ABSTRACT
The purpose of research is to go ‘beyond the limits’ of what is known, to offer new ‘facts’ and explanations and, in the case of postmodern approaches, to question their grounding in conventional epistemologies and practices of enquiry. In this chapter, we revisit the idea of research as a practice in which the self is engaged as a reflective practitioner. In the light of our previous analysis of a) how the self has been configured in theories of adult learning and b) the effects of discourse and the nature of practice as inscription, research can be viewed as the practice of writing and rewriting selves and the world. Personal and social change which occurs through learning, as well as being brought about by natural means such as ageing, is accompanied and consolidated by discursive shifts, i.e., in the ways in which we talk and write about ourselves and others. So-called ‘new paradigm’ research in the educational field-of which action research, collaborative and participatory research can be considered examples-represents a practical change in the conduct of research and a potential liberation from the technical-rationality model which scripts both investigators and their subjects in restrictive ways. It has contributed significantly to the rewriting of educational research as a practice in a number of domains. At the same time, new research voices have to find their place in a world of competing voices-including those of conventional researchers, adult learners, teachers and policy-makers.
