Characteristics of Self-Study Research as a Movement for Inside-Out Educational Change

• In Event: Theoretical Underpinnings of Self-Study

Abstract

This paper examines published self-study scholarship to map eight characteristics:
• Self-study is a process of change from the inside out;
• Self-study researchers start by questioning their educational practice;
• In self-studies, researchers focus on themselves in their practice contexts;
• Interaction and community enable self-study;
• Self-study fosters methodological variety and inventiveness;
• Self-study methodology is multidimensional;
• Self-study is guided by theory and, in turn, shapes theory;
• Quality and trustworthiness are ethical responsibilities in self-study.
Overall, the paper presents self-study research as a movement for educational change from the inside out, starting with practitioners but going far beyond them. It also emphasizes the value of continuing to extend self-study into and across new contexts and directions.

Authors

• Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, University of Nottingham

• Makie Kortjass, University of KwaZulu-Natal

• Ntokozo Mkhize Mthembu, University of KwaZulu-Natal