Researchers Are From Venus, Practitioners Are From Mars

• In Event: Research-Practitioner Partnerships: Innovations, Challenges, and Applications

Abstract

This study illuminates the pitfalls and pratfalls of conducting research in schools through the practitioners’ lens. Researchers make myriad assumptions about roles practitioners ought to play in school-based research. Yet our assumptions are often unfounded. This study describes factors that may disrupt the research enterprise; we leverage a rich case study to describe experiences practitioners and researchers shared in conducting a federally-funded, five-year RCT, using interviews with district and school administrators. Preliminary results illustrate the frustration practitioners feel when research interferes with instructional time and the pressures principals feel while navigating the boundaries between the district office, teachers, and researchers. This study highlights identities practitioners assume in the research enterprise, a perspective necessary to understand for successfully executing school-based research.

Authors

• Lisa M. Jones, McRel International

• Sheila A. Arens, McREL