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Discovering Strengths: A Guide to Appreciative Inquiry Research Design听

High school teacher leading a blended learning class

By James Lane, Ed.D.

Introduction

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is based on the assumption that every organization has something that works well. Those strengths can be the starting point for creating positive change. Through Appreciative Inquiry, the researcher is inviting people to participate in dialogues and share stories about their past and present achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, strengths, and visions of possible futures. AI helps create energy and excitement and the desire to move toward a shared dream. Thus, AI implies to a search for knowledge. Essentially, AI is theory of collective action designed to evolve the vision and will of a group, an organization, or a society as a whole.

The researcher(s) must first select an affirmative topic choice. Cooperrider, et al. (2008, p. 5) explain the dialectic 4-D Cycle: 鈥淲hat follows are Discovery (appreciating and valuing), Dream (envisioning), Design (co-constructing the future), and Destiny (learning, empowering, and improvising to sustain the future)." as shown in the following Appreciative Inquiry 4-D Cycle.

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An illustration of affirmative topic with four bubbles representing Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny

Potential Applications of an Appreciative Inquiry Design

The researcher should select this design when they feel comfortable about the status of their organization but are willing to search for something better.

An Appreciative Inquiry design can be applied in a variety of areas. Here are a few examples:

  • Developing the ideal organization
  • Strategic Planning
  • Leadership and management development
  • Team development
  • Organizational cultural change
  • Coaching
  • Community and customer relations
  • Diversity initiatives
  • New product development

AI is a versatile research design, in that it may be applied with other designs, including case study, action research, and narrative.

Challenges in using the Design

The AI researcher may face two significant challenges. First, all stakeholders must be involved in the 4-D process of Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. Next, stakeholders must be willing to change. The researcher considering Appreciative Inquiry as a research design should have access to the organization鈥檚 stakeholders and be able to conduct and facilitate active research within the organization. AI is very much a hands-on approach. If the researcher does not have such access, they should consider another design.

Important Issues to Consider

Cooperrider, et al. (2008) advise beginning in pairs and transitioning to larger groups, probing two key questions:

What factors give life to this organization when it is and has been most alive, successful, and effective?

What possibilities, expressed and latent, provide opportunities for more vital, successful, and effective forms of organization?

In Appreciative Inquiry, the basic assumption is that an organization is a mystery to be embraced. Therefore, discussants begin by valuing the best of what is鈥 envisioning what might be, and the dialoguing what might be (Coorperrider & Whitney, 2005). The purpose of the study shapes the process. Once the researcher(s) identify the purpose of the study, they can design the process for enacting change. Here is a base purpose statement:

The purpose of this appreciative inquiry study is to _______, in order to _______.

Research questions should follow the 4-D Cycle. Here are examples (Cooperrider, et al., 2008):

RQ1: What is best of what has been and is currently being practiced? (Discovery)

RQ2: How do stakeholders envision a better organization? (Dream)

RQ3: What strategies do stakeholders describe in order to achieve the ideal organization? (Design)

RQ4: How will stakeholders recognize and sustain positive change? (Destiny)

Data Collection and Analysis

The AI researcher(s) must design a plan for data collection and analysis. First, they must identify the stakeholders. Next, they must determine the study research questions. Following that, researcher(s) must decide how data will be collected. Options include questionnaires, focus groups or pairs, and observations. Next, researchers must develop an interview guide or protocol, identifying which stakeholders will participate in each phase. Next, the researcher(s) must determine how the findings will be recorded and the data compiled.

As with any study, the researcher(s) goal is to make sense of the data. This requires one to identify themes and patterns, remembering that a key goal of the study is to discover what works

well. The thoughtful researcher(s) must listen and understand from multiple perspectives and identify what topics require further inquiry.

Finally, researcher(s) must plan how and where to share the data and findings of the study. While the purpose of the study may be to complete a dissertation, an appreciative inquiry design is a proactive approach to advance an organization鈥檚 goals.

The Doctoral student should be sure to review the Dissertation Handbook for models of problem and purpose statements and research questions.

Key Resources

Cho, H., & Ardichvili, A. (2024). Appreciative Inquiry: An Integrative Review of Studies in Three Disciplines. Human Resource Development Review, 23(3), 376-401. https://doi.org/10.1177/15344843241256156

Coorperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry. https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/about/. Our mission is to be the global hub for connecting people to learn, apply, and amplify Appreciative Inquiry.

Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D. (2005). Appreciative inquiry: A positive revolution in change. Berrrett-Koehler Publishers.

Cooperrider, D.L., Whitney, D., & Stavros, J.M. (2008). Appreciative inquiry handbook for leaders of change, 2nd ed. Crown Custom Publishing and Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Merriel, A., Wilson, A., Decker, E., Hussein, J., Larkin, M., Barnard, K., O'Dair, M., Costello, A., Malata, A., & Coomarasamy, A. (2022). Systematic review and narrative synthesis of the impact of Appreciative Inquiry in healthcare. BMJ open quality, 11(2), e001911. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001911

Taos Institute. https://www.taosinstitute.net/ The Taos Institute鈥檚庐 mission is to bring together scholars and practitioners concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value, and their application in relational, collaborative and appreciative practices around the world.

Here is a 爱污传媒 dissertation that represents the application of Appreciative Inquiry: Walton, R. A. (2022). Exploring Reverse Mentoring to Prepare Millennials for Leadership Within Janssen Scientific Affairs: An Appreciative Inquiry (Order No. 29993714). Available from Dissertations & Theses @ 爱污传媒; ProQuest Dissertations

Jim Lane, Ed.D.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Lane, Ed.D. served as a public school educator for 37 years as an English teacher, district language arts supervisor, and middle school assistant principal and principal. He holds a BA in English-Mass Communications Education, an MA in English, and an MEd and EdD in Educational Leadership. He has worked with the 爱污传媒 since 2006 in various roles, including the associate research chair of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Education, research fellow in the Center for Education and Instructional Technology, reviewer for the Dissertation to Publication workshop, and member of the Research Methodology SIG. He is a faculty member in the ACCESS program, facilitating doctoral courses and serving dissertation committees as a panel validator.