This paper addresses one major question: What unique perspectives and skills does the university researcher, in interaction with the teacher/practitioner, contribute to help a collaborative research/evaluation team identify its research and achieve its goal? Case analysis of a recently completed National Institute of Education Project (Action Research on Change in Schools) has generated several possible responses to this major question. These responses include how the university researcher: contributes to an effective and efficient group process; establishes a norm of support for risk-taking and role-changing; and broadens individual perspectives by probing the practitioners' experience bases. Other subquestions explored in similar fashion include: What responsibility does the researcher have to the reality and practicality of the research to be undertaken? What responsibility does the researcher have to limit the team's research to that which has generalizable results, and to identify and/or ignore side issues which are introduced? (BW)