Qualitative inquiry growth

Improving community policing through qualitative research

Community policing and/or neighbourhood crime-watch could be enhanced by appreciative inquiry, argues Suzanne Grant (2012). Although community policing is sometimes perceived as having “more rhetoric than reality”, or being little more than “befriending communities and collecting information”, it does contribute positively to a community’s social capital.

Grant (2012) found no published accounts of the use of appreciative inquiry within a policing environment. However, she did find literature of appreciative inquiry applications within a prison environment. She explored how appreciative inquiry may (or may not) refocus perceptions.

Policing, traditionally entail a problem-oriented approach, focusing on problems and identifying causes, rather than symptoms. The ontology and methodology of critical appreciative processes (CAPs) embrace the seemingly paradoxical balancing of both appreciative Inquiry and critical theory. Grant (2012) indicates that appreciative inquiry need not be “Pollyannaish” or excessively focused on “warm, fuzzy group hugs”. She cautions that the “danger of ignoring the shadow” is that may might conceal structural inequalities and encourage problematic notions of empowerment. Critical theory, on the other hand, need not be only “negative”. Instead it encourages deeper engagement and questioning of what might be taken for granted. This dual paradigm, Grant (2012) points out, encourages a mind-set of knowing and “to be more conscious of, to take full and sufficient account of” a situation. Whereas problem-oriented policing is unable to address all the challenges within community policing, Grant (2012) offers critical appreciative processes as solution. CAP recognises that not every situation encountered will be only “good” or “positive”; but may not be “all bad” either. CAP empowers people to take control of their destiny, through actions and interactions.

Grant’s (2012) research found that aspects of appreciative inquiry were already evident among research participants (the community constables). They developed such approaches through life skills and experience, but did not have a “label” for it. Active appreciation helped participants to recognise dimensions of hope within the dynamics of an initially perceived negative situation. These dimensions of hope may then be built on, which restore power and control.

Grant, S. 2012. Enhancing community policing through critical appreciative processes. AI Practitioner, 14(3), August 2012.

Lived experiences of person in a specified context

Appreciative inquiry is more than a qualitative research method. The central thematic question of Laine Goldman’s (2014) doctoral dissertation had been “What is the lived experience of a media freelancer at the border of a changing work culture?” She made use of the methodological tool appreciative reflection, which entails an appreciative inquiry inspired interactive and generative narrative. Through appreciative reflection Laine Goldman succeeded to counter potential grumbling by showcasing the immense work of multimedia freelancers during the recession; and also highlighting the factors that contribute to career longevity. Laine Goldman, as co-participant, enabled a richer portrait to emerge, instead of focusing on deficit discourse.

Appreciative inquiry served as perception changer. Laine Goldman did not change the content of conversations, but she framed the lived experiences of her research participants through an appreciative stance. Laine Goldman did not deny the backstory of decreased wages, tighter deadline, and increased competition of recession’s economic hardship. Instead she focused on the successful navigation of multimedia freelancers for decades. Note the shift from a problem-focused discourse to finding what is working. Such repositioning enables change. Appreciative reflection makes use of auto-ethnography, where the “self in relation to others” is situated in the context. Constructionist change practice involves the assumption that when the positive experiences of people are explored, the conversations begin to change a more positive outlook.

It is not a matter of fixating on the positive and glossing over difficulties. Appreciative reflection serves as a wide-angle lens in order to find “the best of what is present in each moment, person, and experience”; not our desires for the current situation.

Goldman, L. 2014. Appreciative reflection, a wide-angle lens for changing perception. AI Practitioner, the International Journal of Appreciative Enquiry, 16(3), 53-58, August 2014.