Researching in schools and universities: insiders and professional doctorates

This article is based on a small study of 13 professional doctorate students in two universities, comprising nine current students and four who had completed. The sample consisted of lecturer/practitioners, ie those who had made the transition from practice into higher education, and other professionals including headteachers and teachers in secondary schools and colleges of further education. Data was generated through interviews that adopted active listening/rapid interpretation techniques. In the article we question the practice orientation of insider research and argue that the insiderness of the experience of these students raises questions about relationships and boundaries: being critical and workplace mission and managing the research and writing. In order to acquire research skills at doctoral level, we suggest that the complexities of being an insider in these circumstances warrant particular attention.