Abstract
Conceptualizing, planning, and conducting research appears deceptively straightforward when systematically laid out in an introductory research text. Ralph St. Clair's Researching Learning and Teaching with Adults: An Introduction departs from the typical research text and delves into the often messy, non-linear, and values-driven aspects of the research process. St. Clair offers fresh opportunities to think with a researcher and to understand how knowledge is created and represented. He employs a critical lens and speaks to the personal, complex, and cyclical nature of this work. For St. Clair, research is personal and reflects “who we are, what we care about, and the purposes to which we dedicate our lives” (p. 1).
The book comprises 17 concisely written chapters organized into three parts: (a) Thinking Like a Researcher; (b) Creating Data; and (c) From Data to Knowledge. It also includes a Glossary and Appendices. The organization, tables, figures, and layout are exemplary. Each chapter opens with an introduction that briefly reviews key ideas, lists the topics to be discussed, and concludes with important takeaways. The headings communicate St. Clair's inclusive framing, and his tone is conversational and informative.
In the Introduction, St. Clair differentiates hegemonic knowledge—assumptions gleaned from K–12 instruction and structures—from counter-hegemonic knowledge in adult education that questions and critiques normative assumptions. He raises a legitimate argument regarding the hegemony of K–12 educational research; however, his explanation seems overly simplistic for such a complex subject, and his positioning of research on adult education as counter-hegemonic fails to address underlying differences between K–12 and adult learners (e.g., Belzer & Dashew, 2023; Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). Although I wish he would have devoted more space to theoretically grounding these differences, St. Clair firmly establishes the local, diverse adult context and the “power of narrative and experience” as an “outstanding feature of research into adult learning” (p. 4).
Throughout the chapters, St. Clair deftly weaves together fundamental ideas and practices that illuminate the research process. He introduces Chapter 1 as an entry for new researchers into conducting research with adults. In doing so, St. Clair encourages readers to be purposeful, systematic, and to seek a “wide window” of possibilities that can influence adult learning (p. 11). He likens being purposeful and systematic to the research objective, research question, and research strategy. St. Clair provides a comprehensive description of positionality, which is often glossed in other texts. In Chapter 2, St. Clair operationalizes the research object (the phenomenon to be studied and the context) and explains how to recognize and develop research questions that are precise, communicative, and which tell a “story about the research” (p. 39). His approach is refreshing and unique to this text. In Chapter 3, St. Clair describes the ethical conduct of research and includes a timely, critical discussion on representation, transparency, and, importantly, who can speak for whom.
Moving from process to product, writing a review of literature that effectively analyzes, critiques, and synthesizes a body of literature is difficult. Examples, suggestions, and considerations thread throughout Chapter 4, unfurling the complexities of writing a literature review in an easily digestible format. Although the remaining chapters provide useful information for understanding different methods and approaches, types of data, data collection and analysis, and writing a proposal, I focus on several salient points from the chapters that are instrumental when conducting research with adults. First, the researcher is responsible for knowing how they will use the data and for making that transparent. Second, how a researcher analyzes and reports their findings requires thoughtfulness, creativity, and honesty. Third, a researcher's findings are always partial, not absolute, and must be represented as such. Finally, theory about adult learning and research approaches is useful to inform and enhance the process of creating knowledge.
Mizzi et al. (2021) remind us that “Adult Education is a discipline that foresees a better tomorrow” (p. 1). St. Clair's powerful text is forward looking and addresses a significant gap in the literature. His expertly framed and theoretically grounded research text centers adult learning and has the potential to profoundly shape research and practice in the field. I highly recommended this text for graduate students and researchers who are interested in or who conduct research in the field of adult education.
