In many courses with
the Open University you are asked to understate some sort of project or
investigation. Many of these have something called a “cycle of inquiry” which
is basically the process you go through in order to get something.
Students often come
back to me and ask me how to discuss cycles of inquiry. This blog is
essentially the advice I have been giving for the last seven years on how to
explain and describe these cycles. This is my own personal model that I have
shared with my students and if you want to use this approach then please cite this
blog as your source.
What is a cycle of inquiry?
First of all a cycle of inquiry is a definite pro-active action that
you initiate. It is not just you reacting to something. You may well need to
react to something that happened but your reaction
should lead to you taking some deliberate action. So
any event might lead to a cycle of inquiry but your immediate reaction to an
event is not necessarily a cycle of inquiry.
Second, a cycle of inquiry
should always be undertaken to get something. That “something” could be
tangible such as resources or money or labour. Or it could be something less
tangible such as inspiration or confirmation or permission. The point is that
any cycle of inquiry must have some sort of an outcome that you can measure.
Third, a cycle of inquiry
should not be too big. “Build a new hospital” is not a cycle of inquiry. It is
a project. Projects tend to be made up of lots and lots of cycles of inquiry.
In this example, suitable
cycles of inquiry would be to “find out how many people live in the area” and “identify
how many hospitals already exist in the area”.
Describing cycles of inquiry in a TMA.
When describing a cycle
of inquiry it is quite possible that you can describe it
without using any theory at all and without providing any substantive evidence.
This is fine for a general conversation but if you are describing a cycle of inquiry
for an assignment then you must include both theory and evidence. If your chosen
cycle of inquiry does not include both of these things or is very limited then choose another cycle to describe.
Key questions to ask as part of a cycle of inquiry
What is it you need?
The answer to this
question should indicate why the thing you need is important to the initiative
or project you were talking about. There should be some evidence here and some
discussion on how you expect this thing to change your situation.
How do you plan to get it?
When answering this
question, you should consider any theories you have used or are using in the
cycle of inquiry. There might be some stakeholder analysis also power theories
as you identify the people to engage with. There might be theories on
communication or maybe you’re using some creative problem-solving techniques.
This is where you get the theory into your answer and possibly some application
as well.
What happened?
This question let you
provide some evidence to show what happened when you carried out the cycle of inquiry.
What did you learn from this?
Here we want you to
think about how it went. Did everything work as you expected it to? If not why not? Did you get the results you expected? If not why not?
What difference has it made?
If everything went as
you expected it to then the answer to this question is “take the next step” however
it is rarely that simple. Often things happen you didn’t expect
and things have changed as a result of your cycle of inquiry. It might be that
the cycle failed and you need to try again so what has
changed is your understanding of what works. Every real cycle of inquiry will
ultimately make a difference of some sort.
What will you do as a result of it?
So what are your next steps? It might be you have to repeat the cycle of inquiry with different people with a different approach or maybe you’re going
onto the next stage or maybe you’ve gone in a different direction so what are
you going to do now that you’ve completed this cycle of inquiry. There is
always something else to do, even if it is just “celebrate success.
Cycles of Inquiry
In many courses with the Open University you are asked to understate some sort of project or investigation. Many of these have something called a “cycle of inquiry” which is basically the process you go through in order to get something.
Students often come back to me and ask me how to discuss cycles of inquiry. This blog is essentially the advice I have been giving for the last seven years on how to explain and describe these cycles. This is my own personal model that I have shared with my students and if you want to use this approach then please cite this blog as your source.
What is a cycle of inquiry?
First of all a cycle of inquiry is a definite pro-active action that you initiate. It is not just you reacting to something. You may well need to react to something that happened but your reaction should lead to you taking some deliberate action. So any event might lead to a cycle of inquiry but your immediate reaction to an event is not necessarily a cycle of inquiry.
Second, a cycle of inquiry should always be undertaken to get something. That “something” could be tangible such as resources or money or labour. Or it could be something less tangible such as inspiration or confirmation or permission. The point is that any cycle of inquiry must have some sort of an outcome that you can measure.
Third, a cycle of inquiry should not be too big. “Build a new hospital” is not a cycle of inquiry. It is a project. Projects tend to be made up of lots and lots of cycles of inquiry.
In this example, suitable cycles of inquiry would be to “find out how many people live in the area” and “identify how many hospitals already exist in the area”.
Describing cycles of inquiry in a TMA.
When describing a cycle of inquiry it is quite possible that you can describe it without using any theory at all and without providing any substantive evidence. This is fine for a general conversation but if you are describing a cycle of inquiry for an assignment then you must include both theory and evidence. If your chosen cycle of inquiry does not include both of these things or is very limited then choose another cycle to describe.
Key questions to ask as part of a cycle of inquiry
What is it you need?
The answer to this question should indicate why the thing you need is important to the initiative or project you were talking about. There should be some evidence here and some discussion on how you expect this thing to change your situation.
How do you plan to get it?
When answering this question, you should consider any theories you have used or are using in the cycle of inquiry. There might be some stakeholder analysis also power theories as you identify the people to engage with. There might be theories on communication or maybe you’re using some creative problem-solving techniques. This is where you get the theory into your answer and possibly some application as well.
What happened?
This question let you provide some evidence to show what happened when you carried out the cycle of inquiry.
What did you learn from this?
Here we want you to think about how it went. Did everything work as you expected it to? If not why not? Did you get the results you expected? If not why not?
What difference has it made?
If everything went as you expected it to then the answer to this question is “take the next step” however it is rarely that simple. Often things happen you didn’t expect and things have changed as a result of your cycle of inquiry. It might be that the cycle failed and you need to try again so what has changed is your understanding of what works. Every real cycle of inquiry will ultimately make a difference of some sort.
What will you do as a result of it?
So what are your next steps? It might be you have to repeat the cycle of inquiry with different people with a different approach or maybe you’re going onto the next stage or maybe you’ve gone in a different direction so what are you going to do now that you’ve completed this cycle of inquiry. There is always something else to do, even if it is just “celebrate success.