Practice Principles of practice-oriented research

when they act or make decisions, and that they have knowledge needs i.e. knowledge that they do not yet have but need in order to act or decide more effectively or efficiently. Practice-oriented research is designed and conducted in order to produce the knowledge that is needed by practitioners. However, if they ask researchers to design and conduct a study, practitioners normally have not yet formulated their specific knowledge needs. Similar to theory-oriented research, in which the most relevant proposition to be put to test and in what precise for- mulation should be ascertained through a thorough exploration of the theory, in practice-oriented research a thorough exploration of practice is necessary in order to ascertain the most relevant know- ledge need in this practice and in what precise formulation. When we use the term “theory” as in “theory-oriented research” and in “exploration of theory”, we do not refer to a specific theory but rather to the field of theories. One of the aims of exploration of theory is to identify in that field one or more specific theories that are relevant to the research topic. We have used the empirical cycle to define different ways theory-building, initial theory-testing, and replication by which a research project can contribute to the development of a specific theory. Theory-oriented research, thus, begins with the general aim to con- tribute to a yet unknown and thus to be specified theory regarding the chosen research topic, but after a successful exploration the more specific aim of contributing to a specific theory can be formulated. Similarly, if we use the term “practice” as in “practice-oriented research” and in “exploration of practice”, we do not refer to an already specified problem to be solved, but rather to the yet unstructured set of problems with which the practitioner is dealing. One of the aims of exploration of practice is to identify in that set one or more specific knowledge needs that need to be addressed. We will use the interven- tion cycle to prioritize a practitioner’s challenges and the corresponding knowledge needs. Practice-oriented research, thus, begins with the general aim to provide the practitioner with some knowledge that he might need in order to act, but, after a successful exploration, a more specific knowledge need can be formulated.

3.3.2 Practice-oriented research: contribution to a practitioner’s knowledge

Practice-oriented research is only useful if it delivers the knowledge that a practitioner can actually use in his actual situation and, therefore, it is of paramount importance that his knowledge need is precisely specified. This can only be achieved if the practitioner’s circumstances as well as his options for action both “objectively” and “subjectively”, i.e. seen from the practitioner’s viewpoint are precisely known. It is, therefore, necessary to explore and map the practice in which know- ledge needs have emerged, to formulate these needs as precisely as possible, and to prioritize them, before one of these is chosen as the one that should be addressed in the research project. We advise using the “intervention cycle” as a tool for this process of mapping and prioritizing knowledge needs. The intervention cycle see Figure 3.3 depicts problem solving as an iterative process consisting of five distinct phases: 1. problem finding : identification and definition of a problem; 2. problem diagnosis: finding out why a problem exists causes; 3. design of intervention: designing an intervention based on a diagnosis that should help to solve the problem; 4. implementation: implementing the intervention that has been designed; 5. evaluation: ascertaining whether the aims of the intervention have been achieved and whether or to what degree the problem has been solved. The five phases of the intervention cycle define the stages through which a “problem” progresses. The basic underlying assumption is that Problem finding Implementation Problem diagnosis Design of intervention Evaluation Intervention cycle Figure 3.3 The intervention cycle for solving a practical problem