Active and accountable social inquiry : implications and examples

Abstract

This article is based on my inaugural lecture that I delivered at the University of South Africa on 6 November 2013. The topic of the inaugural lecture was “active and accountable social inquiry” In the inaugural address I focused on what it might mean to practice what I call active as well as accountable social research. I explained the various research contexts in which I, with colleagues, have used the term “active” to characterize research where responsibility is taken for the possible impacts that research endeavours have in the social world of which research is a part. I also indicated that active research implies that one engages research participants in processes of research/inquiry. This engagement implies that the research is not led solely by the initiating researchers, but is a product of a variety of inputs and decisions about the meaning of the research and its potential action implications. The approach to active research that is detailed in this article is pertinent to this journal on Participatory Educational Research, which is aimed at publicizing various efforts on the parts of researchers to develop a more participatory style of inquiry. Active research is one way of developing such a style.