Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice

The Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice, known as CARPP, was located in the School of Management at the University of Bath. It was created to develop the theory and practice of action research, and it explicitly sought to reform the academy by enabling postgraduate research that would meet the established quality criteria and go beyond these into radical developments of ideas and practice. A core purpose was to bring an attitude of inquiry and learning to key issues of our time—justice and sustainability.

Its activities included the following:

• A learning community-based postgraduate programme in action research, based on radical notions of adult learning, through which people worked to a diploma, M.Phil. or Ph.D. (1994 onwards)—including a pre-CARPP phase, there were 55 Ph.D., 9 M.Phil. and 25 diploma graduates.
• The master's degree in responsibility and business practice (M.Sc. in RBP), with its action research–based educational approach, which addressed environmental, social and ethical issues in business (1997 onwards)—it was developed in an educational partnership with the New Academy of Business (established by Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop International). There were 254 graduates from 12 year groups.
• Action research projects—for example, a sequence of projects with the Welsh Assembly Government and Lowcarbonworks, an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council/Economic and Social Research Council–funded inquiry into the human dimensions of low-carbon technology, called ‘Insider Voices'
• Biennial research conferences titled Emerging Approaches to Inquiry (initiated in 1984)—working conferences of 50–60 people, incorporating practicum groups, activities, inquiries and distinguished guests
• An annual seminar series working with ideas and practices—including international speakers and writing workshops
• Publications and conference attendances—scholarly and practice oriented

CARPP was part of an international network of people and institutions developing and legitimizing action research in its many forms. Members saw this as political work about which knowledges count, especially countering the privileging of intellectual knowledge.

The CARPP community shared interests: talking about inquiry as a more inclusive term than research; making a commitment to values-aware researching; indicating a liking for the work of Gregory Bateson; working with multiple ways of knowing, including affective, embodied, practical, experiential, spiritual and representational knowing; developing rigorous, diverse practices of quality in inquiry; experimenting in action; developing subtle crafts of facilitation in action research and experimenting with writing and form, including for master's and Ph.D. theses (which, [Page 90]at the time of writing this entry, are still available to download through the World Wide Web).

The community was also diverse. While people were committed to the core principles of action research, each had different approaches, priorities and constituencies.

CARPP members especially made contributions to the following themes in action research:

• The interaction of first, second and third person forms of inquiry
• Developments of Co-Operative Inquiry, a disciplined form of second person action research in which people co-research issues of mutual concern (Peter Reason and others)
• Reflective inquiry practices; developing rigour in first person action research, including living life as inquiry (Judi Marshall), recognizing ourselves as living contradictions (Jack Whitehead) and a commitment to living educational values in living theories (Whitehead)
• Concepts of a participatory paradigm (Reason)
• Conducting research as a political process
• Developments of innovative and rigorous practices of action research through CARPP's own experimentation
• Education as a practice of participative inquiry
• Development of experimental, creative and innovative forms of writing and representation

Also contributing to shaping the field, Reason and Hilary Bradbury (Oregon Health and Science University) co-edited two publications (in 2001 and 2008) of The SAGE Handbook of Action Research, and in 2003, they launched the journal Action Research, an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal which has established itself as a forum for the development of the theory and practice of action research.

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