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On Becoming More Reflexive Research-Practitioners in Action

Doctoral Candidates Jacqueline van Paassen and Bruno Pešec just published a paper, which is included in the ARJ special issue on mindsets of transformation for action research. They chat with podcast co-chair Dr. Tómas Boatwright about their work: https://soundcloud.com/hilary-bradbury/jacqueline-van-paassen-and

The authors introduce their article.

“How do we become more skilled research-practitioners? What does “more skilled” even mean in this context? Is it about inquiring with more depth? With greater self-reflexivity? Facilitating co-inquiries with larger groups? Or is it perhaps about doing less, and being more? How do we bridge, or not bridge, but rather intertwine research and practice? And how can we act as agents of change while also growing ourselves in the process?

These were some of the burning questions that brought us, as authors, together. As doctoral peers, we were both deeply interested in improving our skills as action researchers and hopefully, become ‘better’ humans in the process. We found this new paradigm both exciting and challenging. Therefore, it seemed most appropriate to structure our learning effort using the very research methods we wished to improve.

That’s why we formed a co-inquiry group, where four of us developed a shared inquiry question. From then on, we went through numerous cycles of action and reflection—fourteen, to be precise!—which often led us in unexpected directions.

In our published paper, we pause and turn our gaze inward. We reflect on our learning and its application in the co-inquiry groups we’ve since established. We highlight the transformations, aiming to identify and describe the subtle shifts resulting from sustained engagement with action research.

Our colleagues offered thoughtful reflections highlighting key aspects of our work:

“I found the article engaging in many ways that the primary practical outcome described at the end is richly supported and described by the text of the article.”

“The ‘subtle’ yet deep developmental shifts that can take place through co-inquiry practices, and the three ‘foundational’ practices that were involved.”

“The three challenges identified in bringing CDAI practice into other contexts resonate with my experience and it feels important and energising to hear the authors’ descriptions of and reflections on these.”

Links

Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/hilary-bradbury/jacqueline-van-paassen-and

Forever Citation

van Paassen, J., & Pešec, B. (2025). Embodied Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry to Become More Reflexive Research-Practitioners in Action. Action Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503251375861