Practitioners considering researching and facilitating processes that are concurrently within the same context are likely to encounter pressures and choices unlike those faced by others choosing to separate the roles of facilitator and researcher. Research and facilitation are widely regarded as serving different purposes with different goals and outcomes; however, some intersections can be highly productive while also being stimulating, uncomfortable, energizing, conflicted, puzzling, and revealing. Simultaneously occupying facilitator and researcher roles requires greater mindfulness of one’s actions and emotions than if one is occupying only one role. This article offers four metaphors—‘politician,’ ‘magician,’ ‘trader/traitor,’ and ‘ventriloquist’—to highlight the kinds of pressures likely to be encountered and the nature of resulting choices when intending to research the processes of one’s own facilitator practices and contexts.
Alvesson, M. ( 2003). Methodology for close up studies-Struggling with closeness and closure. Higher Education, 46, 167-193
2.
Bressen, T. (n.d.). Roles of the facilitator. Retrieved February 1, 2005, from http://www.treegroup.info/topics/B12-facilitator_role.html
3.
Bruner, C. ( 1999). From trust to betrayal. Journal for a Just and Caring Education, 5, 134-136.
4.
Chasin, L. ( 2003). Role of the facilitator. Retrieved February 1, 2005, from http://www.beyondintractability.org/audio/10202/
5.
Day, C. ( 1991). Roles and relationships in qualitative research on teachers’ thinking: A reconsideration. Teaching and Teacher Education , 7, 537-547.
Ford, D.N., & McCormack, D.E.M. (2000). Effects of time scale focus on system understanding in decision support systems. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 31, 309-330.
8.
Fraser, W. ( 1995). Learning from experience: Empowerment or incorporation?Leicester, UK: National Institute for Adult and Community Education.
9.
Gosen, J., & Washbush, J. ( 1999). As teachers and researchers, where do we go from here ? Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 30, 292-303.
10.
Gosen, J., & Washbush, J. ( 2004). A review of scholarship on assessing experiential learning effectiveness. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35, 270-293.
11.
Herbert, A. ( 1997). Methodological choices. Unpublished manuscript.
12.
Herbert, A. ( 2000). Constraints on critical questions. Paper presented at the 5th World Congress on Action Learning, Action Research & Process Management, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
13.
Herbert, A. ( 2002). Paradoxes of action learning. Helsinki , Finland: HeSE Print.
14.
Herbert, A., & King, S. ( 1998). Researching in my workplace: Negotiating and juggling researcher roles and relationships. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
15.
Herbert, A., Kutinlahti, P., Hyytinen, K., & Saari, E. ( 2003). Researching one’s own workplace: What special considerations of method apply?Poster session presented at the Third International Researching Work and Learning Conference, Tampere, Finland.
16.
Heron, J. ( 1999). The complete facilitator’s handbook, London: Kogan Page.
17.
Holian, R. ( 1999). Doing action research in my own organisation: Ethical dilemmas, hopes and triumphs. Action Research International , Paper 3. Retrieved February 1, 2005, from http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/ari/p-rholian99.html
18.
Hornyak, M.J., & Page, D. ( 2004). Experiential learning: Introducing faculty and staff to a university leadership development program. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35, 461-475.
19.
King, S. ( 2004). The emotional dimension of collaborative change to problem-based learning: The staff experience in challenging research. In M. Savin-Baden & K. Wilkie (Eds.), Problem-based learning (pp. 103-115). Maidenhead, UK: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
20.
Leigh, E. ( 2004). A practitioner perspective on facilitating an open infinite chaordic simulation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia.
21.
Leigh, E., & Spindler, L. ( 2004). Simulations and games as chaordic learning contexts. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35, 53-69.
22.
Mayer, I.S., Bockstael-Blok, W., & Valentin E.C. ( 2004). A building block approach to simulation: An evaluation using containers adrift. Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35, 29-52.
23.
Narney, P. ( 1994, July). The divided self: Overcoming the internal divisions in the ethnographic participant observer role. Paper presented at the Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, University Park, PA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 375408)
24.
O’Rourke, R. ( 1993, July). Changing places: Issues for the practitioner turned researcher. In N. Miller & D. J. Jones (Eds.), Research: Reflecting practice. Papers from the 23rd SCU-TREA Annual Conference, Manchester, UK. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED361594)
25.
Owen, H. ( 1997). Open space technology: A user’s guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
26.
Palmquist, M. (Ed.). (2005). The researcher’s influence on study participants. Retrieved February 1, 2005, from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/rhet-res/com2e3.cfm
27.
Payne, J. ( 1990). Doing adult education research in studies. Education of Adults, 22(1), 77-93.
28.
Piele, E.B., & Briner, W. ( 2001). Team and organizational learning in a cross-functional community of practice: The importance of privileging voices. Career Development International, 6, 396-402.
29.
Schein, E.H. ( 1999). Process consultation revisited: Building the helping relationship. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley .
30.
Shacklock, G., & Smyth, J. ( 1997). Re-conceptualising collaborative educational research: Moral decisions, relational forces, and cultural articulation. Adelaide, South Australia, Australia: Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching, Flinders University.
31.
Sims, R. ( 1998, February 23). Research in the workplace. UniNews, 2.
32.
Street, A. ( 1998). In/forming inside Nursing: Ethical dilemmas in critical research. In G. Shacklock & J. Smyth (Eds.), Being reflective in critical education and social research (pp. 146-158). London: Falmer.
33.
Van Manen, M. ( 1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. New York: State University of New York.
