Critical Praxis Research: Breathing New Life into Research Methods for Teachers

Description

Critical Praxis Research (CPR) is a teacher research methodology designed to bridge the divide between practitioner and scholar, drawing together many strands to explain the research process not just as something teacher researchers do, but as a fundamental part of who teacher researchers are. Emphasizing the researcher over the method, CPR embraces and amplifies the skills and passions teachers naturally bring to their research endeavours. Emerging from the tradition of critical pedagogy, Critical Praxis Research: Breathing New Life into Research Methods for Teachers transcends longstanding debates over quantitative vs. qualitative and scholar vs. practitioner research. The text examines the histories and current applications of common methodologies and re-conceptualizes the ways that these methodologies can be used to enhance teachers’ identities as practitioners and researchers. It also provides a critical examination of the role of Institutional Review Boards, and explores the complexity and ethics of data collection, data analysis, and writing. Through guiding questions and writing prompts, the author encourages readers to think through the process of design and conducting CPR. The text is theoretically rich, but written in an accessible style infused with metaphor, irony, and humour. Critical Praxis Research: Breathing New Life into Research Methods for Teachers is both instructive and uplifting, sending the message that research is difficult but also joyful, like life itself. Content: Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction: Why Critical Praxis Research?....Pages 3-15 Stages of Grief and Bringing Joy Back to Inquiry....Pages 17-33 Positivist Research, Death of the Self....Pages 35-49 Qualitative Research: The Researcher in a Comatose State....Pages 51-63 CPR: Breathing New Life into Research Methods for Teachers....Pages 65-77 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 The Seven Deadly Sins: Vices and Virtues of CPR....Pages 81-92 The Art of CPR Research Design....Pages 93-109 From Knowledge Discovery to Understanding....Pages 111-126 Demystifying Research Ethics in CPR....Pages 127-143 Front Matter....Pages 145-145 Finding Solidarity with/in/through CPR....Pages 147-151 Shaken and Stirred: On Coming to Critical Praxis....Pages 153-165 Making Space for Praxis: Reflection on Research with ESL Teachers....Pages 167-180 Developing My Own Ways of Knowing as a Teacher Researcher....Pages 181-192 The Interplay of Identity, Context, and Purpose in a Study of Mathematics Teaching and Learning....Pages 193-208 Swimming UpStream: Reconsidering Alternative Education and Resiliency vis-� -vis Identity and Context....Pages 209-218 From Research to Me-Search....Pages 219-231 The Whole Story....Pages 233-243 Back Matter....Pages 245-256