Discourse in Research-Practice Partnership Meetings: A Comparison of Conditions Across Contexts

Abstract

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are gaining international attention as they promise to close the gap between research and practice in education. As RPPs bring together participants with diverse expertise, how people dialogue to collectively learn and address problems of practice is critically important. Analyzing video data from RPP meetings in Switzerland and the United States, this micro-analytic study examines the extent of generative discourse in RPP meetings and the conditions under which it occurs. Since RPPs vary significantly along a number of dimensions, it is useful to compare them to see how these features influence discourse and learning. Across the Swiss and US contexts, almost half of the meeting time was generative—altering meanings and/or creating new knowledge and perspectives. Discourse patterns varied, however, reflecting the different sizes, purposes, and activity structures of the RPPs. Examining meeting discourse across conditions may help promote knowledge generation and continuous improvement in RPPs.