Systems Research and Education

J. McIntyre-Mills ()
Additional contact information
J. McIntyre-Mills: Flinders University

Chapter 45 in Handbook of Systems Sciences, 2021, pp 1285-1331 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Critical systemic “unfolding” of values and “sweeping in” social, economic, and environmental aspects are concepts used by West Churchman. The chapter is written as a conversational approach, in order to illustrate critical systemic “unfolding” and engagement with Mary Edson. Critical systemic “unfolding” of values and “sweeping in” the many factors that need to be considered when designing research is informed by West Churchman’s “design of inquiring systems approach.” The chapter is written in the form of a systemic conversation that reflects on the lessons learned while conducting my own research and fostering postgraduate MA and PhD students’ ability to address a range of social and environmental justice concerns. Our shared challenge was to design transformative research with the aim of enhancing policy and decision-making. In this chapter, I share conceptual tools to enable ontological, epistemological, and methodological literacy that can help support the research journey. They include Ulrich’s 12 questions, as well as FMA mapping to address specific areas of concern and consideration in subject scenarios, enabling students to consider the consequences of their policy proposals with those who are to be affected by the decisions. The 12 questions are used creatively through narratives, conversations, and workshops with diverse stakeholders spanning the public, private, and volunteer sectors, including administrators, members of the community, and policy researchers. The key guiding principle is Ashby’s Rule of Requisite Variety, based on the notion that the complexity of the decisions need to reflect the complexity of the people who will be affected as well as their own shared African, Antipodean, north or South east Asian, European, or South American or North American regional environment. The key policy (linked with this rule) is the principle of subsidiarity, namely that a decision needs to be made at the lowest level possible within a community, so that people can draw on local, lived experience. This exploration is presented in a conversational form with the author, Janet, responding to the editor’s (Mary, representing the systems research team) questions about the relationship between systems research and education.

Keywords: Systemic; Design; Inquiry; Values; Emotions; Balance; Social and environmental justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-15-0720-5_26

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9789811507205

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-0720-5_26

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().