DATA-DATA: A Model for Practitioner-Researchers

John M. Peters, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Abstract

This paper is about planning and conducting action research projects. It is written for practitioners who need a guide for doing a kind of inquiry that was once considered to be the exclusive domain of the academic and academies. It is also for academics who have broadened their concept of knowing, including how knowledge is constructed and whose knowledge it is. The author’s model of action research is described and discussed in terms of how it integrates features of reflective practice and formal research methodology. A special focus is the practitioner’s own involvement in his or her inquiry and the logical necessity of including himself/herself as a subject of their own inquiry. Called DATA-DATA, the model has been used by over 150 individuals who have planned action research projects that span a dozen or more applied fields of practice. Most of the researchers were postgraduate students in the social sciences and various professional fields of study. Examples of planned and/or completed action research projects are discussed.