A Guide to Practitioner Research in International Education

Book excerpt: International education is both a scholarly field of research and a dynamic profession which has benefited from the willingness of practitioners to share their expertise in order to benefit their colleagues, their institutions, and the field more broadly. This guide is intended for anyone working (or hoping to work) in international education who is interested in conducting research and/or systematically reflecting on practice and sharing the insights to benefit others. Please note that throughout this guide, we use the term 'practitioner' to distinguish individuals who work as professionals/staff members in the field of international education. Whether you identify as a 'scholar-practitioner' or prefer to relate more to the practitioner side of the equation, we hope this guide is useful as it focuses on several issues uniquely related to conducting research as a professional and an international educator. This guide is written to encourage practitioners to deepen their practice and provides assistance in developing or strengthening skills for practitioners to more purposefully share findings with others. [Publisher summary, ed]