Direct consultancy assistance/advice
This can help with identifying:
- what are the value-driven purposes
- who should be involved and how
- current and past contexts and observations
- what are the pressing key and subsidiary questions, and how to ask them
- the best methods and techniques for your purposes
- ideas for how to give an effective voice to all those taking part
- how to make sense of the material while keeping a spirit of critical scepticism
- how to keep good records in order to write-up and share, and
- how to trial new actions in the time available, providing for enough feedback loops and further implementation to enable reliable understandings and results to emerge.
ARC is not yet able to provide this kind of assistance but is working on developing a 'consultancy circle' of experienced people (who have their own consultancies) who will provide a peer community of practice and who we hope may be available to be 'thinking partners' with groups and individuals wanting to initiate, carry out, participate in, or facilitate their own action research.