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"Success" in a complex and uncertain world ..... How do we define and achieve success -- as individuals or in our organisations and communities as we approach the next century |
Workshop abstract:Josephine Burden
Process and product in action orientated research: How can we shift academic measures of success?
In fields of endeavour which can loosely be described as community-based, process is as important as product. In action research, it is the process of building understanding and taking action which underpins the significance of whatever product emerges. Product is important in so far as it expresses and makes transparent a community's aspirations and processes. Product is also important in terms of communicating both to the community themselves, and to generalised others beyond that particular community an understanding of the issues that are important for that particular community and of the processes used by that community in working through those issues. The product may also constitute one aspect of the reflective aspect of the process which contributes to planning for the next action. Often, the products of community based action and research constitute one measure of the success of a process.In the academic community, the product which has become the primary measure of success is the refereed journal article. Thus those academics who elect to work in community-based research have to ensure that a range of different products emerge from their work so that the success of a project is not defined and measured only by a narrow segment of the community.
This is exhausting! Another approach may be to widen the range of products which academics may perceive in terms of success, so that products that are relevant as measures of success in one community are also perceived as such in the academic community.
The purpose of this workshop is to examine some of the options in terms of expanding academic measures of success in community based research. The workshop will consist of the performance of a twenty-minute one person theatre piece which was group devised during the process of my research. I will then talk briefly about how this theatre piece became part of the process of validating the research in academic circles. Finally I will invite discussion on strategies whereby we might begin to move the academic community beyond the refereed journal article as the sole measure of success.
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Under construction. Last revised 990406. Maintained by Bob Dick <bdick@scu.edu.au>