Appreciative Inquiry and Research Methodology

In 1987, David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva introduced Appreciative Inquiry as a form of action research with the generative capacity to create a sense of possibility and to develop energizing ideas for novel action. They saw Appreciative Inquiry as a process of discovery and theorizing that truly brings out the life-generating essentials and potentials of organizational and social existence. They argued that the collective study of what gives life to a human system, rather than the more common diagnosis of its problems, will result in shared knowledge that enables social innovation. The appreciative approach to action research starts with an appreciation of current reality, is collaborative in nature and aspires to create knowledge that is provocative yet applicable. It embraces the social constructionist premise that words create worlds, and thus the belief that theory can be a catalyst for transformative action. This makes Appreciative Inquiry activist in its orientation. It encourages those who participate in research to work in the service of their vision of world betterment. Such visions may be inspired by the root metaphor that underlies the appreciative way of knowing, namely, that of social and organizational life as a miracle and mystery with endless possibility for discovery and change.

Appreciative Inquiry is commonly known as a strengths-based approach to organizational change, in which participants engage in conversations to explore the positive, life-giving core of their organization, to create images of future aspirations and to design new alternatives for action. Because of its focus on shared meaning making, Appreciative Inquiry as a change methodology is a form of dialogic organization development. Though positive change may seem more [Page 49]important than research in this practice-driven application, it remains clearly grounded in inquiry.

This entry discusses Appreciative Inquiry from a research perspective. It describes how researchers can take an appreciative stance, how collaborative inquiry enables organizational change and how Appreciative Inquiry becomes research for generative theory building.