Action research for self-study and living-educational-theories

This chapter focuses on the contributions to creating and democratizing knowledge that action researchers are making as they engage in self-study and Living Theory research. It focuses on the what, why and how of this particular approach, including challenges to the approach and how these have been overcome. The what of the approach is distinguished by evidence of the uniqueness and originality of the researchers’ explanations of their educational influence in their own learning, in the learning of others, and in the learning of the social formations that influence the researchers’ practice and understandings. The explanations draw insights from the conceptual frameworks and methods of validation of theories from the disciplinary approaches to knowledge. The why includes the evidence on the ontological values that are used by Living Theory researchers to give meaning and purpose to their life. These values are clarified and communicated in the course of their emergence in practice, with the help of digital visual data from practice. They are used as explanatory principles in explanations of educational influence and related to the values that carry hope for the flourishing of humanity. The how of the approach includes the methodological inventiveness of the practitioner-researcher in creating their own living-theory and living-theory methodology. This includes insights from the methodologies of Phenomenology, Action Research, Living Theory Research, Self-Study Research and Narrative Research.