiral of steps, ‘each of which is composed of
a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the
action’ (ibid.: 206). The basic cycle involves the following:
This is how Lewin describes the initial cycle:
The first step then is to examine the idea
carefully in the light of the means available. Frequently more
fact-finding about the situation is required. If this first period of
planning is successful, two items emerge: namely, “an overall plan” of
how to reach the objective and secondly, a decision in regard to the
first step of action. Usually this planning has also somewhat modified
the original idea. (ibid.: 205)
The next step is ‘composed of a circle of planning, executing, and
reconnaissance or fact finding for the purpose of evaluating the results
of the second step, and preparing the rational basis for planning the
third step, and for perhaps modifying again the overall plan’ (ibid.:
206). What we can see here is an approach to research that is oriented
to problem-solving in social and organizational settings, and that has a
form that parallels Dewey’s
conception of learning from experience.
The approach, as presented, does take a fairly sequential form – and it
is open to literal interpretation. Following it can lead to practice
that is ‘correct’ rather than ‘good’ – as we will see. It can also be
argued that model itself places insufficient emphasis on analysis at key
points. Elliott (1991: 70), for example, believed that the basic model
allows those who use it to assume that the ‘general idea’ can be fixed
in advance, ‘that “reconnaissance” is merely fact-finding, and that
“implementation” is a fairly straightforward process’. As might be
expected there was some questioning as to whether this was ‘real’
research. There were questions around action research’s partisan nature
– the fact that it served particular causes.
The decline and rediscovery of action research
Action research did suffer a decline in favour during the 1960s because
of its association with radical political activism (Stringer 2007: 9).
There were, and are, questions concerning its rigour, and the training
of those undertaking it. However, as Bogdan and Biklen (1992: 223)
point out, research is a frame of mind – ‘a perspective that people take
toward objects and activities’. Once we have satisfied ourselves that
the collection of information is systematic, and that any
interpretations made have a proper regard for satisfying truth claims,
then much of the critique aimed at action research disappears. In some
of Lewin’s earlier work on action research (e.g. Lewin and Grabbe 1945)
there was a tension between providing a rational basis for change
through research, and the recognition that individuals are constrained
in their ability to change by their cultural and social perceptions, and
the systems of which they are a part. Having ‘correct knowledge’ does
not of itself lead to change, attention also needs to be paid to the
‘matrix of cultural and psychic forces’ through which the subject is
constituted (Winter 1987: 48).
Subsequently, action research has gained a significant foothold both
within the realm of community-based, and participatory action research;
and as a form of practice oriented to the improvement of educative
encounters (e.g. Carr and Kemmis 1986).
Exhibit 1: Stringer on community-based action
research
A fundamental premise of community-based action research is
that it commences with an interest in the problems of a group, a
community, or an organization. Its purpose is to assist people
in extending their understanding of their situation and thus
resolving problems that confront them….
Community-based action research is always enacted
through an explicit set of social values. In modern, democratic
social contexts, it is seen as a process of inquiry that has the
following characteristics:
• It is democratic, enabling the
participation of all people.
• It is equitable, acknowledging people’s
equality of worth.
• It is liberating, providing freedom from
oppressive, debilitating conditions.
• It is life enhancing, enabling the
expression of people’s full human potential.
(Stringer
1999: 9-10)
The action research process
works through three basic phases:
Look - building a picture and
gathering information. When evaluating we define and describe
the problem to be investigated and the context in which it is
set. We also describe what all the participants (educators,
group members, managers etc.) have been doing.
Think – interpreting and explaining. When
evaluating we analyse and interpret the situation. We reflect on
what participants have been doing. We look at areas of success
and any deficiencies, issues or problems.
Act – resolving issues and problems. In
evaluation we judge the worth, effectiveness, appropriateness,
and outcomes of those activities. We act to formulate solutions
to any problems. (Stringer
1999: 18; 43-44;160)
The use of action research to deepen and develop classroom practice has grown
into a strong tradition of practice (one of the first examples being the work of
Stephen Corey in 1949). For some there is an insistence that action research
must be collaborative and entail groupwork.
Action research is a form of collective
self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations
in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social or
educational practices, as well as their understanding of those practices
and the situations in which the practices are carried out… The approach
is only action research when it is collaborative, though it is important
to realise that action research of the group is achieved through the
critically examined action of individual group members. (Kemmis and
McTaggart 1988: 5-6)
Just why it must be collective is open to some question and debate
(Webb 1996), but there is an important point here concerning the
commitments and orientations of those involved in action research.
Conclusion
One of the legacies Kurt Lewin left us is the ‘action research spiral’
– and with it there is the danger that action research becomes little
more than a procedure. It is a mistake, according to McTaggart (1996:
248) to think that following the action research spiral constitutes
‘doing action research’. He continues, ‘Action research is not a
‘method’ or a ‘procedure’ for research but a series of commitments to
observe and problematize through practice a series of principles for
conducting social enquiry’. It is his argument that Lewin has been
misunderstood or, rather, misused. When set in historical context, while
Lewin does talk about action research as a method, he is stressing a
contrast between this form of interpretative practice and more
traditional empirical-analytic research. The notion of a spiral may be a
useful teaching device – but it is all too easily to slip into using it
as the
template for practice (McTaggart 1996: 249).
Further reading
This select, annotated, bibliography has been designed to give a flavour
of the possibilities of action research and includes some useful guides to
practice. As ever, if you have suggestions about areas or specific texts for
inclusion, I’d like to hear from you.
Explorations of action research
Atweh, B., Kemmis, S. and Weeks, P. (eds.) (1998) Action Research
in Practice: Partnership for Social Justice in Education, London:
Routledge. Presents a collection of stories from action research
projects in schools and a university. The book begins with theme
chapters discussing action research, social justice and partnerships in
research. The case study chapters cover topics such as: school
environment – how to make a school a healthier place to be; parents –
how to involve them more in decision-making; students as action
researchers; gender – how to promote gender equity in schools; writing
up action research projects.
Carr, W. and Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical. Education, knowledge
and action research, Lewes: Falmer. Influential book that provides a
good account of ‘action research’ in education. Chapters on teachers,
researchers and curriculum; the natural scientific view of educational
theory and practice; the interpretative view of educational theory and
practice; theory and practice – redefining the problem; a critical approach
to theory and practice; towards a critical educational science; action
research as critical education science; educational research, educational
reform and the role of the profession.
Carson, T. R. and Sumara, D. J. (ed.) (1997) Action Research as a
Living Practice, New York: Peter Lang. 140 pages. Book draws on a wide
range of sources to develop an understanding of action research. Explores
action research as a lived practice, ‘that asks the researcher to not only
investigate the subject at hand but, as well, to provide some account of the
way in which the investigation both shapes and is shaped by the
investigator.
Dadds, M. (1995) Passionate Enquiry and School Development. A story
about action research, London: Falmer. 192 + ix pages. Examines three
action research studies undertaken by a teacher and how they related to work
in school – how she did the research, the problems she experienced, her
feelings, the impact on her feelings and ideas, and some of the outcomes. In
his introduction, John Elliot comments that the book is ‘the most readable,
thoughtful, and detailed study of the potential of action-research in
professional education that I have read’.
Ghaye, T. and Wakefield, P. (eds.) CARN Critical Conversations. Book
one: the role of the self in action, Bournemouth: Hyde Publications.
146 + xiii pages. Collection of five pieces from the Classroom Action
Research Network. Chapters on: dialectical forms; graduate medical education
- research’s outer limits; democratic education; managing action research;
writing up.
McNiff, J. (1993) Teaching as Learning: An Action Research Approach,
London: Routledge. Argues that educational knowledge is created by
individual teachers as they attempt to express their own values in their
professional lives. Sets out familiar action research model: identifying a
problem, devising, implementing and evaluating a solution and modifying
practice. Includes advice on how working in this way can aid the
professional development of action researcher and practitioner.
Quigley, B. A. and Kuhne, G. W. (eds.) (1997)Creating Practical
Knowledge Through Action Research, San Fransisco: Jossey Bass.Guide to
action research that outlines the action research process, provides a
project planner, and presents examples to show how action research can yield
improvements in six different settings, including a hospital, a university
and a literacy education program.
Plummer, G. and Edwards, G. (eds.) CARN Critical Conversations. Book
two: dimensions of action research – people, practice and power,
Bournemouth: Hyde Publications. 142 + xvii pages. Collection of five pieces
from the Classroom Action Research Network. Chapters on: exchanging letters
and collaborative research; diary writing; personal and professional
learning – on teaching and self knowledge; anti-racist approaches;
psychodynamic group theory in action research.
Whyte, W. F. (ed.) (1991) Participatory Action Research, Newbury
Park: Sage. 247 pages. Chapters explore the development of participatory
action research and its relation with action science; and examines its
usages in various agricultural and industrial settings
Zuber-Skerritt, O. (ed.) (1996) New Directions in Action Research,
London; Falmer Press. 266 + xii pages. Useful collection that explores
principles and procedures for critical action research; problems and
suggested solutions; and postmodernism and critical action research.
Action research guides
Coghlan, D. and Brannick, D. (2000) Doing Action Research in your
own Organization, London: Sage. 128 pages. Popular introduction.
Part one covers the basics of action research including the action
research cycle, the role of the ‘insider’ action researcher and the
complexities of undertaking action research within your own
organisation. Part two looks at the implementation of the action
research project (including managing internal politics and the ethics
and politics of action research). New edition due late 2004.
Elliot, J. (1991) Action Research for Educational Change,
Buckingham: Open University Press. 163 + x pages Collection of various
articles written by Elliot in which he develops his own particular
interpretation of action research as a form of teacher professional
development. In some ways close to a form of ‘reflective practice’.
Chapter 6, ‘A practical guide to action research’ – builds a staged
model on Lewin’s work and on developments by writers such as Kemmis.
Johnson, A. P. (2007) A short guide to action research 3e. Allyn and
Bacon. Popular step by step guide for master’s work.
Macintyre, C. (2002) The Art of the Action Research in the Classroom,
London: David Fulton. 138 pages. Includes sections on action research, the
role of literature, formulating a research question, gathering data,
analysing data and writing a dissertation. Useful and readable guide for
students.
McNiff, J., Whitehead, J., Lomax, P. (2003) You and Your Action
Research Project, London: Routledge. Practical guidance on doing an
action research project.Takes the practitioner-researcher through the
various stages of a project. Each section of the book is supported by case
studies
Stringer, E. T. (2007) Action Research: A handbook for practitioners
3e, Newbury Park, ca.: Sage. 304 pages. Sets community-based action
research in context and develops a model. Chapters on information gathering,
interpretation, resolving issues; legitimacy etc. See, also Stringer’s
(2003) Action Research in Education, Prentice Hall.
Winter, R. (1989) Learning From Experience. Principles and practice in
action research, Lewes: Falmer Press. 200 + 10 pages. Introduces the
idea of action research; the basic process; theoretical issues; and provides
six principles for the conduct of action research. Includes examples of
action research. Further chapters on from principles to practice; the
learner’s experience; and research topics and personal interests.
Action research in informal education
Usher, R., Bryant, I. and Johnston, R. (1997) Adult Education and the
Postmodern Challenge. Learning beyond the limits, London: Routledge.
248 + xvi pages. Has some interesting chapters that relate to action
research: on reflective practice; changing paradigms and traditions of
research; new approaches to research; writing and learning about research.
Other references
Bogdan, R. and Biklen, S. K. (1992) Qualitative Research For
Education, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Goetschius, G. and Tash, J. (1967) Working with the Unattached,
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Acknowledgements: The picture is of a scupture by Desiree
Hope/flickr – some rights reserved/ creative commons: attribution,
non-commercial, no derivs. 2.0
How to cite this article: Smith, M. K. (1996;
2001, 2007) ‘Action research’, the encyclopedia of informal education,
www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htm. Last updated:
April 11, 2008.
© Mark K.
Smith
1996; 2001, 2007
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Categories: Do not know yet
