Facilitating Practitioner Research

This book addresses the complex dilemmas and issues that arise from the contribution made to practitioner inquiry. Facilitating practitioner research is far more than providing advice upon methods which may be adopted, or even modelling research practices and drawing attention to appropriate resources and theories. It also requires the evolution of strong reciprocal partnerships that will contribute to professional knowledge formation in both the academy and the field. When such engagement is undertaken then matters associated with authentic ‘praxis development’ for field based and academic practitioners emerge. The authors explore how a transformative partnership requires particular professional attitudes of practitioners and academic researchers and show how it should result in three integrated areas of knowledge: the ideological, the empirical and the technical. The text draws upon extensive case studies from The Netherlands, Sweden and Australia which not only to illustrate and illuminate, but also highlight contradictions and tensions and serve to surface issues related to the quality of the partnerships between the academy and the field and the ways in which quality impacts upon practice. These varying social geographies also allow a discussion of different intellectual traditions, belief systems, problem settings, questions, and discourses

Doing Practitioner Research focuses on helping practitioners conduct research in their own organisations, and attention is given to the best methods for doing this effectively and sensitively. The authors also attend to the theoretical, political and organisational context of doing research, as well as addressing the ethical and practical issues of undertaking research. The authors cover in detail the range of skills and techniques necessary to make a successful start to the process of becoming an effective practitioner researcher. This is an ideal text for growing number of practitioners working in health, education and social care who are undertaking research. Fox et al have provided the perfect introduction to why practitioners are in the unique position to conduct research that actually improves professional practice. This book will be essential reading for those professionals/practitioners engaged in research in their own organisation or undertaking a post-graduate qualification in Health, Social Care, or Education.

Work-based learning routes are a versatile and innovative way to gain higher education qualifications. This book reflects that flexibility and prepares tutors for helping work-based students learn in a variety of ways at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Offering practical information and advice, the book covers the major aspects of work-based learning, which include: - Accreditation of prior learning (APL) - Work-based projects - Learning agreements - Relevant innovative assessment methods - Quality assurance and enhancement mechanisms - How technology can be utilised as a learning tool. Featuring activities, case studies and useful hints and tips informed by a range of international scholars, it's the ideal companion for tutors of work-based learning students.

Action Learning is based on the simple idea that leaders and managers learn best by working together in a group, helping each other find solutions to real work problems through discussions. Facilitating Action Learning is a clear, concise and straightforward guide to this well-established leadership and management development technique.

This book is a guide to research methods for practitioner research. Written in friendly and accessible language, it includes numerous practical examples based on the authors′ own experiences in the field, to support readers. The authors provide information and guidance on developing research skills such as gathering and analysing information and data, reporting findings and research design. They offer critical perspectives to help users reflect on research approaches and to scrutinise key issues in devising research questions. This book is for undergraduate and postgraduate students, teachers and practitioners in practitioner research development and leadership programmes. The team of authors are all within the School of Education at the University of Glasgow and have significant experience of working with practitioner researchers in education.

Revealing Nursing Expertise Through Practitioner Inquiry explores and reveals the often hidden workings of ‘expert practitioners’. It provides valuable insights into developing practice expertise and how expert nursing practice is a key influence on health care practice. The authors present evidence around the interconnected components needed to facilitate, support and enable nurses in their practice settings through a transformational framework used to further develop and refine nursing practice expertise. Part 1 explores the current context of practice expertise and the process of practitioner inquiry. Part 2 examinplores the evidence for practice expertise, using exemplars from the extensive ‘Expertise in Practice Project’. This includes perspectives of practitioners developing their expertise in diverse areas of clinical practice as well as of from those who facilitate practitioners to develop and articulate their practice expertise. Part 3 explores the development of portfolios of evidence that demonstrate expertise, examines models and approaches to facilitation and provides a toolkit of resources. Revealing Nursing Expertise Through Practitioner Inquiry provides important evidence to support the claim that expert nurses change patients’ worlds as well as transforming practice, workplace performance and organisational wide service developments. Provides a framework for exploring and developing nursing expertise Enables nurses to articulate their expertise and examine their own practice Offers practical guidance on facilitating inquiry based practitioners Draws on results of the RCN Expertise in Practice project Written collaboratively by practitioners, practice developers and nurse academics