Co-operative inquiry: fields of application 


Co-operative inquiry in a developed form has been applied in diverse fields since 1981. The following is a representative but not exhaustive list. For the most recent information about work done at the Centre for Action Research in Professional Deveopment (CARPP), University of Bath, UK, see http://www.bath.ac.uk/~mnspwr/paperslist.htm   

1988 and 1994 refer to full reports. 1996 indicates where references to reports can be found.

  • Black managers and subordinates (CARPP)
  • Child protection supervision (1994)
  • Co-counselling (1996)
  • Co-operation between conventional and complementary practitioners (1996)
  • Dental practitioners (1996)
  • District council organizational culture (1988)
  • Health visitors (1994)
  • Obese and post-obese women (CARPP)
  • Prenatal education programme (1994)
  • Self-generating culture (1996)
  • Transpersonal states  (1988) Transpersonal inquiries (1998 )
  • Whole person medicine in general practice (1988)
  • Womens’ staff in a university (1994)
  • Young women managers (CARPP)
  • Youth workers (1994)
  • A brief history of ICCI inquiries

For applications within the whole field of participative research, including co-operative inquiry, see Bradbury, H. and Reason, P. (eds) Handbook of Action Research, London, Sage, 2000. www.sagepub.co.uk

For work done at CARPP in supporting students through the supervision process see the following two papers:

  • Reason, P. and Marshall, J. (1987). Research as personal process. In D. Boud and V. Griffin (eds) Appreciating Adult Learning.  Kogan Page, London.
  • Marshall, J. and Reason, P. (1994). Adult Learning in Collaborative Action Research: reflections on the supervision process.  Studies in Continuing Education. Research and Scholarship in Adult Education. 15(2), pp. 117-1.

For wide-ranging participative research work in the field of adult learning see the collection of inquiry reports in:

  • Yorks, L. and Kasl, E. (eds) (2002). Collaborative Inquiry as a Strategy for Adult Learning.  San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.  

For information about a Collaborative Leadership Project with Suzanne van Stralen in Sonoma, California, USA, using collaborative inquiry and commencing in March 2004, see www.svscs.com/Invitation.htm


1988: Reason, P. (ed), Human Inquiry in Action, London, Sage.

1994: Reason, P. (ed), Participation in Human Inquiry, London, Sage.

1996: Heron, J. Co-operative Inquiry: Research into the Human Condition, London, Sage.

1998: Heron, J. Sacred Science: Person-centred Inquiry into the Spiritual and the Subtle, Ross-on-Wye, PCCS Books.