Methodologies for Practice Research

Approaches for Professional Doctorates

Carol Costley, John Fulton, Carol Costley, John Fulton

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781473991606
  9781473991590
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526453334
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

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Sharp and focused, this book provides the need-to-know information on how to design and implement a good, high quality research project.

Oriented around real-world application, it emphasizes the aspects of research most relevant to conducting practice-based research. Assuming no prior knowledge, but appropriate for experienced learners, it builds knowledge at a sustainable pace.  

It offers readers:

- A no frills guide to methodology and the theory of conducting research

- Strategies for communicating complex ideas

- Insight into common impact-driven methods like action research, case study, and mixed methods  

- Ways to develop systematic research projects within the boundaries of everyday working life

- Ample opportunities to test and apply newfound knowledge.

With streamlined advice tailored specifically to support research in professional contexts, this book is the essential toolkit every researcher who is embarking on a practice-led project needs.

Part I Underlying Principles

1 Philosophy and Practice – Why Does This Matter?

T. W. Maxwell

Key Terms

• Transdisciplinarity: a range of disciplines which come together to give particular focus; this synergy is more than a collection of approaches but can actually take on a life of its own.
• Phronesis: concerns practical wisdom and is rational and ethical, associated with the right action in a real situation.
• Phronimos: a person who has the type of intelligence concerned with practical wisdom.
• Techne: the closest to this Greek word is ‘craftsmanship’, that is the ways in which practical knowledge is enacted.
• Mode 1 knowledge: refers to knowledge which is particular to a discipline or disciplinary approach.
• Mode 2 knowledge: refers to knowledge which is generated through addressing problems or issues which occur in practice and as such it tends to draw from a range of disciplines and approaches.

Introduction

Those who are approaching (or doing) practice-based research need to understand the tradition, the philosophical underpinning, of that work. This is especially the case where the neophyte researcher is most likely to think of research in the most common tradition of unidisciplinary work governed by laws, as is the case in the vast majority of PhDs. As will be discussed below, one way of understanding this is to think of such research as mode 1 (see below). In contrast, professional doctorate (PD) research is more often mode 2 and as such is transdisciplinary. Each has its own philosophical tradition.

The work of Gibbons et al. (1994) was an important breakthrough for many interested in doctoral education as it clarified and crystallised the otherwise implied distinctions between the PhDs and the PDs that were being addressed in the early years (1990s). However, recent research by Flood (2011a), discussed below, has shown that the work of Gibbons et al. can be thought of as one of the more recent developments of a long-standing and important thread in philosophical thought.

The rise of PDs in Australia and elsewhere in the last two decades or more has led to a reconsideration of the nature of doctoral education and an interest in practice-based research. There is not always clarity about the nature of PDs despite their being on the scene for more than 20 years. For example, Scott et al. (2004) in their UK-based study of PDs in three professions found four kinds: disciplinary, technical rational, dispositional and critical. Of these the first two are more usually linked to the PhD and the latter two to the PD. In Australia, despite a ‘crisis discourse’ on the PhD (e.g. Cuthbert and Molla, 2015) and the critique of the place of PDs in doctoral education (e.g. Evans et al., 2005), PDs are in a reasonably healthy state. For example, Kot and Hendel (2012) report the emergence and growth of PDs in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom as well as in Australia. However, in Australia, there has been a decline in awards associated with the standard professions, for example the EdD, and a phenomenal increase in niche PDs (Maxwell, 2011). Clearly, though, PDs are part of the higher education landscape (Lee et al., 2000; Kot and Hendel, 2012; Costley, 2013).

PDs, then, are an important arena for doctoral research in the professions. PDs are also an important addition to university awards because they provide the site for practice-based research at a high level. Practice-based work is embodied in professional practice sometimes producing new knowledge which Gibbons et al. (1994) term mode 2 knowledge production. Mode 2 knowledge is generated through addressing problems or issues which occur in practice and as such it tends to draw from a range of disciplines and approaches. An exploration of these concepts form the first sections of this chapter which is followed by an outline of the relevant Flood (2011a) research on ancient to recent philosophical bases for PD work. The chapter concludes with a consideration of some implications that follow from this line of reasoning. Firstly we should clarify some definitions.

Key Definitions

The relevant definition of ‘profession’ in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (COD) is ‘vocation or calling especially one that involves some branch of learning or science’ and this is consistent with both the definitions of PDs that follow. However, it is important to note that the COD definition appears quite narrow in the face of the recent growth of cutting-edge professional work involving more than one kind of professional knowledge (see niche doctorates, Maxwell, 2011). In Australia the definition of the PD is taken as follows:

A program of research, scholarship and advanced study which enables candidates to make a significant contribution to knowledge and practice in their professional context. In doing so, a candidate may also contribute more generally to scholarship within the discipline or field of study. Professional Doctorate students should be required to apply their research and study to problems, issues or other matters of substance which produce significant benefits in professional practice. (CDDGS, 1998, 1; my emphasis)

The definition in the United Kingdom is as follows:

A Professional Doctorate is a programme of advanced study and research which, whilst satisfying the University criteria for the award of a doctorate, is designed to meet the specific needs of a professional group external to the University, and which develops the capability of individuals to work within a professional context. (Hoddell, 2002: 62, in Costley, 2011: 11; my emphasis)

There are similarities and differences here. For example, both identify the university as the quality control institution. The former identifies professional practice (twice) whereas this is implied in the latter (see italics) and both mention ‘advanced study’ and ‘research’. Personal capacity building is explicit in the latter and implied in the former. Both give a clear view of what is required. Practice- and work-based doctorates (Costley and Lester, 2012) would fall into this group. First-degree doctorates, such as the Doctor of Medicine in the United States, are not considered PDs.

Activity

Thinking about your own professional practice, think about the types of knowledge that are most valued and by whom.

Consider for example: uni-disciplinary knowledge; transdisciplinary conceptualisations of knowledge; purely practice-based or practice-led thinking about knowledge; practical situations and practice based problems; theoretical knowledge; and an evenly balanced mixture of theory and practice.

In the development of your research how will this structure your thinking in the generation of your ideas?

Consider the ways in which this might present particular challenges.

‘Professional practice’ links two concepts that are difficult to define. Indeed the former has clearly changed in meaning, particularly over recent times. Green (2009: 1–6) discusses these and related concepts (see also Kemmis, 2009: 22–3) but lack of space precludes rehearsing Green’s discussion. Ultimately, Green (2009: 6–7) suggests four senses to assist in the understanding of ‘professional practice’:

1. practising of a profession (medicine, education, and so on);
2. practising professionalism (enacting what it is to be a professional);
3. professional practice evokes a moral quality (doing what is right for others); and
4. practising as a professional implies a fee for service (a service that cannot be done by the uninitiated).

Green goes on to point out (7–9) the importance of authentic activity and how experience can grow out of practice. ‘Experience’ here means more than length of time in practice and implies improvement of some kinds over time usually relying on reflection. He also points out that practice is always contextualised, as he put it: ‘“context” needs to be thought ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the Editors and Contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I Underlying Principles
• 1 Philosophy and Practice – Why Does This Matter?
• 2 Research Approaches in Professional Doctorates: Notes on an Epistemology of Practice
• 3 Why Policy Matters Particularly in Professional Doctorates
• 4 Reflective Models and Frameworks in Practice
• 5 Ethics
• Part II Methodological Frameworks
• 6 Methodology as Personal and Professional Integrity: Research Designing for Practitioner Doctorates
• 7 Alternative Dissertation Models: The Development of Modern Capstone Design
• 8 Auto-ethnography
• 9 Action Research
• 10 Case Study
• 11 Workplace Inquiry: Using an Integrated Methodology for Mixed Methods Research
• 12 Translational Research in Practice Development
• 13 Theory of Change: The Real Thing and How to Design Successful Social Change Projects
• Index