2020 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 192-205
Cognitive scientists have interpreted the world in various ways. However, they can also change it through a myriad of ways, including practice research. This article focuses on the practice research methodology. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, we redefine “betterment” in practice research. In this context, betterment refers to the purpose of a practice,which is usually obvious. However, this definition does not always accurately characterize betterment. If this is the case,what then is betterment? Hence, we aim to redefine the concept. Second, we aim to extend the knowledge of practice researchers' roles. Though there are many studies on this topic, additional research is still needed for clarification purposes. We adopted an ethnographic approach and held science cafés events where apprentice scientists and citizens can exchange ideas and information from 2013 to 2016. The purpose of these events was to offer citizens a chance to learn. The events were practice research to examine participants' learning. This is, however, not the focus of this article. We examine the characters of practice research itself in this article, and collected relevant field data. In analyzing the data, we focused on changes of betterment in the science cafés events, and role of practice researchers. There were two major findings. First, betterment develops in the process of practice research. For example, a new purpose was added to our events. This purpose was to offer citizens who otherwise would not have met a chance to communicate with each other. We came to understand that our science cafés events held significance we were previously unaware of. The purpose of the science cafés events changed as we gained experience in practice research. In light of this, we can define betterment as a purpose of practice, which develops during the practice research process. Second, practice researchers become medium of research articles themselves and develop their recognition of practices. This new recognition contributes to their understanding of the practices. This important role enables practice researchers to write research articles using their own experiences and recognition changes.
