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My experience of participatory Research and participatory evaluation
- not that simple, complicated all the different people might share control,
their different agendas etc.
Tension potential for practitioner to be radical, explore knowledge
from insider location (although which insiders), but also tendency to be
fears about how to "do it right" lead to traditional methods of research.
In England, also tensions about what research counts and the value of
practitioner research:
Questions about whether practitioner research is a different creature
from other research, tension want to recognize ways it is "different" (though
different from what - the academic research is also not monolithic) but
if it is different, then does it become not the "real thing" or lesser
than the real thing and there is always that problem of who gets the money...?
"A nagging doubt remains. What is the status of this kind of research?
For example, do other people working in the field of adult literacy see
it as having a value? Does it count?
One answer to this may be: "Yes, it is valuable and interesting, but
it is not real research. Perhaps we need another name for this sort of
thing." There is a real problem with that answer and it has to do with
money. For the most part funding is available for literacy provision and
research into literacy provision. The funding for provision and for research
tends to come from different sources and as funds get scarcer it becomes
more difficult to get funding for any research at all. The small well of
funds available for research implementing slightly unconventional methodology
is likely to dry us altogether if it is no longer recognised as research
at all. Yet as adult literacy work goes on there is an increasing need
to reflect on that work, to look at how it is done and how it is experienced
by the students. Ideally, some of that reflecting ought to be done by and
with people involved in adult literacy as students and tutors.... (Lawrence,
1986)
She goes on to talk about the beginnings of RaPAL (a research and practice
network in England)-
The recent Research and Practice in Adult Literacy seminars in England
have provided welcome opportunities to open up the discussion about what
research is needed but even there, there has been a worrying tendency for
the focus to be on things that looked like "proper" research proposals
and to ignore or gloss over the difficult but fundamental questions about
the role of research in adult literacy. What kind of research do we need?
What do we need to find out if what is on offer for adult students is to
be made more appropriate and interesting? What do we need to know in order
to make the process of working on literacy a productive one for everyone
involved in it? (Lawrence, 1986 p. 12)
In 1989 I interviewed David Barton - his account of focus of joint gatherings:
- lack of communication - practitioners don't know what research is
being done,
- tension, suspicion about university - research not relevant, "wrong"
sort of research
Practitioner and teacher research as a challenge to what counts as knowledge,
- U.S. (from the university) Inquiry-based research:
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