ABSTRACT
Module 2 is about the design and facilitation of an inquiry process, the kind that is grounded in settings that are meaningful to the people involved but never exempt from uncertainty and the unknown. Chapter 3 leads the way with a discussion of pragmatic philosophy. This is followed by three sets of basic concepts and tools illustrated with stories from Honduras and India. ART focusses on the relationship between Action, Research and Training in ongoing or planned activities. Order and Chaos, inspired by chaos and complexity theory, helps people craft the planning process as one of two things: a blueprint for systematic action, suitable when key factors are easy to predict, or a working hypothesis developed in difficult settings, to be tested against experience and further developed in light of emerging circumstances and needs. The last tool, Activity Mapping, helps people plan an action inquiry process through multiple iterations in the middle of situations that constantly evolve. The chapter ends on the idea of planning and inquiry ‘in the middle’ of real-life events, including situations that have a prior history and no predictable end in sight.
