Research, Actionable Knowledge, and Social Change: Reclaiming Social Responsibility Through Research Partnerships

A professional text written for social science researchers and practitioners, Research, Actionable Knowledge and Social Change provides strategies and frameworks for using social science research to engage in critical social and educational problem solving. Combining the best practices of critical analysis and traditional research methods, this professional text offers guidance for using the Action Inquiry Model (AIM), a transformative model that explains how to successfully conduct action-oriented research in a multitude of professional service organizations. The aim of the text is to encourage a new generation of research-based partnerships reforms that promote equity and access for underserved populations. Topics discussed include: The historical precedents for universities engaged in social change The limitations of current social science theory and methods The critical-empirical approach to social research The issues relating to social justice within the policy decision process The use of social research to integrate an emphasis of social justice into economic and policy decision making Research, Actionable Knowledge and Social Change does not propose different foundations for social research, but rather argues that it is necessary to reconsider how to work with theory and research methods to inform change. This text can also be used by students enrolled in graduate and Ed.D/Ph.D Higher Education Leadership programs and graduate programs across professional fields including K-12, public administration, sociology, health, cultural studies, organizational development and organizational theory. It further offers students guidance for research design and dissertation research.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations Foreword - Penny A. Pasque Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Reframing Social and Educational Research 2. Critical-Empirical Approach 3. Action Inquiry Model 4. Professional Development 5. Organizational Change 6. Public Policy 7. Leadership and the Public Good 8. Conclusions Appendix. Dissertation Research References Index

About the Author :
Edward P. St. John is Algo D. Henderson Collegiate Professor of Education at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. He is interested in education, justice, and public policy. He serves as series editor for Readings on Equal Education and has received awards for his leadership from the Association for the Study of Higher Education and for scholarship from the National Association of Student Financial Aid. Penny A. Pasque is professor in Educational Studies, director of the QualLab, and director of Qualitative Methods in the Office of Research, Innovation and Collaboration (ORIC), College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University. Pasque is editor of The Review of Higher Education (with Dr. Thomas F. Nelson Laird). RHE is considered one of the leading research journals in the field and is the official journal of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Her research addresses complexities in qualitative inquiry, in/equities in higher education, and dis/connections between higher education and society. She works with qualitative methodologies as well as studies qualitative methodologies that work toward social justice and educational equity. Pasque’s research has appeared in over 100 journal articles and books, including in The Journal of Higher Education, Qualitative Inquiry, The Review of Higher Education, Peabody Journal of Education, Diversity in Higher Education, Cultural StudiesCritical Methodologies, among others.Her books include Qualitative Inquiry in Higher Education Organization and Policy Research (with Lechuga, Routledge), Qualitative Inquiry for Equity in Higher Education: Methodological Innovations, Implications, and Interventions (with Carducci, Kuntz & Gildersleeve, Jossey-Bass), Critical Qualitative Inquiry: Foundations and Futures (with Cannella & Salazar Pérez, Left Coast Press), American Higher Education Leadership and Policy: Critical Issues and the Public Good (Pa

Review :
St. John’s book offers hope for practitioners, researchers and policymakers interested in moving past studying problems and moving toward addressing them. He provides both theoretical and practical guidance for individuals designing and engaging with actionable research. This book serves as a useful tool for graduate students, seasoned scholars, and those outside the academy who are interested in building partnerships. Ronald Hallett, Assistant Professor, Director, Creating Opportunities Via Education Benerd School of Education, University of the Pacific “St. John has spent his career studying the intersections of policy, practice, and research. He has struggled with how those of us concerned with social justice might move away from entrenched notions of research and measurement and instead infuse our work in more direct ways to achieve ends aimed at improving the public good. This book summarizes his ideas and suggest that actionable research has the potential of promoting social justice and fairness in education and social systems. The book will appeal to educational and social researchers interested in collaborating with practitioners committed to improving equity.” William G. Tierney, Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education University of Southern California “St. John pushes us to reconsider the one-size-fits-all educational interventions of the day by demonstrating the effectiveness of the action-inquiry model on organizational change. In a brilliant elaboration on the theory of justice and human capabilities approach, he urges us toward a more sophisticated, multidimensional view of policymaking.” Gilia Smith, Associate Director, Committee on Global Thought Columbia University St. John’s book offers hope for practitioners, researchers and policymakers interested in moving past studying problems and moving toward addressing them. He provides both theoretical and practical guidance for individuals designing and engaging with actionable research. This book serves as a useful tool for graduate students, seasoned scholars, and those outside the academy who are interested in building partnerships. Ronald Hallett, Assistant Professor, Director, Creating Opportunities Via Education Benerd School of Education, University of the Pacific