The approach to action research that we have been developing at SOLAR is built on a learning architecture of parallel but connected action inquiry streams. I have illustrated how these might emerge and what shape they might take in the previous chapter. In this chapter I want to look in more detail at what the individual strands look like. The chapter focuses firstly on dialogic inquiry, secondly on visual inquiry, and finally on embodied inquiry. These give a flavour of some of the practices we use at SOLAR, but they should not be regarded as the only way of doing this work.

Dialogic inquiry processes

Facilitated action inquiry streams

Action inquiry processes may start with a few people in conversation, or in an exploratory action research meeting, or in a large event. They may be concerned about a specific issue, dilemma, or problem or have an open-ended question such as ‘what are the health issues for this community?’. As discussed in the previous chapter, some starting points are better than others, but it may not matter as long as we have time, flexibility to change tack and multiple entry points into the social and organisational arena. The only thing we have to ensure is that there is a real passion for the work. Before moving to action, an inquiry is likely to go through an iterative process similar to that articulated by Wadsworth and Epstein (1998), where the inquiry:

• • allows issues to emerge

• • surfaces different perspectives on them

• • builds a systemic picture to contextualise them

• • goes deeper

• • surfaces the undiscussables.

Once action is initiated new insight will emerge, which will trigger further inquiries.

An inquiry group may run for just a few months or a few years. It may stay with a single core group but more likely its membership will expand and change. It may continue to work on the issues that it started with, but it is just as likely that the group will realise that the underlying issue is something else or that there is a need to split the group to enable sub-inquiry strands to emerge.