ABSTRACT
Cooperative inquiry involves people who share a common concern for developing understanding and practice in a specific personal, professional or social arena, integrating four forms of knowing – experiential, presentational, propositional and practical. Action science and action inquiry offer methods for inquiring into and developing congruence between purposes, theories and frames, behaviour and impact in the world. These practices are applied at individual, small group and organisational levels. Their overall aim is to bring inquiry and action together in everyday life, to see inquiry as a ‘way of life’. Learning history records the lived experience of those in an action research or learning situation. Researchers work collaboratively with those involved to agree the scope and focus of the history, identify key questions, gather information through an iterative reflective interview process, distil this information into a form which the organisation or community can ‘hear’ and facilitate dialogue with organisation members to explore the accuracy, implications and practical outcomes that the work suggests.
