About

Contemporary educational researchers encounter all kinds of ethical and political dilemmas and tensions in conducting research in postmodern contents. In doing so, they must engage with research as 'risky business', and they must enact strategies that will maximize benefits and minimize harm arising from their projects.

The chapters in this book elaborate the author' respective and multiple efforts to embrace these challenges. Each chapter takes up in different ways the idea of Ian Stronach and Maggie MacLure (1997) that research is full of 'strategic uncertainties' that create opportunities to question, disrupt and transform existing experiences of marginalization. One chapter is about Japanese and Norwegian whaling, one about research with English Gypsies and one about Venezuelan fairground people; other chapters depict research about Australian education. All the chapters demonstrate the international relevance of their research.

The 14 chapters are divided into four sections:

• Research language and literacies;
• Research collaborations
• Researching environments and spaces;
• Researching technologies.

Strategic Uncertainties contains theoretically framed and methodologically rigorous reflections on many of the ethic and political risks in educational research in the early 21st century, as well as practical strategies for engaging with those risks.

Proudly published by Post Pressed

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Reviews

"I commend the editors and the authors, and I wish all of us well in the vital endeavour of seizing the challenge presented by the strategic uncertainties of researching - and administering and managing - contemporary educational policy and provision.

Preface by Jeanne McConachie,
Director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Services,
Central Queensland University, Australia

"...this book, we all agree, is about certain forms of strategic yet decisive uncertainties (or make that decertaincy if you want to keep going)."

Forward by Professors Ian Stronach and Maggie MacLure,
Institute of Education,
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.

"[The Authors'] work demonstrates how a university can be a school of thought in the truest sense. The highly diverse work of these contributors adds to the pool of expertise, to the 'learning culture' within the academic body itself..."

Respondent's conclusion by Dr Máirán Kenny,
Independent Scholar, Ireland.

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Contributions

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgements

Preface

Jeanne McConachie

Foreword

Ian Stronach and Maggie MacLure

Editorial Introduction

Phyllida Coombes, Mike Danaher and Patrick Alan Danaher

Section One: Researching Language and Literacies

Edited by Patrick Alan Danaher

Section One Section Introduction

Patrick Alan Danaher

1. (De)Constructing Educational Risk: A Discursive and Ecological Approach to Research
   Robyn Rowan
2. Research Is Not a Dirty Word: The Risks Involved in Trying to Overcome the Teacher/Theorist Divide
   Jenny McDougall
3. Ethical and Political Dimensions of Strategic Risk-Taking in Research
   R.E. (Bobby) Harreveld
4. Developing a Critical Writing Course: A Risky Business
   Sue McIntosh
5. Freedom to Live: The Ethical Responsibilities of Researching a Hero's Journey
   Jenny Simpson

Section Two: Research Collaborations

Edited by Mike Danaher

Section Two Section Introduction

Mike Danaher

6. The Risks and Realities of Researching Relationships: A Case of Collegiality
   Lucy Jarzabkowski
7. Doing Research with Teachers, Parents and Students: The Ethics and Polities of Collaborative Research
   Carmen Mills and Trevor Gale

Section Three: Researching Environments and Spaces

Edited by Phyllida Coombes

8. (En)Gendering Risk: Reflecting on Risks and Dilemmas When Researching Academic Women in a Hostile Terrain
   Teresa Moore
9. Moralising Risky Environments: The Ethical and Political Nature of Environmental Education Research
   Mike Danaher
10. Navigating Without Fixed Points: The Perils of Open Ended Research
    Martin Levinson
11. Inter-systemic Research and Collaboration: Ethical and Political Dimensions and Elements of Risk Among Cooperative Communities
    Beverley Moriarty
12. Mobilising Spatial Risks: Reflections on Researching Venezuelan and Australian Fairground People's Educational Experiences
    Emilio A. Anteliz, Geoff Danaher and Patrick Alan Danaher

Section Four: Researching Technologies

Edited by Mike Danaher

Section Four Section Introduction

Mike Danaher

13. No More Bricks in the Wall: Researching Postmodernism post-Literacy and Education
    Bernadette Walker-Gibbs
14. Technological Agents?: Exploring the Ethics, Risks and Politics of Researching Non-Human Actants
    Jo Luck

Respondent's Concludion: Cui Bono?

Máirán Kenny

Notes on Contributors

Index

Mike Danaher

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