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Appreciative Inquiry
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Appreciative Inquiry
Research for Change



November 2006 | 232 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Appreciative Inquiry: Research for Change is the first book dedicated to exploring appreciative inquiry (AI) as an approach to change-focused research. More than ever, students and researchers seek to do more than report on what they see following a research study or project, but rather engage the research environment (participants, stakeholders) to promote change. In other words, their studies are as much research-based as they are meant to initiate or sustain social or organizational change. Very often, the nature of this dual purpose - research and change - requires the researcher to use nontraditional approaches that bridge the theory-practice gap. In this book, author Jan Reed draws on the work of David Cooperrider and other pioneers in the area of AI to bridge the current gap between consulting activity and academic research in AI.

The book begins with real-world, international insights and experiences of AI as a research methodology and offers the history and principles of AI. Next, it provides ways of linking and differentiating these activities and exploring the range of ways to engage AI in change-focused research and practice - from research question and research design through data collection, data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of findings. And perhaps most importantly, the book places AI in the context of other research paradigms and approaches, addressing positivist versus naturalistic stances, social constructionist concepts, and related methods and methodologies such as action research, PAR, ethnography, case studies, and narrative inquiry.

This book is appropriate for use in graduate-level methods courses devoted to appreciative inquiry, change- or community-based research, organizational development and change, and related topics across the social sciences, education, and management. It will also prove invaluable to researchers and professionals who are interested in using AI but need to know how to frame this approach within the greater context of traditional research.

Key Features:

  • Comprehensive introduction to Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and the range of debates that it can generate for a researcher or professional used to employing otherwise traditional research models
  • International examples from recent published and unpublished projects in which AI was used, with an emphasis on those that shaped policy, planning, and future practices
  • Discussion and guidance on how to make the connections between AI and various research paradigms and approaches to research, including positivist versus naturalistic research, social constructionist concepts, action research PAR, ethnography, narrative inquiry, and case studies
  • An assessment of the strengths and limitations of AI in research environments
  • Practical guidance and ideas for generating different research questions, managing, organizing, and analyzing data, and communicating and disseminating the final results 
  • Individual and group exercises that draw on organizational development techniques as a way to bring AI concepts to life through practice.

 
Foreword
 
1. Experiences of Appreciative Inquiry
 
2. A Brief Tour of the History and Principles of Appreciative Inquiry
 
3. Research Frameworks: Where does Appreciative Inquiry Connect with Research?
 
4. Key Themes and Issues in Appreciative Inquiry
 
5. Developing Research Questions and Goals with Communities
 
6. Information Gathering and Generating: Inclusivity, Partnership, and Collaboration
 
7. Making Sense: Issues of Questions and Story
 
8. Communicating and Disseminating Research: Voice, Audience, and Message
 
9. Research for Change: Ways to Go

Essential reading for anyone undertaking an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach to conducting a research project. I found the book presented useful descriptions and examples of where appreciative inquiry has been applied to organisational development and how AI can help us to rethink our ideas about how people work, how change happens and how AI base research can contribute to this process.

Dr Gary McKenna
School of Engineering & Computing (Paisley), University of the West of Scotland
July 20, 2017

best introduction to AI I've yet found

Dr Calum Neill
School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences (Sighthi, Edinburgh Napier University
May 12, 2016

Recommended for those DBA students with AI project effort

Dr Margaret Carter
Business Administration , National Graduate Univ
July 24, 2015

this really is an excellent text -which for me, clearly articulates the key concepts of appreciative inquiry. It will be useful to introduce the students to an alternative research method.

Dr Louise Taylor
Faculty of Health and Social Care, Chester University
August 14, 2015

If you have read widely on the subject, you will find that this book varies slightly from the Whitney and Trosten- Bloom, and Cooperider approach. What is refreshing is that this publication introduces Appreciative Inquiry from a purely research based perspective rather than that of a business improvement tool. Based on the authors own experience, it is a very informative and useful resource if you are considering using AI as a research framework.

Mr Shane Payne
Engineering, Leicester College
December 8, 2014

I found this very useful for my own studies

Mrs Jane Peacock
Faculty of Education, Winchester University
August 3, 2014

The book is interesting and is not very long . It has provided excellent ideas on how to become a change agent.

Mrs Kate Harrison
Education Centre 1, Lancashire Teaching Hospital
March 19, 2014

I feel that this is a very helpful short guide to AI and have thus recommended it to students as introductory literature before going deeper into the subject.

Ms Jelena Eickhölter
Institute of Management , Technical University of Braunschweig
March 13, 2014

Good summary of the basis and issues relating to Appreciative inquiry

Dr Margaret Fletcher
Professional Clinical Nursing Dept, University of the West of England, Bristol
June 6, 2012

A valuable and accessible introduction to those embarking on social research.

Mrs Michelle Rogers
Centre for Early Childhood, University of Worcester
September 16, 2011
Key features
  • Comprehensive introduction to Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and the range of debates that it can generate for a researcher or professional used to employing otherwise traditional research models;
  • International examples from recent published and unpublished projects in which AI was used, with an emphasis on those that shaped policy, planning, and future practices;
  • Discussion and guidance on how to make the connections between AI and various research paradigms and approaches to research, including positivist versus naturalistic research, social constructionist concepts, action research PAR, ethnography, narrative inquiry, and case studies;
  • An assessment of the strengths and limitations of AI in research environments;
  • Practical guidance and ideas for generating different research questions, managing, organizing, and analyzing data, and communicating and disseminating the final results;
  • Individual and group exercises that draw on organizational development techniques as a way to bring AI concepts to life through practice.

Sage College Publishing

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