Please join us on this learning romp, which includes anarchists, discomfort, flying projectiles, Ministries of Truth, anger, and naked emperors. This paper is an example of, and a reflection on, the praxis of Participatory Action Research as a way of life. It is the result of a reflective conversation between two researchers. We got together in…

In this case study, I provide the methodologic approaches I used to investigate four in-service biology teachers' perspectives when using science instruction to address racial stereotypes within secondary science education. This case study provides practical advice for novice qualitative researchers who wish to conduct and design an intervention…

Having insider status at an organization under study can present a researcher with benefits and challenges. Insider researchers may have access to honest dialogue with study participants but may also be vulnerable to uncomfortable conversations and organizational conflicts. Insider researchers also have to contend with their own biases they bring…

Within the complex processes and mechanisms underlying knowledge creation, researchers tend to give due recognition to the role, positioning and prior experiences of the researcher who is ultimately the author of research and creator of a new knowledge. This case study focuses on the issues of insiderness and outsiderness as methodological tools…

Many educational researchers have experienced challenges in obtaining ethics approval. This article explores some of the reasons why this is the case, looking specifically at the participatory action research methodology. The authors' experience of seeking ethics approval for a project intended to introduce peer review as an enhancement process is…

This case is based on the research project I conducted for my PhD dissertation. The research objectives were to examine the process of cultural knowledge creation and to address the role of social capital in this process. While many studies discuss global social capital and its role in the development of global mindset and expatriate adjustments…

When embarking on ethnographic fieldwork, a researcher must carefully consider how to present oneself when entering the field. Presentations of self become particularly important when the culture under study maintains narrowly defined expectations for personal appearance and behavior. The more defined the expectations, the more important it is for…

This article critically examines the implementation of Exploratory Practice in an English for academic purposes (EAP) context in a British university. The innovation involved challenges as well as opportunities for uniting learning, teaching and research. Particular emphasis is given to two teachers, who are the focus of this article: the story of…

A commonsense problematic positions comparative researchers as either inside or outside cultures, or their situation is considered so as to acknowledge cultural fluidity and fragmentation. This article rejects the objectivism of these positions to provide a relational account. Using the lens of social practice theory, comparative pedagogy is…

We explore how the participatory, literary arts-based methodology of collective poetic inquiry can facilitate awareness of, and insight into polyvocality in educational research. Using found poetry and haiku poetry, we present a poetic performance in which we engage with diverse voices that manifest in multiple data sources: a student…

The development of pedagogies to meet the needs of diverse communities can be supported through inter-professional practice development. This article explores one such experience, that of speech and language therapists developing a new video-based coaching approach for teachers and teaching assistants in multi-cultural settings with high numbers…

This paper examines theoretical linkages between Anzaldua's borderland scholarship, in particular the notion of mestiza consciousness, and participatory action research. Two studies with high school and college co-researchers falling along different points of the PAR spectrum are described to illustrate these conceptual linkages. Points in the…

O'Connor and Penuel (2010) argue that viewing research in education as a human science requires explicit attention to social, cultural, historical, and institutional dimensions of human activity, to the agency of participants in learning research, and to the importance of incorporating "emic" perspectives that shift the voice of the…

Drawing on research supported within the Scottish "Applied Educational Research Scheme" this paper explores the use of the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) in developing "communities of enquiry" in Scottish education and research. It focuses on the role of VREs in influencing collaborative working and educational research.…

This article describes research with schoolteachers using participatory methods and reflective practice. These approaches have been used to enable teachers to establish their practice needs in relation to education for sustainability (EfS) and also maintain the integrity of their subject disciplines. The participatory methods are derived from…