scholarly journals It's our museum too: co-producing research in a university museum through a nursery residency programme

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Noble ◽  
Nicola Wallis
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Residency Programme ◽  
University Museum

PurposeThe authors draw on Howard and Thomas-Hughes' (2020) framework for quality assessment of co-produced research, to interrogate our assumptions and processes and to reflect on our project. They consider if they achieved our planned outcomes around developing practice, enabling a range of voices and perspectives within their research, and enacting change within the university museum.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ early years residency programme explores the potential of collaborations with community groups to transform knowledge and practice through action research. As museum educators, the authors find synergy between the participatory pedagogies underpinning their practice and the co-construction of knowledge within action research. Both are committed to enabling diverse interpretations within a collective and supportive framework. Within their project, practitioners from the museum and playgroup worked collaboratively to collect video footage, photos, children's artwork and reflective journals and memos.FindingsThe process of action, observation and reflection revealed much about the authors’ different perspectives and they found variations in both pedagogy and practice. Although the authors had a shared commitment to providing high quality, memorable, exciting opportunities for the children, the exploratory nature of the project meant that they did not agree what these experiences might look like in advance, and so they had different understandings of what they saw.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the authors’ methodological framework was designed to make their research collaborative, structural challenges and the contexts of the art museum and university reinforced long established hierarchies. While some felt supported by the research process and the prestige of working with a university museum to gain legitimacy for their practice, others were disempowered by these same structures. The authors consider their obligations as practitioner-researchers to become aware of the role they play in maintaining, as well as challenging, hierarchies and assumptions.Originality/valueYoung children in museums is a growing area of study and this practitioner-led action research project develop a new strand of enquiry within this field. Through this research the authors can collaborate with community partners to record, analyse and make visible the many different ways in which young children experience the museum. As research led institutions, university museums are ideally placed to develop research in partnership with local public bodies and community groups. However, future work in this area would benefit from a more explicit consideration of the constraints implicit within the institutions within which they all operate.

Exploring the complexities of validity claims in action research

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 381-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter McInnes ◽  
Paul Hibbert ◽  
Nic Beech
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Research Setting ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Validity Claims ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe paper aims to explore the problematics of validity that are inherent to the conduct of an action research project because of the disparate language games of both practitioners and academics.Design/methodology/approachAn exploration is offered of the tensions between different understandings of a research setting at different stages of the research process.FindingsIn each phase of the research there are a number of tensions between different epistemological assumptions about the “reality” of the research setting. Validity is not, therefore, about capturing a singular objective picture of the organisation, but rather it is produced through the negotiation of a temporary intersection of language games.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper provides a framework for understanding the role of the researcher in the research process and the issues underlying validity claims made from different epistemological positions.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insights in to the mechanisms through which practitioners and academics come to understand each other and the limitations of this knowledge.Originality/valueThe article raises awareness of the different normative assumptions at play within a variety of action research contexts.

Winds of change

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Evans ◽  
Barbara Reed ◽  
Henry Linger ◽  
Simon Goss ◽  
David Holmes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Process Analysis ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Collaborative Action Research ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Process Analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role a recordkeeping informatics approach can play in understanding and addressing these challenges. In 2011, the Wind Tunnel located at the Defence Science Technology Organisation (DTSO)’s Fisherman’s Bend site in Melbourne and managed by the Flight Systems Branch (FSB) celebrated its 70th anniversary. While cause for celebration, it also raised concerns for DSTO aeronautical scientists and engineers as to capacities to effectively and efficiently manage the data legacy of such an important research facility for the next 70 years, given increased technological, organisational and collaboration complexities. Design/methodology/approach – This paper will detail how, through a collaborative action research project, the twin pillars of continuum thinking and recordkeeping metadata and the three facets of organisational culture, business process analysis and archival access, were used to examine the data, information, records and knowledge management challenges in this research data context. It will discuss how this perspective, was presented, engaged with and evolved into a set of strategies for the sustained development of FSB’s data, information and records management infrastructure, along with what is learnt about the approach through the action research process. Findings – The project found that stressing the underlying principles of recordkeeping, applied to information resources of all kinds, resonated with the scientific community of FSB. It identified appropriate strategic, policy and process frameworks to better govern information management activities. Research limitations/implications – The utility of a recordkeeping informatics approach to unpack, explore and develop strategies in technically and organisationally complex recordkeeping environment is demonstrated, along with the kinds of professional collaboration required to tackle research data challenges. Practical implications – In embracing technical and organisational complexity, the project has provided FSB with a strategic framework for the development of their information architecture so that it is both responsive to local needs, and consistent with broader DSTO requirements. Originality/value – This paper further develops recordkeeping informatics as an emerging approach for tackling the recordkeeping challenges of our era in relation to maintaining and sustaining the evidential authenticity, integrity and reliability of big complex research data sets.

A reflexive account on my positionality in a collaborative action research project in a Seychelles secondary school

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jemma Simeon
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Collaborative Action Research ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Planning Stage ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The paper is based on a doctoral action research project in which three ESL teachers and the author in one secondary school in the Seychelles focused on strategy instruction in the process approach to writing instruction with the aim of helping students become effective writers. The project enabled the author to establish relationships with the participating teachers as educator, facilitator and collaborator. To ensure the trustworthiness of the research, the author needed to clarify and explore the complex relationships to the setting and participants being studied. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the author reflexively discusses the development nature of my research: language learning strategies (LLS) and draw upon my experience of working with three ESL Seychellois teachers in the reflection and planning stage of the Core Action Research project to critically reflect on the negotiation of my position in practice. Findings – Reflecting on the author’s positionality in relation to how the teacher participants constructed the identity has helped the author to be more reflexive and engage with the research process in a more meaningful way. Originality/value – The author’s experience suggests that one’s positionality is never fixed and stable, but rather may be characterized as changing and fluctuating according to the context, content, feelings and ideas expressed.

Thoughts on Why and How to Promote Sustainable Practices in Early Years Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 272-293
Author(s):  
Hazel R. Wright ◽  
Paulette Luff ◽  
Opeyemi Osadiya
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Environmental Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Early Years Education ◽  
The Uk

It is important to introduce ideas and practices to encourage young children to act sustainably so that this becomes habitual and continues in adulthood. An examination of global developments for environmental action provides a context for a more specific focus on work in early years contexts, which, it is noted, most commonly originates in Australia and Scandinavia. The UK is active but lagging behind their lead, relying on pockets of activity in certain university and nursery centres. Noting, also, a need to train staff to teach young children sustainable behaviours, how this can be done is illustrated through an action research project that helped a playgroup to establish a wildlife garden where children could learn about and care for plants and animals. Returning to the broader global picture, the chapter concludes by stressing the need for joint adult-child action to protect the planet in/on which all humans live.

scholarly journals Acts of pedagogical resistance: Marking out an ethical boundary against human technologies

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032097697
Author(s):  
Lynn J McNair ◽  
Caralyn Blaisdell ◽  
John M Davis ◽  
Luke J Addison
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Early Childcare

This article highlights an action research project that sparked transformation regarding how early years practitioners documented children’s learning. The dominant discourse of standardisation and narrowing of early childhood education, encapsulated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Learning Study, has resulted in the ‘shaping’ and ‘testing’ of young children around the globe. The OECD has become very interested in early childhood education and is a very instrumental player today (Moss, 2018). Consequently, the testing of young children has been instigated by governments to ensure children gain the accepted knowledge, skills and dispositions required to be successful learners. Situated within this context of testing and standardisation, this article will share knowledge gained from a small action research project that took place in one Scottish early years setting. The study was stimulated by the early years practitioners of the setting, who strongly opposed the ‘reductionist’ formal ‘tick-box’ assessments produced by their local authority. These types of didactic formal assessments suggest that pedagogy is underpinned by a desire to tame, predict, prepare, supervise and evaluate learning. This article is of critical importance as it examines the imposition of didactic assessment from the practitioners’ perspective. The practitioners in the study contested that ‘tick-box’ assessments diminished children’s identities down to a list of judgements about their academic abilities, or lack thereof. The introduction of the ‘tick-box’ assessments presented a dilemma for the practitioners, in terms of the different views of the government and practitioners of what knowledge is worth knowing and what individuals and groups are able to learn. Many of the practitioners from the early childcare and learning setting positioned themselves and their work as being consciously different from what was going on in the wider sector. The early childcare and learning setting employed in this article introduced a new method to capture children’s learning, which they named the ‘Lived Story’ approach. In this article, we argue that Lived Stories are a form of narrative assessment which are designed to track children’s progress whilst respecting the complexity of their learning, their position within the learning process, the flow/fluidity of their ways of being and their ability to act in radical, creative and innovative ways. We conclude that by using ‘Lived Stories’ practitioners were able to lessen the surety of the language we use. The article highlights that as practitioners write Lived Stories and assess children’s progress they are freed to use language such as ‘wondering, puzzling, thinking, exploring’. In turn, we demonstrate that this language, and the ideas it enables, are on a continuum; a journey that spans a lifetime.

scholarly journals Co-designing food waste services in the catering sector

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (12) ◽  
pp. 2762-2777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Michalec ◽  
Martin Fodor ◽  
Enda Hayes ◽  
James Longhurst
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Waste Recycling

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present results from the action research project, where sustainability professionals, local businesses and academic researchers collaborated on exploring barriers for food waste recycling in SMEs food outlets in order to inform local policy and business practices in Bristol, UK. Design/methodology/approach The researchers conducted face-to-face, qualitative surveys of 79 catering businesses in three diverse areas of the city. The action research methodology was applied, where a range of co-researchers contributed towards study design and review. Findings The research reveals the main barriers to recycling and how such perceptions differ depending on whether the respondents do or do not recycle, with “convenience” and “cost” being the main issue according to the already recycling participants. On the other hand, participants who do not recycle state that their main reason is “not enough waste” and “lack of space”. Practical implications Participants recommended a range of measures, which could improve the current food waste services in Bristol. For example, they suggest that business engagement should address the barriers voiced by the participants applying the framings used by them, rather than assuming restaurants and cafes are not aware of the issue. By inviting a variety of non-academic stakeholders into the process of research design and analysis, the project addressed the imbalances in knowledge production and policy design. Originality/value Despite the local and qualitative focus of this paper, the results and research methodology could act as a useful guide for conducting food waste action research in the policy context.

Using Action Research for Improvement of Project Knowledge Management in the Public Museum

2020 ◽  
pp. 123-144
Author(s):  
Kamila Brodzińska ◽  
Agnieszka Szostak ◽  
Beata Jałocha
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Analysis Of Results ◽  
Questionnaire Surveys

This chapter aims at presenting the results of the research carried out as part of the action research project concerning knowledge management and knowledge sharing in a public institution. As a research subject, a public cultural institution in Poland was selected. The methods used during the implementation of the research include observations, interviews, questionnaire surveys, and document analysis. The chapter presents the course of the research process, a diagnosis of problems, and challenges of the institution under study as regards project knowledge management, analysis of results, and recommendations. The principal result of the study is the developed action plan that contains an overview description of the proposed change and suggestions for solutions for the diagnosed challenge. It also illustrated that action research is a research approach supporting project management processes in public organizations. The theoretical background for considerations undertaken in the work are the concepts of project knowledge management and sharing knowledge on the implemented projects.

scholarly journals De-romanticising dialogue in collaborative health care research: a critical, reflexive approach to tensions in an action research project's initial phase

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Phillips ◽  
Birgitte Ravn Olesen ◽  
Michael Scheffmann-Petersen ◽  
Helle Merete Nordentoft
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Health Care Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The Body ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Ideal Types

In the current socio-political conjuncture, collaborative, dialogic forms of knowledge production abound and are idealised as democratic and inclusive. The aim of the article is to contribute to the body of critical, reflexive analyses of collaborative research by analysing how complex dynamics of exclusion as well as inclusion create tensions in researchers’ attempts to establish collaborative relations in the initial phase of an action research project. The analysis applies a framework combining Bakhtinian dialogic communication theory and Foucauldian theory to explore inclusion and exclusion in the tensional interplay of multiple voices whereby certain voices dominate. Finally, the article offers a typology of ideal types of collaborative research relations that can be used in the initial research phase as a platform for reflexive discussion between researchers and potential collaborative partners about their respective understandings of collaboration and dialogue and corresponding expectations about the research process and results.

Researching family food decision making processes: highlights, hits and pitfalls when including young children’s perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Grønhøj ◽  
Malene Gram
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Video Clip ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Desert Island

Purpose The aim of this paper is to demonstrate and discuss a number of child-centric research methods/stimuli involving young children (5-6 years old) in interviews without, and subsequently with their parents. Existing and new methods were selected and developed for a study which aimed at obtaining insights into parents’ and young children’s understandings of children’s influence and family interaction with regard to family food consumption practices. Design/methodology/approach A total of 35 children were interviewed using semi-structured interviews in five kindergartens. Subsequently, 13 families were interviewed in their homes. The latter interviews included the same children as were interviewed in the kindergarten. The methods discussed include drawings, a desert-island-choice task, a sentence completion task, photographs, vignettes and a video-clip. Findings When interviewing young children about family decision making influence, the use of engaging methods contributes to the quality of data achieved and to the participants’ enjoyment of their participation. Care should be taken not to overload children with exercises. Visual rather than verbal methods worked better for engaging the children in the research process; for parents all included methods worked well. Research limitations/implications The current study shows that a method developed specifically for the study (desert-island-choice task) was apt at including all family members’ perspectives; future studies should develop methods that capture shared rather than individual experiences. The study was carried out in wealthy areas in Denmark. It would be highly relevant to broaden the sample to other socio-economic and cultural contexts. Originality/value The study is based on interviews with children usually deemed too young to interview. The contribution is novel methods that allow for studying the interaction between children and parents and that are not based on reading and writing skills to access the perspectives of 5-6-year old children. Precautions regarding using existing methods are offered.

Tutor and international student perspectives on an action research project: use of a business strategy simulation with mixed nationality cohorts

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive R. Kerridge ◽  
Colin Simpson
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Action Research Approach

Purpose This study aims to present the results of a curriculum design intervention, which was undertaken to address the inhibitors and enablers facing international (mainly Chinese) students on a capstone undergraduate strategic management module at a UK university business school. Design/methodology/approach Using an action research approach, the pre-intervention phase identified two main concerns: low levels of student engagement and avoidance of generic academic and language support. The module was subsequently redesigned around a group-based strategic business simulation (requiring collaborative participation of all students), with embedded language and academic support, plus the involvement of bilingual teaching staff. Findings Post-intervention results from the four-year study indicated enhanced academic engagement of international students and a narrowing of the performance (grade) gap between domestic and international students. Practical implications Overall findings should provide strong support for the inclusion of active learning pedagogies in undergraduate business course deliveries, also complementing educational literature that advocates the effectiveness of constructivist pedagogies in mixed-nationality classrooms. Originality/value This study exemplifies a form of participatory action research. The juxtaposition of comments from support and specialist tutors, along with those of students, highlights the validity of views from each stakeholder group.

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