Action Research

[Sirin Bernshausen]

Hello Jamie,

I am sorry for the delayed reply, but I really wanted to add my perspective to the discussion on Open Space and action research. 

For my PhD I am using a systemic action research (SAR) approach which I am particularly fond of because emergence and intuition are built into the research process. Several strands of inquiry are pursued alongside. Different kinds of knowledge – experiential, analytical, etc. – are co-generated among researcher and research participants. Evidence can come in various forms, including maps, stories, statistics, images, film or questionnaires. It just makes so much sense to combine systemic thinking with action research. Similarly, I am not interested in doing research just for its own sake. I prefer to conduct a form of research that contributes to increased knowledge and understanding of an issue while enhancing social transformation and whole system change. 

Since my research still is in its early stages and because of its emergent nature I cannot say an awful lot about the details yet. However, in a nutshell, I explore ways of enhancing attitude/behaviour change and facilitating resilience management in the context of climate change/peak oil. Initiatives like Transition Towns are use Open Space in order to engage people and plan for local resilience and energy descent.  Danny Burns, author of Systemic Action Research, explicitly mentions Open Space, World Café and similar ‘large-scale events’ for developing action inquiry strands that may run alongside or even develop into major inquiry streams. Large-scale events are particularly useful for opening up new inquiry questions, testing resonance of issues (whether they are sufficiently relevant to deserve further investigation), to generate a systemic (i.e. diverse, multi-faceted) picture of views and opinions and to tap the collective wisdom present within a system. 
For my own research, I plan to use Open Space mainly for generating new issues and for resonance testing. In addition to Open Space I carry out semi-structured in-depth interviews with ‘change agents’, explore public perceptions of global uncertainties and experiment with different workshop designs. 

Besides my PhD research I am also involved in a cooperative inquiry process – a variant of action research – where we map and reflect on the scope, nature and impact of conversations people have about ‘vulnerability’ and ‘resilience’. What I like about cooperative inquiry (and action research in general) is that it is a participatory methodology which respects the agency and intelligence of individuals as capable researchers rather than viewing research as the preserve of trained professionals. In my opinion, this corresponds very much with the basic premises underlying Open Space and similar methods. This type of inquiry can at times be rather cumbersome and it may not produce the type of ‘hard factual knowledge’ that conventional (positivist) researchers like to see. Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing - findings may be more ambiguous but they are very rich and (in my view) much more in line with ‘reality’ and how people make sense of the world. Plus, doing an Open Space on, say, energy descent may generate valuable insights into people’s thoughts and degree of awareness, while simultaneously changing people’s views and attitudes. I thus hope to both enhance and document positive social change.

For my MA thesis I have explored Open Space as a form of conflict resolution (i.e.  I just wrote about Open Space but I did not put it into practice - something I'd certainly do differently today!).  Jamie - I'd be very interested to learn more about your ideas and the evolution of your research ...


Cheers, Sirin


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Betreff:  [OSLIST] Action Research  Von:  Jamie Snook <jamiesnook at YAHOO.COM>     
An:  OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU  Datum:  28.11.08 14:27:28 Uhr 

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this list. I am a MA candidate from Royal Roads University in 
Conflict Analysis and Management. The ideas of systems thinking are less 
that 6 months old to me and recently I took the step of hosting a staff 
systems retreat for 25 staff members of the Labrador Metis Nation where I 
am the General Manager. 

We used Appreciative Inquiry, World Cafe and of course Open Space. The 
results were great and outside the scope of this email. I am just curious 
to see how well this Listserv works.

I'd be interested to hear views from people on the use of Open Space to 
conduct thesis and or PHD research. I have ideas for my MA thesis and 
thinking Open Space might be a fun way to do the research.

I am also wondering if anyone is conducting Open Space sessions or events 
online using forums or other technology?

Thank you :-)

Jamie


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