Robert Fisher

Teaching thinking and creativity

Developing creative minds and creative futures

Personalised Research: a brief guide

This paper is designed as a brief guide to personalised research for teachers and others involved in improving practice in education.

Contents

What is personalised research?

How do I do personalised research?

Further reading

Introduction

This guide is about the sharing of ideas and knowledge to create new ideas and knowledge. Personalised research aims to improve the quality of life through creating new personal and professional knowledge. This, for the author, is what educational research should be about. Personalised research is a form of action research. It encourages educators to take control of their professional lives and contexts and to be agents of professional development and change.

This guide offers a brief overview of what personalised research is, how to do it and how it might be useful in your life. It seeks to answer the question ‘What is action research?’ offers advice on ways to undertake a personalised research project and how to use the results to benefit you and the learning community.

If you have comments on this text, or suggestions how it could be improved please contact the author. Contact information and further details of the author’s research and publications can be found at on the Contacts page

What is personalised research?

Personalised research is a form of personalised learning. It is about you setting the agenda for research and your own learning. It begins with the question, ‘How do I improve my work?’ Its underlying premise is that professionals should be actively engaged in setting their own goals for improvement, devising their own research plans and choosing from different ways of research the methods best-suited to their needs. It enables you to express your voice and your choice.

Personalised research involves a practical way of looking at your own work to investigate what you are doing and identify ways to improve it. The purpose of personalised research is to improve some aspect of practice, the understanding of practice and the situation in which practice takes place. It is often referred to as ‘action’ or ‘practitioner based’ research. It enables you at first hand to find out about the social world you are in, through focusing on what individuals think, say and do in order to improve what they might think, say and do.

Lewin (1946) first coined the term ‘action research’ to refer to a way of learning about an organisation through trying to change it. A major influence on its development in the UK was Lawrence Stenhouse who promoted the idea of ‘teacher as researcher’. He argued that just as students should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning so teachers should take responsibility for researching their own practice. ‘Research’ he said ‘refers to any systematic, critical and self-critical enquiry which aims to contribute to the advancement of knowledge’ (Stenhouse 1975)

Personalised research only works if practitioners are engaged in continual self-critical assessment and review of their ideas, strategies and goals. Traditional forms of research involve outside researchers coming in to do research on other people. In action research, researchers do research on themselves. Empirical researchers enquire into other people’s lives. Those engaged in personalised action research enquire into their own personal and professional lives. It is not simply ‘action’ research in the sense of finding things out by reporting events and collecting data. It involves you thinking about what you do, asking yourself why you do the things that you do, and investigating whether you could do them better.

Personalised research is about extending your professional knowledge by:

• researching and examining your own professional thinking and practice
• sharing your research and learning with others
• evaluating and improving the quality of what you think and do

Empirical research investigates what is, action research focuses on what might be, not on a fixed but on an evolving situation and personalised research focuses on what might be for me as a developing professional. It is a developmental process of investigating an idea, seeing how it develops and continually checking to see whether it is in line with what you intend. The guiding principle of personalised research is the focus on issues of personal and professional development, not on an agenda controlled by others; it begins with an idea that you develop rather than a fixed hypothesis.

The process described so far is a basic problem solving process. To turn it into personalised research you would need to say why you wanted to investigate the issue and chose particular methods to gather data. You would then turn the data into evidence in terms of what aspect of your personal professional life you wished to improve. You would express your conclusions not as abstract generalisations, but as practical recommendations that reflect your personal values and goals thus applying the kind of disciplined and systematic structure to your everyday learning associated with action research.

Enlightened forms of professional development work on the assumption that professionals already have a good deal of professional knowledge, and are highly capable of learning for themselves. What they need in their professional learning is appropriate support to help them reflect on what they know and generate new knowledge. New knowledge is most effectively be generated through dialogue with others who are equally interested in the process of learning. The best dialogue creates a community of enquiry where all voices are valued and all can contribute to shared understandings. No one voice dominates in a community of enquiry, we all share and value one another’s viewpoints, whilst engaged in critical discussion.

The question ‘How do I improve my work?’ has a social implication. One person improves their work not only for their own benefit but also for the benefit of others. If you can improve your understanding of what you are doing, and some way of improving what you are doing there is a good chance you will influence others in the situation you are working in. You will need them to help you to fully evaluate the effects of what you have been thinking and doing. Most ideas that people have are improved by the contributions of others or of someone else, a critical friend. This is the way that knowledge evolves, a process of learning for yourself and from others and developing new ideas and ways of working.

Personalised research helps you to:

• formalise your learning,
• give a clear and justified account of your work,
• help improve your own practice
• and the thinking and practice of others.

All good research studies include some form of literature review, that is a recognition of how knowledge in professional contexts has been expanded through the work of earlier thinkers, writers and researchers. As Newton put it; ‘We are standing on the shoulders of giants’. We are more likely to make better judgements and engage in more effective practice if others are made participants in our research.

Personalised research involves learning together, that is learning with and from those distant in space and time as well as those most closely associated with our work. It involves a critical response to the ideas ofothers as well as personal self-evaluation. It creates contexts for critical conversations with those who have gone before as well as those in our learning organisation. The individual’s question, ‘How do I improve my work?’ requires an investigation that is shared with others. The question then changes to ‘How do we improve our work?’ Personalised research provides a context for engagement with others, through reading and reflection as well as collaborative learning in the workplace. Like teaching, personalised research should essentially be a collaborative venture.

Personalised research may take many different forms, including:

• basic research – a systematic enquiry to acquire new knowledge
• applied research – an investigation into ways of solving a problem
• experimental research – implementing and evaluating a new approach Personalised research has a variety of tasks. These include:

• to understand, observe, record and analyse current practice
• to explain this in relation to personal and professional theory
• to share our knowledge by involving and informing others
• to help improve our professional thinking and practice

Many professional organisations encourage practitioners to undertake action research as part of their professional learning, and this can contribute to a qualification or accreditation. Ways to use your research to gain accreditation are discussed at the end and suggestions given for further reading.

Personalised research is a creative enterprise that takes the form and purpose that you decide. So how does one set about doing it?

How do I do personalised research?

Personalised research generally follows some kind of research plan. The basic steps of personalised research could constitute elements of a research plan. This could include:

1. Identify an area you want to investigate

• Review - we review our current practice and issues of concern,
• Focus – we identify a question or aspect of practice to investigate,

2. Find out from others

• Reflect – we review our current practice and find out what others think
• Plan – we plan our investigation and select our research methods

3. Investigate for yourself

• Investigate – we investigate some innovation or aspect of practice
• Record – we systematically collect data and evidence about what happens

4. Evaluate what you find

• Analyse – we review, critically analyse and evaluate the data
• Draw conclusions – we identify what we have learnt from the research

5. Review the outcomes

• Modify – we modify our thinking and practice in light of our research
• Review – we reflect on our personal learning, identifying areas for future research and so the cycle continues ...

• your critical thinking,
• your creative action,
• your learning.

Your thinking and actions embody your learning, and your learning is informed by reflection on your actions. Thus when you come to report on your research you should aim to show not only the actions of your research, but also the thinking and learning involved.

Identify an area to investigate

Ask yourself: ‘What is important to me in my professional life at this moment?’ The research issue that you identify could be wide in scope such as the ethos of your organisation or a major policy issue. Or it might be narrowly focused on a small area such as a particular teaching strategy or use of time say at the start or end of lessons.

Often what begins as a small issue turn out to be more substantial. The unit of change may be small, but the butterfly effect may result in a substantial impact. ‘Think big but work small’ is a well-researched recipe for leading effective organisational development. You cannot change the whole world, or organisation but you can change part of it. Better the small-scale successful innovation than seeking ambitious all-embracing change (that is unless the situation is so bad that only all-embracing change will do).

Some researchers present their research focus as a question or problem. This involves questioning what is happening and asking how it might be improved, investigating the situation as it is and investigating ways of changing the situation. The main point at the start is to identify an area you wish to investigate and be clear why it is important.

Personalised research begins when you ask a real question about something that is important to you and hoping to find ways of investigating it. It begins with a wish to improve something, which might be your own understanding or an aspect of your professional situation.

Questions to ask at the start, and during, your research include:

• What issue am I interested in researching?
• Why do I want to research this issue?
• What kind of evidence can I gather?
• What methods can I use?
• What will I do?
• How can I ensure that my judgements are fair and accurate?
• Who can I use as a critical friend to share and discuss my research?
• How has my thinking changed?
• How will I change my practice in the light of my evaluation?
• What further research could this lead to?

These questions are not prescriptive. In personalised research, everyone takes responsibility for their own practice and for asking their own questions. You do need to ensure, however, that your research is reasonably systematic and rigorous. Your research aims to find out ways to improve practice, so you do need to produce validated evidence to support that claim.

Find out from others

• what researchers in the past have said and thought
• what current research is being undertaken
• what research your colleagues may have done or know about

You might want at this stage to consult with others about your area of research. These others could be a critical friend or a professional group who are willing to advise and discuss. Such a professional group is sometimes called a validation group. This is a group of people you invite to look at your research from time to time to offer critical feedback.

The decisions you come to about what action to take will be your own decisions, you take responsibility for your own research. You need to consider your options carefully, such as the time you can give to reading, reflection and discussion with others. You need to decide what you can reasonably hope to achieve, given the time, energy and other resources available.

Who might be the people involved in your research? Who should be consulted? Who could contribute to your knowledge? Those involved might include:

• learners such pupils in a school
• teachers and those who care for learners
• leaders and managers of learning organisations
• others with knowledge of the situation or focus of research

You also need to consider the ethics involved in your research. Ensure that the people involved in the study are consulted about your methods and findings. Ensure the anonymity of those involved unless they have agreed otherwise. Ensure the confidentiality of the data you collect, unless you have negotiated otherwise. Your research should be animated by a genuine desire for truth. Your values will be expressed through the actions of your research, both verbal and non-verbal. Share your values with others and make reference to them in any report you make of your research to others. Textbooks on research will provide further guidance on the ethical issues as well as the kinds of research methods you could use.

Investigate for yourself: what research methods to use

Research methods provide the surface structure of your research. Beneath this is an underlying structure of values and meaning. Having systematic methods for gathering and evaluating evidence is important. But a focus on method is not enough. Personalised research can help us make sense of our personal professional lives. Collecting data through valid research methods is important but we need to look at the underlying structure and meaning of what we find out. We need to focus on three questions:

• What to do – which research methods and how to use them?
• What it means – what do we find, what does it mean and show?
• What it means to me - how does this relate to my thinking and practice?

The aim of these questions is to encourage you to ask critical questions about your own practice, and find the answers for yourself. The answers that other people give need to be tested against your own experience. Socrates said: ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ If we only rely on the opinion of others our life will lack personal meaning and value. Life becomes authentic when we think, research and decide for ourselves. Others cannot do the research for you. They can comment and advise, but only you can say what is right for you and your situation. It could be that there are no answers to your particular issue, but you do not know until you start asking questions and trying to find answers. So how do we examine what we do, what research methods do we use?

You can use a variety of methods to gather data about any situation, including:

• written evidence eg journals, diaries, notes, written work, documents
• visual evidence eg photos and pictures
• audio or videotape recordings
• questionnaires eg surveys or attitude scales
• interviews eg structured or semi-structured interviews
• observations eg systematic observations or participant observation
• experiments or tests

Evaluate what you find

Having decided on a possible strategy for collecting data, you now need to try it out. It might work well or it might not. This is sometimes called the ‘pilot stage’, for example you might choose to share a set of interview questions with a colleague or student to see if it could be improved. If it works well, you will want to continue using it. If it does not provide sufficient information, you will need to adapt it or try another method.

For a second set of data you might use the same or try different data-gathering methods. Perhaps you used interviews to gather your first set of data, now you might want to use video tape recordings to try to capture not only people’s words but also their body language. This second set of data might show evidence of change in the situation or development in your own thinking and learning.

Data alone is not enough. It needs to be reviewed, interpreted and analysed before conclusions can be drawn. Does the data show that changes have taken place?

Questions to ask when evaluating your data include:

• How relevant is the data?
• What does the data tell me?
• What do others think of the data?

Once you have collected your data you should share it with others. Critique is essential for helping us to evaluate the quality of our research. These others could be a critical friend or a validation group.

A critical friend (‘critical colleague’, ‘mentor’ or ‘learning partner’) is someone whose professional opinion you value and who can offer you critical feedback on your work and help you see it in a new light. A validation group is a group of people, drawn from your professional circle, who look at your research from time to time, and are able to offer professional and critical feedback. The decisions you come to about your data will be your own decisions. You take responsibility for what you do, but you benefit from the advice from others.

How can you ensure that the judgements you make are fair and accurate? If you say, ‘I think that such and such happened’, you can expect someone to say, ‘Prove it.’ The answer is that you can’t prove it like you can prove a mathematical theorem. You need to support your claims with evidence to show it is not merely your opinion. You also need other people to critically consider your report and agree that you have good reason for your claims. They might agree with you or suggest that you need to look at the research again and gather further data. You should listen carefully to their advice, though you are not compelled to act on it. Your research is ultimately your own and is set against your own criteria or standards you use to judge the quality of what you are doing.

What are the outcomes of personalised research?

Personalised research is a powerful methodology for personal and professional learning. In personalised research you are not content to leave problematic situations as they are, but are constantly open to new beginnings and new solutions. You are thinking and researching all the time, and modifying your thinking and practice in light of your research. You are also producing an outcome – a report of your research.

The report could be written or presented through a video (perhaps with a commentary) or as an oral report. When you produce a personalised research report, it shows how you have carried out a systematic investigation into your own ways of thinking and working, and by critical reflection on the evidence and reasons for that behaviour. The report shows the process you have gone through in order to achieve a better understanding of yourself as a practitioner so that you can continue to develop yourself and your work, at a personal and professional level.

Most higher education award-bearing courses, recognise the validity of action research which develops your professional wisdom and practical know-how as well as theoretical knowledge. You may wish to have your research count towards a professional certificate or award, such as a Masters degree by. This process of producing evidence of your learning which can be assessed is called in the UK: ‘Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning’ (APEL). The evidence of your research could be in the form of a report .

Your research report might include the following elements:

• Aims: your personal aims for the project, and key questions to be addressed
• Context: where, when, and who was involved
• Topic: project focus and how it relates to current theory, policy and practice
• Research methods: how research was carried out, methods used, ethical factors
• Outcomes: what you found out (with any supporting evidence)
• Impact on your own learning, relevance to self, colleagues and community
• Conclusions: summarise aims, review findings, and reflect on future research

Remember in your conclusion to be self-critical, and to recognise the limitations of your research. It is a snapshot in time and does not show the whole picture. However it is your snapshot, something unique and from which you can gain knowledge and understanding, that hopefully will be of interest and relevance to others. Include a bibliography of key books, articles and web resources you have referred to or have consulted. Try to make your research report a useful resource for you and others.

Personalised research informs and invigorates professional development - not only yours but your colleagues and others who share your report. Personalised research assumes you already know a great deal, but need some stimulus to find out more. For this you don’t need a trainer, you need a mentor or critical friends who you learn with and from in a dialogue of equals. Being part of a shared enquiry involves using interpersonal skills, sensitivity and wisdom. Developing these skills is part of the research process. The key question in personalised research is not just, ‘How do I learn and find out my own answers?’ The question becomes, ‘How can we learn together?’ By researching together you create a community of enquiry – a community that is critical, creative, collaborative and caring.

Further reading

Cohen L. & Manion L. (2000) Research Methods in Education, London: Routledge

Hopkins D. (2002) A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research, Buckingham: Open University.

Koshy V. (2005) Action Research for Improving Practice, London: Paul Chapman

McNiff, J., Lomax, P., & Whitehead, J. (1996) You and your action research project. London: Routledge. Note: An action research approach has been developed by Jack Whitehead and others at the University of Bath, UK (see www.actionresearch.net).

About this paper

This paper was written as a brief guide to personalised research for teachers for the Leiston Pyramid Thinking Skills project, Suffolk. This paper may be quoted but not reprinted without permission. The reference for this paper is: Fisher, R. (2005) ‘Personalised research: a brief guide', www.teachingthinking.net

© Robert Fisher