This book is a guide to research methods for practitioner research. Written in friendly and accessible language, it includes numerous practical examples based on the authors′ own experiences in the field, to support readers. The authors provide information and guidance on developing research skills such as gathering and analysing information and data, reporting findings and research design. They offer critical perspectives to help users reflect on research approaches and to scrutinise key issues in devising research questions. This book is for undergraduate and postgraduate students, teachers and practitioners in practitioner research development and leadership programmes. The team of authors are all within the School of Education at the University of Glasgow and have significant experience of working with practitioner researchers in education.

This book contains different perspectives on the quality of practitioner research or action research, and focuses specifically on questions of the relation between the researcher and (the field of) the researched.

Practical, accessible and up-to-date, this book draws directly on the work of teachers and other professional trainers concerned with programs for continuing professional development.

`This is a really useful book. It is full of helpful ideas and examples and discusses the importance of research for teachers. While addressing both the why and the how of practitioner research in school settings the authors have kept closely in touch with the practical concerns of busy professionals′ - Professor Anne Edwards, School of Education, University of Birmingham This is a book about how to do your research. It′s aimed at teachers involved in classroom-based research projects such as Best Practice Research Scholarships and Networked Learning Communities. This book is a significant text for teachers involved in practitioner research. It will discuss how the notion of classroom research has evolved from previous movements based upon school effectiveness and action research. It will show how being able to conduct and understand research is vital for the professional development of teachers. The text will then consider the practical issues of the design and carrying out of classroom-based research. The book contains practical examples to illustrate points where appropriate. Each chapter includes recommended further reading and practical tasks.

Doing Practitioner Research focuses on helping practitioners conduct research in their own organisations, and attention is given to the best methods for doing this effectively and sensitively. The authors also attend to the theoretical, political and organisational context of doing research, as well as addressing the ethical and practical issues of undertaking research. The authors cover in detail the range of skills and techniques necessary to make a successful start to the process of becoming an effective practitioner researcher. This is an ideal text for growing number of practitioners working in health, education and social care who are undertaking research. Fox et al have provided the perfect introduction to why practitioners are in the unique position to conduct research that actually improves professional practice. This book will be essential reading for those professionals/practitioners engaged in research in their own organisation or undertaking a post-graduate qualification in Health, Social Care, or Education.

In trying to juggle the various priorities of doctoral study, many individuals struggle. From gathering data, preparing papers and organising projects, to the less obvious difficulties of time management and personal development, doctoral researchers are heavily tasked. In addition to this, those undertaking practitioner research face the complication of negotiating a less traditional research setting. As a guide to this ongoing, often neglected aspect of doctoral research, the authors of this innovative book explore in detail the challenges faced by doctoral researchers conducting practitioner research today. They show that the special nature of this research and the conditions in which the professional researcher works raise questions about producing new knowledge at work through research. This affects everything: relationships with practice; ethics; the ways that they are taught and supervised; the genre of the thesis; all place practitioners in situations which may not methodologically align with conventional approaches. In this book the authors take the opportunity to explore these themes in an holistic and integrated way in order to develop a sense of methodological coherence for the practitioner researcher at doctoral level. In doing so, the authors argue for what is possible, suggesting that universities should critically examine practitioner doctorates to accommodate new forms of knowledge formation. As an invaluable guide through doctoral research, this book will be essential reading for both doctoral researchers and supervisors alike, as well as practitioner researchers working in professional settings more generally and those engaging in policy debates about doctoral research.