Courses

Getting Started on Research in Practice with Marina Niks

Rapporteurs: Sally Crawford, Joanne Green

This course offered an introduction to research in practice. Marina began by asking people to articulate their assumptions about what research is and who researchers are. The first day provided an overview of research.

Research has three elements: the goal is to develop new knowledge; the process is organized, reflective, and systematic, includes recording what one is doing and documenting one's findings; and the findings are shared. A good researcher is someone who keeps asking questions and seeking answers. A good researcher can work collaboratively with others. 

What is research in practice? (from Horsman and Norton, 1999)

• Reading and responding to research
• Reflecting on practice in light of research
• Applying research findings to practice
• Doing research about practice

What makes research in practice? Research in practice is primarily involved with practitioners and their practice. It is defined by

• who does it (practitioners, or collaboration with others)
• where it is done (as part of practice)
• how it relates to practice (research that informs practice)
• what questions it answers (ones that come out of practice)
• what kind of knowledge is produced (knowledge gained from practice)

On the second day, each participant talked about research that they wanted to do, and any questions they had about their research project. In addition, Marina led the group through several activities.

In the first activity, participants discussed workshops they had attended the previous afternoon. People shared their impressions and talked about which part of the research process was addressed in the workshop. Finally, people talked about how they were able to establish a "conversation" between their practice and the research.

The second activity was looking at a picture book, Zoom by Istvan Banyan. The book provided a good way to think about how we frame research questions. As researchers, we need to ask, what is it I need to know about this? Why? How much detail do I need to include? Who is the audience? How can I connect the detail with the large picture? The story reminded participants that no one picture says it all: the larger the frame, the fewer details. Finally, it reminds us that there is no "better" or "best" research question – only the one that grabs your passion.