Policy Press
8 Research mentoring relationships
Abstract
Who are the people that supported you in developing practice competence in your field of expertise? I assume that you will be able to name a few! It is extremely rare for anyone, on receiving an award or accolade for an achievement, not to acknowledge others who have made the achievement possible. Mostly, the acknowledgement will be extended to support networks, but there may also frequently be mention of a mentor or coach. In fact, career development initiatives are based on the notion that coaching and mentoring will enable a person to achieve greater heights (Connor and Pokora, 2012). Research is traditionally viewed as a solo exercise, mostly undertaken towards a higher qualification or by academic researchers. This is sometimes true, but certainly not in the case of applied, practice research. In Chapter Three we considered the nature of relationships in research and concluded that social research is about people. A Maori proverb, very well known to most social workers and widely used in New Zealand, seems particularly relevant in this context: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people! This is true also of the aspirations for collaborative research shared in this book.
It is easy to envisage the permutations of capabilities and complexities that collaboration brings. Think about all the collaborative relationships we have explored so far, and then consider the possibilities that some individuals in these networks are in need of mentoring on any particular aspects of practice research, and others are in a position to provide that advice.
Abstract
Who are the people that supported you in developing practice competence in your field of expertise? I assume that you will be able to name a few! It is extremely rare for anyone, on receiving an award or accolade for an achievement, not to acknowledge others who have made the achievement possible. Mostly, the acknowledgement will be extended to support networks, but there may also frequently be mention of a mentor or coach. In fact, career development initiatives are based on the notion that coaching and mentoring will enable a person to achieve greater heights (Connor and Pokora, 2012). Research is traditionally viewed as a solo exercise, mostly undertaken towards a higher qualification or by academic researchers. This is sometimes true, but certainly not in the case of applied, practice research. In Chapter Three we considered the nature of relationships in research and concluded that social research is about people. A Maori proverb, very well known to most social workers and widely used in New Zealand, seems particularly relevant in this context: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people! This is true also of the aspirations for collaborative research shared in this book.
It is easy to envisage the permutations of capabilities and complexities that collaboration brings. Think about all the collaborative relationships we have explored so far, and then consider the possibilities that some individuals in these networks are in need of mentoring on any particular aspects of practice research, and others are in a position to provide that advice.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vi
- List of examples vii
- List of reflection exercises viii
- Glossary ix
- Introduction xii
-
The relationship between practice and research
- The nature of practice research in social work 3
- The context of practice research 19
- Practice research relationships 39
-
Designing practice research
- Framing the project 61
- Designing applied research 85
- Data collection and analysis in practice research 109
-
Nurturing networks
- Dissemination and utilisation 139
- Research mentoring relationships 163
- The full cycle 177
- References 185
- Index 201
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vi
- List of examples vii
- List of reflection exercises viii
- Glossary ix
- Introduction xii
-
The relationship between practice and research
- The nature of practice research in social work 3
- The context of practice research 19
- Practice research relationships 39
-
Designing practice research
- Framing the project 61
- Designing applied research 85
- Data collection and analysis in practice research 109
-
Nurturing networks
- Dissemination and utilisation 139
- Research mentoring relationships 163
- The full cycle 177
- References 185
- Index 201
