Human Inquiry

Sets forth a new paradigm for the philosophy and practice of research in fields of human activity: a collaborative, experimental approach in which inquiry is firmly rooted in subjects' experience of their lives. Covers the philosophy, methodology, practice and prospects of the new paradigm, showing how to do research with people rather than on people. Synthesizes material from researchers pursuing similar paths in Europe, North America, Africa and India as well as relevant reprints and appreciations of classical material.

Focused on exploring human experience from an authentic researcher perspective, Heuristic Inquiry: Researching Human Experience Holistically presents heuristic inquiry as a unique phenomenological, experiential, and relational approach to qualitative research that is also rigorous and evidence-based. Nevine Sultan describes a distinguishing perspective of this research that treats participants not as subjects of research but rather as co-researchers in an exploratory process marked by genuineness and intersubjectivity. Through the use of real-life examples illustrating the various processes of heuristic research, the book offers an understanding of heuristic inquiry that is straightforward and informal yet honors its creative, intuitive, and poly-dimensional nature.

An important practical sourcebook for new ways of undertaking research, this volume presents both an up-to-date assessment of the state of theoretical and methodological debates in collaborative human research and a summary of projects undertaken using collaborative methodologies. It addresses some of the difficulties involved with the collaborative approach: when the researcher is no longer separated from the researched, questions about how to collaborate and how to manage power relations become important. When people are inquiring into their personal experience, questions of subjectivity and validity are raised. These methodological problems are addressed in the first half of the book, while the remainder resolves them in research context

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of co-operative inquiry: a way of doing research with people where the roles of researcher and subject are integrated. Co-operative inquiry is a distinctive and wide-ranging form of participative research in which people use the full range of their sensibilities to inquire together into any aspect of the human condition. This book offers both an extensive exploration of its theoretical background and a detailed practical guide to the methods involved. Topics covered include: a critique of established research techniques; the underlying participative paradigm of co-operative inquiry; the epistemological and political aspects of participation; different types of co-operative inquiry and the range of inquiry topics; ways of setting up inquiry groups and enabling their development; four kinds of inquiry outcome and the primacy of the practical; the main stages of the inquiry cycle, highlighting key issues for practice at each stage; and special skills and procedures used for enhancing validity.

This original volume examines forms and limits of human inquiry from a largely sceptical point of view. Human beings are endowed with cognitive agency. Our grasp of the world, and of ourselves, are not merely responses to external stimuli; they are reflective products of human inquiry. At one point in human history it was thought that modern science, especially theoretical physics, is the paradigm of human inquiry. Where does this form of inquiry significantly apply? Are there limits on its claims of truth and objectivity? How much of the vast canvas of human experience does it cover? Where do other forms of inquiry, such as philosophy, religion, and the arts, attain their salience? With the emergence of the scientific study of the human mind itself, these critical questions have taken a more intriguing form in recent decades. Can human inquiry investigate its own nature? Can the scientific theory of language explain the richness of human expression? Can a science of the mind account for human experience? These probing questions on the scientific enterprise are usually addressed from the outside, as it were, by humanists and critical theorists. In these essays, they are examined from the inside by a philosopher whose primary academic work concerns the study of the human, linguistic mind. In that sense, the sceptical inquiry turns on itself.

The book deals with research for and with people

Humans, especially children, are naturally curious. Yet, people often balk at the thought of learning scienceâ€"the "eyes glazed over" syndrome. Teachers may find teaching science a major challenge in an era when science ranges from the hardly imaginable quark to the distant, blazing quasar. Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards is the book that educators have been waiting forâ€"a practical guide to teaching inquiry and teaching through inquiry, as recommended by the National Science Education Standards. This will be an important resource for educators who must help school boards, parents, and teachers understand "why we can't teach the way we used to." "Inquiry" refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and in which students grasp science knowledge and the methods by which that knowledge is produced. This book explains and illustrates how inquiry helps students learn science content, master how to do science, and understand the nature of science. This book explores the dimensions of teaching and learning science as inquiry for K-12 students across a range of science topics. Detailed examples help clarify when teachers should use the inquiry-based approach and how much structure, guidance, and coaching they should provide. The book dispels myths that may have discouraged educators from the inquiry-based approach and illuminates the subtle interplay between concepts, processes, and science as it is experienced in the classroom. Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards shows how to bring the standards to life, with features such as classroom vignettes exploring different kinds of inquiries for elementary, middle, and high school and Frequently Asked Questions for teachers, responding to common concerns such as obtaining teaching supplies. Turning to assessment, the committee discusses why assessment is important, looks at existing schemes and formats, and addresses how to involve students in assessing their own learning achievements. In addition, this book discusses administrative assistance, communication with parents, appropriate teacher evaluation, and other avenues to promoting and supporting this new teaching paradigm.

Yoland Wadsworth’s ground-breaking proposition is that the act of inquiry is the way by which every living organism and all collective human life goes about continuously learning, improving and changing. Building in Research and Evaluation explores this new approach, a basic theory of human understanding and action. By deepening our understanding about the cyclical processes of acting, observing, questioning, feeling, reflecting, thinking, planning and acting again, Wadsworth identifies how new life might be brought to what we do, both professionally, and personally. Far from being dry academic theory, she shows how this practice-derived evaluative inquiry process can drive progress toward social justice and human betterment. This book will open new vistas of thought and new methods of inquiry for the reflective practitioner in health, human services, education, social sciences. It is the theoretical capstone of a trilogy of best-selling books by Wadsworth, which also includes Everyday Evaluation on the Run and Do-it-Yourself Social Research.