Meeting in the middle: joining reflection and action in complex public sector projects

Abstract

In order for co-production to become a viable way of working in public sector management and policy-making, practitioners need to be more reflective and researchers need to be more action oriented. This article discusses reflective practice, action research and the idea of a community of inquiry in which both practice and science work together. The authors illustrate their ideas with an example from their own practice and explain the advantages of their approach.

Acknowledgement

We thank Kevin Orr, Mike Bennett and two anonymous reviewers. This article is a coproduction by two action researchers and an ethnographer/public administration scientist. Although this co-production is not the issue we are writing about, we found it of possible interest to the reader to notice that this co-production has sharpened our insights into what is going on with the issue we are looking at. Whereas the two action researchers had difficulty understanding the meaning and value of a science ‘just to understand’, the ethnographer/public administration scientist at times felt uneasy about full engagement in the real-time action. At the same time, both parties were eager to explore reflective practice and what might be going on within the shared boundary of science and practice. In addition, both parties agreed on a crucial element of joint inquiry: the value of local knowledge for understanding what is going on and for formulating ways of proceeding. Finally, the three authors agree that, even if more action-oriented research seems to be needed, various other kinds of scientific practices are valuable in their own right.

Notes

*Action research is used here as a synonym for ‘action science’, although they are often treated separately. ‘Participatory action research’ (PAR) is another concept used to indicate the working together of various parties in an effort to jointly understand and solve public problems. In public administration, Kensen (2003) has talked about ‘interaction research’. See Denis and Lehoux (2009) for an up-to-date overview.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Duijn

Michael Duijn is senior researcher at the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).

Marc Rijnveld

Marc Rijnveld is senior consultant at the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).

Merlijn van Hulst

Merlijn van Hulst is assistant professor at the Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.