ERIC Number: EJ831648
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-May
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0149-7189
EISSN: N/A
Tales from the Frontline: The Experiences of Early Childhood Practitioners Working with an "Embedded" Research Team
Wong, Sandie
Evaluation and Program Planning, v32 n2 p99-108 May 2009
In late 2006, SDN Children's Services, an Australian not-for-profit provider of services for children, families and communities, engaged a research team that was "embedded" within the organisation for 1 year. This action represented a significant investment of resources, such as staff time and organisational funds, and demonstrates SDN's strong commitment to research and evaluation as a means of supporting organisational learning and development. This paper highlights the innovative nature of the approach by positioning the role of the embedded researcher within the current theoretical and socio-political context. It also provides evidence of the success of the approach by reporting on the findings of a study that investigated staff's experiences of being involved in this type of collaborative investigation of their work. I argue that the employment of an embedded researcher can have positive benefits both for the organisation and the practitioners--but who the researchers are really matters. (Contains 5 tables.)
Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, Researchers, Academic Achievement, Child Caregivers, Action Research, Participatory Research, Preschool Evaluation, Foreign Countries, Experimenter Characteristics, Nongovernmental Organizations, Organizational Development, Institutional Research
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A