Research as Experience: Composing Research Stories to Live by, Not Merely to Live With

• In Event: 56.062 - Counterstories and Communities in Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

In this paper, we argue for a counterstory (Lindeman Nelson, 1995) of research-as-experience. We contend that when researchers shift their own thinking to frame research as experience, they begin to interrupt normative strategies of shifting classroom practice. The notion of research as experience moves toward a mindful valuing of children’s and teachers’ experience within the context of their lives. In the counterstory of research as experience, children and teachers are re-storied as holders of knowledge whose experience shapes our experiences as researchers. We argue for the importance of attending to the specificity and the particularities of experience, moving beyond the theoretical research plan to the lived experience of research and the living out of research.

Authors

• Derek A. Hutchinson, The University of Kansas

• Cindy (Cynthia) Lynne Clarke, Brandon University