Living Life as Inquiry – a Systemic Practice for Change Agents

Abstract

The practical orientation of action research, together with its embedded and participative principles, means it is particularly suited to complex, interconnected questions and ‘real life’ systemic issues. In the realm of first-person action research, Judi Marshall’s (1999) influential article “Living Life as Inquiry” described how such research can extend to one’s whole life whereby professional and personal questions can be set within politically relevant frames. Over the past two decades, many students and researchers have worked with and drawn much imaginative inspiration from the idea of living life as inquiry (LLI). However little has been written to describe how the practice develops and the many forms it can take. This article draws on our extensive experience as inquirers ourselves and as educators, working with students and change agents motivated to address social and environmental concerns. Twenty years after the original article we have conducted a reflective review that included surveying the literature, and working in depth with a range of stories and current practices. From this comes a textured expansion of the language and practice of living life as inquiry as it is approached from the specificity of people’s lives. Through narrative and visual textures, we present views into the many different ways LLI is developed through day-to-day practices of experimentation, data gathering, artistic exploration, intervention and reflection. We explore what this means for quality in the enactment of inquiry. The article draws particular attention to the embodied nature of inquiry and seeks to capture its fleeting, processual quality.

Women's career in Vietnamese academia: An analysis from multiple lenses

“…Therefore, this study also functions as a "decolonial critique" as gender (de)construction change their forms and their degree of intensity across communities (Alcoff, 2017, p. 23). By exploring the different forms of femininities in Vietnam, this study contributes to the multiple ways of knowing (Gearty & Marshall, 2020) by expanding global understanding of the complexity of the process of gender construction and women's key roles played in this process.…”

Living Theory Action Research: A Methodology for Improvement in Practice and Generation of Knowledge in Education

“…Living theory action research has been emerging as a popular discipline in response to the social science forms of action research (Gearty & Marshall, 2020). Any quality action research has both a disciplined process of intervention and a quality avenue to communicate the findings of the research (Hughes et al, 1998).…”

“…The basic underlying philosophical difference between action research and living theory action research is in the ontological assumptions (Whitehead & McNiff, 2006). While action research separates the position of the researcher and the researched by limiting the responsibility of the researcher to create the action plans to implement, living theory action research provides the researcher with the freedom to incorporate their values and find a common ground to negotiate between their desire to improve themselves with that of the others who wish to do the same (Gearty & Marshall, 2020;Manfra, 2019). The integrity of living theory action research, which Marshall (2005) terms as "first-person action research," addresses the ability of the researchers to hold an inquiry into their own lives, explore their practices, and provide a point of reference and accountability as they periodically check back to their dialectical engagement.…”

“…Self-study practitioner inquiry is characterized by the inquiry of the roles of the self in the research project or the transformation of the institution through written reflections as well as critical conversations before, during, and after the action project (Kitchen & Stephens, 2005). Gearty and Marshall (2020) argue that self-study practitioner inquiry is "first-person action research" where the inquirers are the aspiring change agents for the systemic practice who have the responsibilities to pay heed to what they are doing. Wood et al (2007) argue that sustainable transformation is possible only at the micro-level if we question our own practices to ensure the representative value of the institution.…”

Achieving person-centred care through a team-based care ecosystem approach

“…To improve this TBC work, we leveraged an insider, actionoriented approach to systematically lead practice changes and build our expertise in TBC implementation. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Action research uses iterative cycles of look-think-act to structure engaged, evidence-informed improvement. [9][10][11] After our first two orientations in 2018/19, we organized these experiences into a TBC framework.…”