GLOSSARY

Research Disciplines

A discipline is a specific field of study with its accompanying philosophies, concepts, practices, and methods. The disciplines below aim to increase understanding of a context without causing harm to research subjects.

Appreciative inquiry is a technique arising out of the Positive Psychology movement. It is a “way to engage groups of people in self-determined change. It focuses on what’s working, rather than what’s not working, and leads to people co-designing their future.” [8]

Positive Psychology focuses on building well-being within individuals, rather than only rooting out pathology. Dr. Martin Seligman, the pioneer of Positive Psychology, talks about how eliminating problematic thinking and disease in patients doesn’t guarantee a state of health and flourishing. Similarly, digging down to “root causes” and problem solving in organizations does not guarantee an organization will move into a more beneficial, productive state.

Critics point out that a rosy, glass-half-full perspective may minimize legitimate problems and systemic issues. But Appreciative Inquiry doesn’t ignore them; it’s providing a path forward that can unite groups in a shared goal.

Appreciative Inquiry

Principles of Appreciative Inquiry

Constructionist: Words create worlds and shape our perception, knowledge and understanding of the world around us.

Simultaneity: The questions we ask are fateful and ignite change the moment the question is asked.

Anticipatory: New and aspiring images of what we want to stimulate us to make small changes that align with our preferred future.

Poetic: All situations have an infinite number of things we can explore and what we choose to focus on makes a difference.

Positive: Emotions influence what we do or think in a situation. Positive emotions invite positive questions that result in positive change.

Wholeness: Inclusivity builds collective capacity by pooling our collective knowledge and expertise in generating new opportunities.

Enactment: Embodying the change we wish to see helps create a living model or prototype of our idea future.

Narrative: Stories are transformative; we live into the narratives we construct and tell ourselves.

Free Choice: People are more committed to positive change when they have the freedom to choose how and what they contribute.

Awareness: Building awareness around underlying biases and assumptions to help cultivate deeper conversations and relationships. [9]

When to use Appreciative Inquiry

  • When visioning or exploring possibilities and innovations

  • To reinforce culture, changes, and/or accomplishments by the group

What Appreciative Inquiry invites us to do

  • Focus on the strengths of the organization or group, including: (1) the values, beliefs, and capabilities of the organization when it’s “at its best”, and (2) collective understandings around what makes up the best of the group

  • Articulate the change an organization is moving TO, in addition to where it is moving FROM

  • Assume that each human system has a positive core of strengths

Action Research is a research practice with a social change agenda—in contrast to conventional academic research that studies social problems without trying to resolve them.

Action Research “is social research carried out by a team encompassing a professional action researcher and members of an organization or community seeking to improve their situation. [It] promotes broad participation in the research process and supports action leading to a more just or satisfying situation for the stakeholders. Together, the professional researcher and the stakeholders define the problem to be examined, cogenerate relevant knowledge about them, learn and execute social research techniques, and interpret the results of actions based on what they have learned.” [10]

Human-centered design and design thinking methods for collaborative and participatory research are based on principles of action research, where the goal is to enact a particular change or innovation. However, neither human-centered design nor design thinking literature typically go far enough in emphasizing the duty of care of the researcher to the community participants.

Action Research

What Action Research invites us to do

  • Engage communities and stakeholders in a participatory process to conduct research WITH, not research ON

  • Approach research seriously employing effective and ethical protocols that avoid harm to the community involved

Action Research pairs well with

  • Trauma-informed research practices, which recognize how research can be invasive, inadvertently cause harm, and center the well-being of the research participants above the curiosity of the researcher

References & Learn More

[10] Introduction to Action Research by Davydd J. Greenwood and Morten Levin

Danny Burns defines systemic action research as “achieving holistic change in complex social and organizational settings, sometimes known as ‘whole system change.’” He goes on to say that a “holistic approach to intervention is crucial because complex issues cannot be adequately comprehended in isolation from the wider system of which they are a part. Things that happen within one arena affect, and are affected by, things that happen in other arenas, in ways which are often not easy to see.” [11]

“Systemic action research works with real social and organizational issues to uncover their complex dynamics, often revealing unexpected opportunities. [Systemic action research] can be integrated into the process of social and organizational development and change … It extends the possibilities of action research beyond the individual and group to work across whole organizations, multi-agency governance arenas and networks.” [11]

It “opens up the possibility of strategy development that can meaningfully engage with the complexities of the real world. In this respect, it is a challenge to the rolling out of ‘best practice’, to ‘strategic planning’, and to the models of linear causation that dominate our organizational and political landscape.” [11]

Key principles

  • An emergent research design

  • An exploratory inquiry phase

  • Multiple inquiry streams operating at different levels

  • A structure for connecting organic inquiry to formal decision making

  • A process for identifying cross-cutting links across inquiry streams

  • A commitment to open boundary inquiry

  • The active development of distributed leadership

Systemic Action Research

When to use Systemic Action Research

  • Government and local governance contexts

  • National and international NGOs

  • Spotting opportunities for large-system change and collective impact

References & Learn More

[11] Systemic Action Research by Danny Burns

Trauma-Informed Design Research & Facilitation

Trauma-informed design research and facilitation recognizes human trauma as a physiological and psychological experience resulting from prior events in an individual’s lived experience. These traumas can be triggered by research and group facilitation activities, resulting in a negative or harmful experience to the individual and group.

Amy Guhl, of Neumann Monson, explains that trauma-informed design is “an emerging concept that has yet to achieve a unified definition. It builds on the principles of trauma-informed care—a healthcare approach that acknowledges providers need a complete picture of the patient’s history to provide care. Like trauma-informed care, trauma-informed design filters decisions through psychological and cultural research. The intent is to create spaces that provide a sense of safety, respect, community, and dignity.” [12]

“Becoming trauma-aware is about recognizing the prevalence and impact of trauma on people’s minds, bodies and spirits. And, supporting healing interpersonally and systemically. We put trauma-awareness and healing into practice in design and co-design through creating environments where people can feel safe enough, visible and validated in their experiences.” [13]

In her Forbes article, Neha Gill says that by “recognizing trauma as an important factor impacting health throughout a person’s lifespan and by offering trauma-informed approaches to care, programs, organizations and systems can significantly enhance the positive impact they make on people’s lives.” [14]

Key Principles (SAMSA)

  • Safety

  • Trustworthiness and transparency

  • Peer support

  • Collaboration and mutuality

  • Empowerment

  • Voice and choice

  • Respecting cultural, historical and gender issues

What Trauma-Informed Design invites us to do

  • Understand how trauma can manifest in facilitators, participants, and groups

  • Design safer spaces that reduce the risk of triggering and re-traumatization

  • Establish appropriate facilitator boundaries and recommendations to professional care givers

  • Remember that sharing trauma is not required

  • Recognize the participants as experts and engage them in creating new opportunities and solutions for themselves

References & Learn More

[12] Principles of trauma-informed design
https://neumannmonson.com/blog/principles-trauma-informed-design

[13] Beyond Sticky Notes
https://beyondstickynotes.notion.site/Trauma-aware-practice-and-design-a4e5a48199934c34871f7c1771b364e3

[14] The Importance of Trauma-Informed Design
https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2019/12/09/the-importance-of-trauma-informed-design/

[15] Trauma-Informed Design (video) with Rachael Dietkus and Sarah Fathallah
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7637393/video/466407089

[16] Trauma-Informed Design Society
https://www.traumainformeddesign.org/

[17] Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute Assessment Tools
https://ctrinstitute.com/assessment-tools/

[18] Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSA)
https://www.samhsa.gov/