Introducing first person inquiry
′Going Going′ by Philip Larkin
Part I - Living Life as Inquiry
Integrating action research, systemic thinking and attention to
issues of power
Action inquiry and action logics
Part II - Dimensions of Inquiry
Notions of inquiry
Disciplines of inquiry
Inquiry in action
Images of aspiring inquiry practice
Part III – Working with Ideas, Theories and Images as Inquiry
Working with academic literatures
Drawing on the work of Nathalie Sarraute
Self-reflection and life narrative in the work of Kazuo
Ishiguro
Part IV - Writing as Inquiry and as Representation
Writing as inquiry
Writing as representation
Selectively adopting Freefall Writing precepts
Part V - Stories of Inquiry
Inquiry learning groups and working with feedback
Acting for sustainability Seeking to contribute to systemic change,
as time slips by
‘Work Song’ by Wendell Berry
Wondering what to do about an elderly relative
Part VI – Ongoing Inquiry
Well, I won’t be doing that again
In reflection
Judi Marshall is a Professor Emerita of Leadership and Learning at
Lancaster University Management School, UK, in the Department of
Organisation, Work and Technology.
After a few years as a market researcher, Judi did her PhD on
managerial job stress at UMIST, working with Cary Cooper. This led
to a series of joint articles and books. In 1978 Judi joined
the Organizational Behaviour Group in the School of Management at
the University of Bath. There her interests included women in
management, organizational culture change, careers, action research
and sustainability. The latter a set of issues and urgent
challenges she has been integrating into management education,
research and her own organizational action since the 1980s.
Whilst at Bath, publications included: Women Managers: Travellers
in a Male World (Wiley, 1984); Women Managers Moving On (Routledge,
1995); explorations of the gendering of corporate social
responsibility; attention to ‘responsible’ careers (with Svenja
Tams); and a sequence of publications on first person action
research, including “Living life as inquiry” (Systemic Practice and
Action Research, 1999) – an approach that aspires to treat life as
an ongoing experiment.
Working with doctoral and Masters students, and supervising their
dissertations, has been a key area of Judi’s expertise. At Bath,
she was a core member of the Centre for Action Research in
Professional Practice (CARPP) and a tutor on the learning community
based Postgraduate Programme in Action Research. She was a
co-designer (with Gill Coleman and Peter Reason) and Director of
Studies for the action research-based MSc in Responsibility and
Business Practice (1997-2010) for ‘mature’, part-time course
participants who were seeking to contribute to change in their
organizations, professional fields, own lives and society. The
co-authored book Leadership for Sustainability: An action research
approach (Routledge, 2011) includes 29 stories of seeking to
contribute to systemic change from people who had undertaken the
Masters.
Judi moved on from Bath and joined Lancaster University in 2008, in
the then Department of Management Learning and Leadership. Her work
included teaching, research, writing and organizational action
about sustainability, and she especially appreciated belonging to a
network of people across the University and local community
concerned about these issues. She co-developed the MA in Leadership
for Sustainability, and tutored on the inquiry-based MA in
Management Learning and Leadership.
Judi’s contributions to action research have continued since formal
retirement, including the book First Person Action Research: Living
life as inquiry (Sage, 2016), and an article co-authored with
Margaret Gearty – “Living life as inquiry – a systemic practice for
change agents” (Systemic Practice and Action Research, online
2020).
Judi Marshall’s enduring practice of living life as inquiry shines
through this excellent volume which is at once a handbook,
provocation, storybook, and confidant. A vital resource for
those wishing to engage in the messiness of self-reflexive
practice, Judi’s text provides wise guidance through its
difficulties while pointing to its possibilities for self and
systems transformation.
*Dr Donna Ladkin*
This is a jewel of a book. Judi Marshall, not only provides
insights into the theory and practice of first person action
research she also engages in it herself. She shows how living life
as inquiry is a responsibility that challenges us to think
critically and act meaningfully in our world. This book is a must,
not merely to read, but to internalise.
*David Coghlan*
First person action research, as Judi articulates it, helps inform
better action, better research and more mindful leadership.
The field of action research has been waiting for Judi’s
decades long crystallization of first person inquiry practices
and First Person Action Research now offers a most welcome and
timely read. Action researchers, who are encouraged to
hold high aspirations for positive impact with stakeholders, will
find a guide to staying in touch with their aspiration, and support
for making it real. Judi’s work helps to situate inquiry
that integrates what she calls "outer and inner arcs of
attention," into our everyday "living life as
inquiry." First person inquiry is not for its own sake. As
social scientists we may also understand that because
ostensibly objective studies are increasingly questioned for their
partiality, well-wrought first person action research can help
clarify and refine our scientific insights. Judi offers
examples of useful and occasionally artistic first person
inquiry practices, helpfully brought alive with her own stories of
living everyday inquiry. We are edified by inquiry practices that
enrich all, both practitioners and those touched by the practice,
alike. Thank you Judi!
*Hilary Bradbury*
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