Theory in the Context of Collaborative Inquiry

Abstract

Collaborative practices that bring researchers and community participants together are favored by a social constructionist meta-theory. Specific features of research activity in the human sciences are discussed relevant to the contributions of theory to collaborative practice. It is argued that collaborative practice consists of alternating movements between two modes of action. In the first mode, the present, the past and the future of a local field are grasped and problem-solving is initiated. In this mode, action is largely based on tacit forms of understanding. In the second mode, the tacit assumptions are recognized in the past tense and thus become explicit. In the first mode, a theory helps facilitate the movement by deepening the understanding of a field and developing a policy or a plan. In the second mode, a theory can logically express the tacit assumptions, relocate recognition and practice in the previous or first mode, and reveal useful new directions for action in a newly emerging first mode. It is further argued that collaborative practice in a local field can be linked with action in other local fields, thus giving rise to inter-local practices. Theoretical abstractions can be used to translate concrete activities in such a way that activities in spatially and temporally removed situations are illuminated.

Evolution of the Links between Research and Applications in Psychology across the United States and France: Illustrations and Consequences of an Endless Conflict

“…The tying together of practices and conceptual models implies that without conceptual reflexivity there can be no transferable practices to contribute to the development of knowledge; by the same token, without practices there can be no theory, only intellectualisations that idealise the possible applications of theory. As our brief historical review shows, this, indeed, is the fundamental difference between an applied psychology in the service of utilitarian pragmatism and a practical psychology that allows for basic research in the field (Sugiman, 2006;Santiago-Delefosse, 2012). …”

“…These authors argued that practices produce new knowledge through their effects in context and that analyses of practices produce new learning and new models (Semmer, 1993;Sugiman, 2006).…”

Adaptive Process for SMART Community Governance under Persistent Disruptive Risks

“…Since then, the author has been conducting communitybased field studies in Chizu, in close collaboration with social scientists led by Sugiman (2001Sugiman ( , 2006; see also Okada and Sugiman 1996;Kawahara and Sugiman 2003). The field studies are characterized by transdisciplinary research challenges, and strategically designed to be a three decade-long evidence-based investigation and systematic documentation of the three decade-long process of machizukuri, a unique resident-led participatory approach characterized by the revitalization challenges of their local communities and a step-by-step transformation of their social systems.…”

“…At the initiation of Stage 2, the participating communities in the same valley (called district) had already set up their self-governance body, Zero-to-One District Community PPA. Importantly, with such PPAs, people now have an institutional platform to become engaged in the small-change (transformation) project (for this Zero-to-One Movement approach see also Sugiman 2006).…”

Aviation with fraternal twin wings over the Asian context: Using nomothetic epistemic and narrative design paradigms in social psychology

“…Second, I propose that different research perspectives in social psychology may be considered as fraternal twins, and describe where each of the twins is heading. Third, I introduce two modes of research activities based on Sugiman (2006), and examine the twin in both modes of research. Finally, I come back to the issues raised above and propose that we should expand two wings, especially, the second wing over the Asian context.…”