[NLA] Practitioner-based research

Wed Jun 19 10:19:39 EDT 2002

A note on validity, trustworthiness, and legitimacy:
I think the impression of teacher-unfriendliness some got from my posts may 
have come from my repetition of the importance of validity or 
trustworthiness in research. I think the eventual acceptance of such 
research as legitimate comes from meeting these standards. However, I think 
we need to see them not as a prerequisite for doing research but rather as 
an ideal to keep in mind so we keep making progress.

Art mentioned the validity problem, George mentioned legitimacy, Nancy says 
policymakers don't listen; all these issues need to be addressed, but I 
think they're reasons to keep getting better at research, not reasons to opt 
out of it. We learn by doing; if we expect to have all the issues of 
legitimacy resolved before we'll consent to give research a try, we'll never 
do it.

>From: "George E. Demetrion" <sophocles5 at juno.com>
>Reply-To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>Subject: [NLA] Practitioner-based research
>Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 09:36:21 -0700
>
>Teacher Research : A Definition
>
>"Systematic intentional inquiry generally emerging from problems of
>practice:  felt discrepancies between intention and reality,
>theory/research and practice; reflexive and referenced to the immediate
>context" Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1993).  Inside/Outside:  Teacher
>Research and Knowledge (pp. 23, 12, fusing quotes)
>
>Eileen, Nancy, Andrea, Art, others!
>
>My understanding is that the basis upon which practitioner-based research
>emerges is critical reflection on experience--a desire to better
>understand it or/and a desire to resolve some perplexity toward the
>construction of something more viable, whether related to instruction,
>training, curriculum development, program management, etc.
>
>Cochran-Smith and Lytle (Inside/Outside:  Teacher Research and Knowledge)
>argue (and I agree) that the bridge from critical reflection to teacher
>research is crossed by what they refer to as "systematic, intentional
>inquiry."  That is, it requires another level of analysis, stemming from
>critical reflection, to be viewed as teacher research, in any canonical
>sense, that then might gain legitimacy as a practitioner-based academic
>discipline as one legitimate aspect of educational research--and such
>legitimacy is critical to the long-term viability of practitioner-based
>research.
>
>One example of both  incipient and actual  practitioner-based research is
>before us on the NLA as folks across the constituency-base critically
>reflect on a broad array of important topics and dialogue and sometimes
>confront each other within almost like a real-time discussion and very
>public format.  That is, we're engaging in forms of practitioner-based
>research just by participating in this forum. When we share messages with
>others, inject them into other situations we are participating in another
>level of critical practitioner-based research.  I've shared some of the
>policy-focused posts with my boss who otherwise would not see them and
>thereby help to tie national and local contexts.  Many are doing the same
>thing.  A more systematic reflection in a formal written format, (which
>I'm currently working on, on the politics of adult literacy
>assessment/accountability issues) of the NLA threads would be another
>example of practitioner-based research, as would utilizing messages for
>staff development or coalition-building purposes.  While all of this is
>going on to some degree, I believe the potential for highly provocative,
>stimulating, important practitioner-based inquiry stemming from the NLA
>has yet to be done and the primary resources are right in front of our
>eyes.
>
>The other basis for practitioner-based research that is right before us
>(so to speak) is our own programs where critical reflection on experience
>is an essential aspect of staying in business.  We experience and
>participate in this critical intelligence all the time:  in creative
>tutoring and classroom encounters, in formal training and staff
>development sessions, in informal and spontaneous discussions with
>colleagues, in staff meetings, in planning sessions, etc.  Gardner's
>multiple intelligences is alive and well in the land of literacy.  While
>a certain degree of this secondary reflection has surely been developed,
>there is much scope for expansion of such research, though the effort
>would need to be deemed legitimate and valuable to push the envelope of
>its potential in showing to the world the incredible intricacy of adult
>literacy education.
>
>What I'm getting from Eileen's message that surely resonates with my own
>understanding, is the importance of being more intentional, deliberate,
>systematic, and organized about this and bringing such collective
>reflection to another threshold for the purposes of improving practice,
>learning from each other, and establishing a research basis, with, for,
>and by the field that has its own products, its own on-going forums for
>knowledge and information exchange, and its own repositories of knowledge
>(archives and archives as a metaphor for knowledge storage).
>
>As stated, a lot of this is going on anyway, though what is still not in
>place is a profound formal understanding of  the value of such research
>stemming from insiders' knowledge, the mettle of which needs to be tested
>within the context of public discourses and linked to broader chains of
>knowledge, communicative networks, and ultimately institutions of power
>and influence.
>
>George Demetrion
>Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford and damned proud of it
>sophocles5 at juno.com
>
>
>________________________________________________________________
>GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
>Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
>Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
>http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
>_______________________________________________
>NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
>http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
>LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
>http://literacytent.org

_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. 
http://www.hotmail.com

_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org