Mode Of Inquiry Research Articles

Front porch conversations: Methodological innovations to participatory action research and asset-based community development


 
 
 Complex public problems are resistant to top-down, technical solutions creating the need for new and innovative ways of approaching community. In response, many practitioners working in community development organisations have embraced community strengths- or asset-based approaches to community development, including Asset Based Community Development (ABCD). Similarly, those scholars committed to social change have started to include action research/learning and participatory approaches to their research design, including Participatory Action Research (PAR). This article describes a qualitative method that was developed by a non-profit practitioner working for a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and a researcher from a land-grant university in Manhattan, Kansas to operationalise a neighbourhood revitalisation framework with a community conversation series called Front Porch Conversations. The qualitative method developed by the university-nonprofit partnership –called the Front Porch Development Procedure – serves as both a PAR-informed mode of inquiry and an ABCD-informed mode of development. This method provides an example of how university-community partnerships can approach changemaking in novel ways by considering ABCD and PAR approaches.
 
 

A Parsesciencing Inquiry on Feeling Ashamed.

Feeling ashamed is a universal humanuniverse living experience. According to humanbecoming, all persons choose to feel ashamed or not from moment to moment. Therefore, it is significant to discover the newknowings of the phenomenon of feeling ashamed. The investigation method was Parsesciencing, a unique mode of inquiry within the humanbecoming paradigm. The investigation included 10 historians between the ages of 18 and 65 years, who were willing to share their experiences of feeling ashamed. The inquiry stance was: What is the discerning extant moment of the universal humanuniverse living experience of feeling ashamed? The major discovery of this Parsesciencing inquiry was the discerning extant moment: Feeling ashamed is profound agonizing regretfulness with persistent unwelcome recollections arising with desired concealment with distancing affiliations.

Politicizing Data: AI Ethics as a Social Critique of Algorithms

Abstract: The history of AI ethics reflects a mix of competing visions of norms and values for a technological future. While the fundamental tensions within the conceptualization and practice of AI ethics have played out in complex ways, this article examines the weaknesses inherent in trying to examine power from an ethical perspective, as well as to develop social policy from an individualist framework of ethical responsibility. What is needed to fully realize the social critique of AI and guide its legal regulation are theories of value based in social values and theories of technology based in systemic power dynamics. The pursuit of such a critique should also build upon science and technology studies theory and point toward a more critical mode of the social inquiry of technology.

Challenges In Land Title Issuance for Water Assets in The Restructured Water Services Industry

The restructuring of Malaysia’s water services industry, initiated by the Federal Government in 2008, aimed to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework encompassing both water supply and sewerage services. In line with this initiative, Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB) undertook the acquisition of water assets from the state, as part of the National Water Services Industry Restructuring Initiative. The acquisition was conducted based on the one-time book value of the state’s water assets, aligned with their corresponding liabilities. However, this common practice faced technical challenges owing to constraints encountered by the land office, leading to unapproved land alienation applications and subsequent delays in the issuance of titles for the acquired water assets. Despite the significance of the matter, the discourse surrounding water assets, particularly concerning land alienation and title issuance, has received insufficient attention in the existing literature. This research seeks to address the challenges faced by the land office in issuing land titles for water assets within the restructured water services industry. Engaging a qualitative mode of inquiry, content document analysis was employed, utilizing the READ approach, to scrutinize pertinent statutes, acts, policies, and procedures of the land office. The study’s outcomes disclose the existence of fifteen (15) challenges spanning diverse aspects such as government policies, administrative procedures, and the pivotal engagement of land office personnel. Conversely, these challenges also pertain to the activities and contributions of applicants and stakeholders, albeit through indirect channels. By identifying these challenges, key stakeholders, especially the land office and PAAB, can better address problematic applications, expedite the process of land ownership for water assets, and significantly contribute to the overall enhancement of the national initiative restructuring Malaysia’s water supply service industry.

The Anthropocene Obscene: Poetic inquiry and evocative evidence of inequality

AbstractPoetic inquiry is used to highlight contrasting lived experiences of vulnerability and worsening socio‐ecological outcomes among Australia's fastest growing coastal communities. Our approach interweaves multiple participant voices across local and national scales to juxtapose the contrasts of inequality, enmesh social and ecological experiences, and ask reflexive questions of audiences. We offer an evocative portrayal of inequality to the growing body of work demonstrating that unequal and intensifying vulnerabilities are created and sustained through complicated, non‐adaptive and hierarchical social systems. We demonstrate that poetic inquiry can interrogate complex system phenomena and broad concepts, such as the Anthropocene, to distil critical and systemic issues while retaining undeniable connections with the deeply personal implications of socio‐ecological change. Hence, poetic inquiry can serve analytical and descriptive purposes towards an emotional and political aesthetic providing a compelling reorientation from more conventional modes of inquiry and representation. In this study, the misuse of power and privilege in the Anthropocene is reduced and revealed as the Obscene.

A Pilgrim’s Performance: Practical Theology as Convening

Abstract Convening is a mode of practical theology inquiry that stages a counter-performance to the spectacle of prominent logics that order ecclesial life: brand Christianity, silos, and competition. Three parts organize this argument: Part I sets the stage with a preliminary portrait of convening, noting the contextual features of this inquiry. Part II introduces Augustine’s City of God as an interpretive lens to understand convening as a counter-performance to prominent spectacles on display. Part III redescribes convening by combining Augustine’s theological vision of spectacle, performance, latreia, and pilgrimage with the introductory portrait in order to perform what is possible when people of faith gather for collective inquiry.

Managing Change in the Teaching and Learning of Geography in South African FET Classrooms

This paper examined the management of change in the teaching of geography from a teacher-centred to a learner-centred pedagogical approach in order to transform teaching to improve learners’ academic outcomes in Further Education and Training (FET) classrooms. Managing change for this paper means actively making changes to benefit geography education in schools and to provide possible solutions that may be introduced in geography education to improve the quality of teaching and learning specifically changing from traditional methods to more active learner-centred methods of teaching and learning in geography. Underpinned by the interpretive qualitative paradigm and the Transformational Learning Theory, using phenomenology as the mode of inquiry, this paper generated data through semi-structured interviews with three geography teachers and structured classroom observations in three geography classrooms. Data was analysed through thematic analysis. The paper responded to what strategies could be used to promote effective and active learner-centred teaching and learning of geography in FET classrooms. The findings revealed that teaching methods are needed to connect geography curriculum content to learners’ real lives. This meant that teachers needed to use learners’ experience and prior knowledge as the platform for teaching, where they only facilitated and guided learners to take charge of their knowledge construction. In light of the findings, the paper recommends collaborative teaching among teachers and the effective use of technology, teaching aids, and resources in the effective teaching of geography.

Reconfiguring the use of video in qualitative research through practices of filmmaking: A post-qualitative cinematic analysis

The article shows how film can disrupt human-centred discourses about the use of video technology in qualitative research. Inspired in particular by Deleuze's film philosophy, a detailed analysis of an “ordinary” event in an early-childhood institution gestures at some of the possibilities that the manipulation of technology can offer. Filmmaking practices, such as framing, tracking, speed changes, reverse motion and use of sound, shape what counts as “data” and offer alternative modes of analysis that include more-than-human bodies. These playful techniques draw attention to how video technology can play a democratising role in qualitative research by paying more attention to the digital, the sensory and the visual and relying less on language as the mode of enquiry. Grounded in post-qualitative approaches of performativity, we indicate the radical implications of the ontological and epistemological paradigmatic shift in agency and causality when disrupting anthropocentrism in qualitative research.

Editorial

Welcome to the first edition of the LINK Praxis Practice-led Design Research and Global South Journal. Established as an open-access academic journal, LINK Praxis aims to foster critical and innovative thought on practice-led design research practices emanating from the Global South. By bridging practice with academic integrity, we are committed to publishing high-quality, peerreviewed work centred on novelty, soundness, impact, and ethics. In our inaugural issue, we present ten articles that highlight the significance of practice as both an inquiry mode and a result of scholarly research, positioned from Aotearoa New Zealand. This edition celebrates a diverse range of contributors: eight Māori, one Pasifika, and two South American researchers who have collaborated closely with Māori counterparts. Journeying through this volume, readers are invited to engage with the multifaceted layers of Indigenous thought — from the realms of filmmaking and photography to the art of storytelling and performance. Each narrative provides a perspective into Global South’s and the use of creative practice as a methodological approach to scholarly research. The issue serves as an homage to the trailblazers – those who, through innovation and critical thinking, are reshaping the contours of design research with relationships with indigenous knowledge. We invite you to embrace the inevitable metamorphoses, challenges, and prospects that lie on the horizon, working to mould a design future that harmonises ancestral sagacity with design practice.

Is this an e-School? e-Learning Using Information Communication Technologies in South Africa

The study reported on in this paper reviewed the readiness of a specific high school in the township of Soweto to the south of Johannesburg, South Africa, to deliver the curriculum by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), as well as to find the barriers and limitations thereto. For the empirical research, a quantitative mode of inquiry was adopted. A sample of learners and teachers was selected to answer the research questions, using two different questionnaires. The principal responded to a questionnaire on the ICT infrastructure available to establish what the school had in this regard, as well as the skills available to implement pedagogy using ICTs. Data analysis was carried out using a common spreadsheet application and multiple criteria, and the findings are discussed to provide value to, and should be of use to, the stakeholders involved for development purposes. The work discussed in this study covered curriculum topics, as well as lesson planning and reporting. In other words, it covered the process of teaching and learning up to reporting for teachers. A summary of the findings of the research conducted at the high school showed that the school does not have a stable internet connection and more technical support is needed from the government to strengthen the ICT infrastructure to enable the school to fully implement the curriculum using ICTs, compared to using traditional or hybrid methods. These strengthening recommendations include a stable internet connection, ICT staff, to support both e-teachers and e-learners with ICT problems, as well as software to deliver the curriculum. The findings also showed that learners are more comfortable with mobile devices and a little uncomfortable using computers for learning, which means that some aspects of e-learning requirements are not met, and it is very difficult to achieve some of the curriculum goals using mobile devices.

Theorizing together

ABSTRACT The article outlines ideas for a methodology of collaborative theorizing. The first part introduces our understanding of theorizing as a craft that provides all scholars in the social sciences and humanities – not just self-described theorists – with the ability to develop their thinking in the course of the research process and draws attention to everyday research practices that are usually not covered by the literature on qualitative and quantitative research methods. ‘Theorizing together,’ as part of this craft, can be understood as a synergetic mode of theory-making geared to harnessing the advantages of everyday collaboration. The second part makes the case for a methodology of theorizing together built on personal experiences. First, we review our own research on rankings to show how collaborative practices allowed us to gain novel insights into an object of study, which would not have been possible had we done our research separately. Then, we offer preliminary ideas for a methodology. Specifically, we identify a number of practices involved in theorizing together and discuss various challenges and conditions associated with it. Our main goal is to inspire others to share their experience with collaborative work and, in the spirit of theorizing together, to further develop this mode of collective inquiry.

Is that ethical? An exploration of political scientists’ views on research ethics

What do political scientists think about research ethics? What research practices do they find acceptable? Using a survey conducted with the American Political Science Association, we explore perceptions of ethics among 362 political scientists. We find that political scientists do not place much relative weight on ethics when evaluating research. We do, however, find that researchers view different modes of inquiry as having different potential harms. Furthermore, using a conjoint experiment, we find that factors like author affiliation, study location, method, and sample size shape evaluations of study ethicality. Our results contribute to the growing body of metascience by expanding understanding of ethics in political science research.

A Parsesciencing Inquiry on Feeling Trusted.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the universal humanuniverse living experience of feeling trusted using Parsesciencing, which is a unique mode of inquiry within the humanbecoming paradigm. The inquiry stance was: What is the discerning extant moment of the universal humanuniverse living experience of feeling trusted? Historians were 10 individuals who were age 18 and older living in the community. The discerning extant moment of feeling trusted, the major discovery of this Parsesciencing inquiry, was: Feeling trusted is serene uplifting recognition with dedicated affiliations arising with assuredness-unassuredness in venturing onward.

Philosophy and psychedelics: Frameworks for exceptional experience

AbstractThe intersection between philosophy and psychedelics is explored in the book “Philosophy and Psychedelics: Frameworks for Exceptional Experience”. The authors aim to develop a dialogue between the two disciplines and explore the various frameworks for understanding exceptional experiences that psychedelics have afforded human beings. The book delves into foundational, ontological, and epistemological questions, including the hard problem of consciousness, the metaphysical understanding of the self, and the aesthetic meaning of the sublime in psychedelic experience. The book provides valuable exploration of questions concerning prevailing metaphysical frameworks, epistemic belief structures, and modes of inquiry, and the effort made by the authors to bring into dialogue multiple dialectics and practices, perspectives and methods is commendable.

Eight Moments in the History of Qualitative Research

This article provides an overview of the history of qualitative research, from its origins in colonial ethnographies to the development of formalized methods, and the pluralism and interpretive approaches of the blurred genres period. The article also discusses the challenges and controversies faced by qualitative research in the present and future, leading to the rise of new approaches such as mixed-method research and critical conversations about diversity, moral discourse, and global society. The article also describes the three perspectives used to classify research: application, objective, and mode of inquiry. Qualitative research is a method of scientific inquiry that uses data collection and analysis, primarily focused on understanding an issue or solving a problem. The article explores the eight moments of qualitative research development as identified in 'The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research', from the traditional phase to the fractured future. Each moment is characterized by a different paradigm, ontology, and methodology, and has been influenced by key contributors such as Bronislaw Malinowski and Margaret Mead.
 Finally, the article highlights the growing importance of qualitative research in the field of social science research, which is now considered equal to quantitative research. The mixed method approach, which links both quantitative and qualitative research, has also gained popularity. The article concludes by emphasizing the value of scientific inquiry and the importance of understanding the world around us in all its complexity and diversity.

Zooming in on Dewey, Democracy, and Subjectivity in Postdigital Education

AbstractDigital tools, such as video conference technology, are currently transforming people’s behaviour, social relations, and learning processes in higher education. But the digital tools used in teaching and learning are also part of a dynamic capitalism. This article focuses on democracy and subjectivity in higher education and outlines a critical approach in this context. I revisit John Dewey’s philosophy to reflect on digital tools and the goals of education in a democratic society. Published more than a century ago, Dewey’s seminal bookDemocracy and Educationis relevant as a constructive approach to combining learning, experience, habits, and tools. Dewey argued that dualisms between mind and matter, knowledge and nature, undermine a democratic society. For Dewey, a society would require communication and the sharing of experiences whilst education would require democratic aims beyond the individual. Yet the contemporary challenges include a ‘digital gaze’ where the technology makes subjects more visible and observed. Foucault’s analytics of power thus becomes a constructive supplement to Dewey’s focus on participation and modes of inquiry to fully examine subjectivity and democracy in postdigital higher education.

Hopeful new worlds: Narrating another Maputo at the interface between visceral experience of place and visceral empathy

There is a certain lure to storied alternatives of the future, whether hopeful or otherwise, which rests on their potential to unsettle particular ways of dwelling and narrating the city. In this paper, we draw on visceral geographies and speculative fiction to stage a critical and imaginative exploration of Maputo's streetscapes. Through an empirical focus on the sites of Polana Caniço A, the Marginal, and Triunfo, we reflect on the changing relations between the body and the streetscape, as to the clues they offer about more hopeful futures. Based on the explored affordances of the streetscape, we propose a speculative fiction vignette that unveils new modes of ordering and cohabitation redolent with the workings of counter-cities and their potentialities. In the concluding part, we further the counter-cities line of thinking by reflecting on the transformative potential of speculative fiction as a critical mode of enquiry.

Dorothy Smith’s Legacy of Social Theorizing: Introduction

In 1992, Barbara Laslett and Barrie Thorne organized a symposium in Sociological Theory with the aim of tearing down a “wall of silence” between feminist theory and the mainstream of sociological theorizing. For help, the editors turned to the work of Dorothy E. Smith, the renowned theoretician and methodologist. Smith’s theorizing today carries even greater appeal, having expanded from a sociology for women to a sociology for people. This wider scope never sacrifices her project’s theoretical versatility and nimbleness and disdain for abstraction. In offering a critical tribute to Smith, who passed away in June 2022 at the age of 95, the present symposium invited three scholars—Paige Sweet, Rebecca Lund, and Marjorie DeVault—to share new reflections on the legacy of Smith’s powerful mode of inquiry.

Molding the Fear: Representations of Fatherhood in Clay by Violent Men

This article presents an artistic inquiry among three students during an art-based research course in the art therapy master’s program at Ono Academy, Israel. Their collaboration focused on composing inquiry modes that could explore paternal representations of violent men that arise in artmaking with clay. Three fathers who took part in an abuse-prevention art therapy group, their group facilitator as a witness, and the three student-researchers participated in the project. The paper focuses on the research method that comprised artmaking with clay, a questionnaire, observations, and discussions. Two main themes arose within the study: coexisting contrasts and false perfection as well as a gained sense of success and assurance that could project onto their perceptions of parenting. The project highlights the significance of artmaking with clay as a research tool and as a potential prophylactic treatment for preventing domestic violence.

Experiential criticism: a methodology for researching experience in education

ABSTRACT This work presents experiential criticism as a methodology for researching experience in education. The approach draws on elements of pragmatism, phenomenology, ethnography, and educational criticism and connoisseurship and was developed through a study of the adventure education experience. It is comprised of three modes of inquiry: (1) observation of others in experience, (2) conversation about experience, and (3) participation in experience. The use of all three modes positions the researcher to arrive at an empirically corroborated understanding of the experience. This methodology contributes to the body of methods necessary to centre experience in educational research.