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Beyond researching by doing: engaging with existing research

Beyond researching by doing: engaging with existing research. Ann-Marie Bathmaker brille, UWE Bristol Ann-Marie.Bathmaker@uwe.ac.uk Seminar presentation at the South West Learning & Skills Research Network Conference on 8 July 2010 at the Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre, Near Totnes.

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Beyond researching by doing: engaging with existing research

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  1. Beyond researching by doing: engaging with existing research Ann-Marie Bathmaker brille, UWE Bristol Ann-Marie.Bathmaker@uwe.ac.uk Seminar presentation at the South West Learning & Skills Research Network Conference on 8 July 2010 at the Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre, Near Totnes. Brille: Bristol Research Centre in Lifelong Learning and Education

  2. Introduction and overview • Why engage with existing research and literature? • Reading research • Where to find existing research • Doing ‘critical’ practitioner research • Conclusions

  3. Read more, do less A research paper some years ago argued that the proliferation of research publications had not improved what we know, as researchers often missed the step of finding out what we already know. The paper advised that researchers read more and write less. I failed to find the source, but what I did find via Google was the following ….

  4. Calculate Your BMI: Blogger Mass Index The Blogger Mass Index, or BMI, is the ratio of your blogging input to blog output. The higher your ratio, the greater your ability to craft unique and compelling content, attract subscribers and links, and build a reputation for excellence within your community. Courtesy of Chris Marshall’s website ‘Martial Development’ http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/read-more-write-less-the-key-to-blogging-growth/

  5. Here is my adaptation of the BMI Calculate Your RMI: Researcher Mass Index The Researcher Mass Index, or RMI, is the ratio of your research input to research output. The higher your ratio, the greater your ability to connect your research to wider research and debates, to attract interest, and build a reputation for excellence within your community.

  6. Researcher Mass Index (2) To calculate your RMI: • Count the research sources that you read and which influenced your last piece of research. Reading a government report or an evaluation report earns you one point. Reading a research article or a research book gets three points. • Divide the total (above) by the number of pages in your research report/paper.

  7. Researcher Mass Index (3) If your RMI is 10 or above:Congratulations! Your hunger for knowledge should ensure that your research forms part of wider research ‘conversations’. Locating your work in a wider historical, social and political context through connections with previous research will educate your readers, as well as serving as a catalyst for developing and improving your own practice. If your RMI is 1 or below: You are researching in isolation, suffering from research amnesia, and your work is soon to be forgotten amongst the endless examples of isolated data gathering with no connections to what we know already. Sorry! If your RMI is somewhere in between: Consider reallocating your time, to improve your research quality. Prioritize learning about other research over doing a lot of data-gathering.  Read more, do less.  Your own readers will thank you for it.

  8. Why read more, ‘do’ less? C. Wright Mills (1959) The sociological imagination • ‘I do not like to do empirical work if I can possibly avoid it.’ (205) • ‘it is foolish to design a field study if the answer can be found in a library’ (205)Wright Mills, C. (1970 [1959]) The Sociological Imagination, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

  9. Working through problems For C. Wright Mills, sociological work involved working through problems. His view was that this could be done through reasoning and critical interrogation of material which would only involve empirical enquiry where problems required further evidence for clarification.

  10. Why read more, do less? • Putting the ‘critical’ into engaging in research • Avoiding the culture of the ‘now’ and research amnesia • Researching WITH other ideas • Researching THROUGH engagement with others, by reading about critical practitioner-research practices

  11. What do we mean by engaging with research? • “Doing” research • Talking about research • Reading research • Critiquing research • Using research to inform practice (including research practice) • Using research to develop, clarify, and understand the theories and values which underlie our practices

  12. Research is hard work Barker, G. (2004) The development of a research culture in a specialist Art and Design College. www.adm.heacademy.ac.uk/library/files/adm-hea-projects/heinfereport.pdf Jones, R. (2006) Scholarly Activity in the context of HE in FE. http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/HEinFE/pub.htm Minty, I. (2007) Developing research capabilities in FE lecturers through practitioner led action research. http://escalate.ac.uk/1503 Hillier, Y. and Jameson, J. (2003) Empowering Researchers in FE, Stoke on Trent: Trentham.

  13. Maximising the reading process Strategies for reading research: SQ3R • SURVEY • QUESTION • READ • RECALL • REVIEW

  14. Where to find existing research • Books, including e-books • Journal, including e-journals • Libraries (yes they do still exist, and your institution may have one) • Publishers’ catalogues • Other people’s lists of references • Researchers’ web pages • Google scholar and other websites

  15. What do we know already?L&S relevant organisations • The Learning and Skills Network http://www.lsrc.ac.uk/ http://www.lsnlearning.org.uk/ • An extensive publications list from The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education http://www.niace.org.uk/

  16. What do we know already?Significant academic research • ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programmehttp://www.tlrp.org/index.html Including Further and post-16 education, workplace learning, lifelong learning Just one example: the Transforming Learning Cultures ProjectDavid James and Gert Biesta (eds) (2007) Improving Learning Cultures in Further Education, London: Routledge.

  17. What do we know already?Research by CETLs 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learninghttp://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/tinits/cetl/ For example: • University of Central Lancashire The Centre for Employability Through the Humanities (CETH) • Central School of Speech and Drama Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre • Coventry University CIPeL - The Centre for Inter-Professional e-Learning Centre of Excellence for Product and Automotive Design (CEPAD)

  18. What do we know already?Research by HEA subject centres 24 Higher Education Academy (HEA) subject centres http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/research • HEA Subject Centre for Art and Design HE in FE projects http://www.adm.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/adm-hea-projects/he-in-fe-projects • HEA Subject Centre for Education (ESCalate) http://escalate.ac.uk/ • HEA Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/HEinFE/pub.htm • HE in FE webpage http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/universitiesandcolleges/heinfe

  19. What do we know already?Examples of other research websites CUREE (Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education) http://www.curee-paccts.com/learning-and-skills BEI (British Education Index) http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bei/index.html An independent subject and author index of the contents of significant education journals published in the UK. Includes free collections such as Education-line, which holdsthe full text of conference papers, working papers and other electronic literature. Education-line contains for example, the conference papers from SCUTREA and BERA conferences. EEP The UK Educational Evidence Portal http://www.eep.ac.uk/DNN2/ Database of educational evidence from a range of ‘reputable UK sources’, designed for both professional and lay people interested in education and children's services.

  20. What do we know already?Government and government agencies’ research websites BIS and DCSF Research and Statistics http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/index.shtml Wide range of reports produced in-house and commissioned, for DIUS/BIS and DCSF. Currently still in existence HEFCE http://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/heinfe/pubs.htm Higher education in further education colleges: supporting publications and information

  21. Critical practitioner research “Doing” research involves: • Seeking out literature, reading critically, learning from current and previous research, and then developing own projects out of understandings that are rooted in building on what is known • Arguing, debating, theorising, collaborating with other researchers and practitioners - engaging in conversation with other research/ers • Developing a values and theory base for own research

  22. Conclusions • If we want to develop critically engaged practitioner research, then engaging with research involves:reading as well as doingengaging with ideasrelating ideas to practices • This may mean an invitation to “do” less and read more.

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