Appreciative inquiry for physical education and sport pedagogy research: a methodological illustration through teachers’ uses of digital technology

With the increasing drive towards exploring strengths based and positive discourses in PESP, it is important to explore approaches that can help researchers and practitioners. This has particular relevance for areas such as digital technology where there is a need to appreciate not only the technologies themselves, but also the pedagogical practices that surround their use. Without such discussions, it is difficult to unpick ‘what works’ for practitioners and ‘why’. Furthermore, in our efforts to be critical researchers we continue to recycle deficit accounts of technology. In short, we learn most about the ‘do nots’ and, in the process, struggle to advance change. Running as a counter narrative to the tales of ‘do nots’ is the burgeoning literature of appreciative inquiry. This approach prompted us to ask if it could be used, methodologically, to investigate digital technology and practices with digital devices. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to suggest and illustrate a way in which appreciative inquiry can be used to provide insights into teachers’ use of digital technology. This is achieved by discussing the use of appreciative inquiry before presenting examples from a research study that explored PE teachers’ uses of digital technology. Through the use of a methodological illustration, we suggest that appreciative inquiry is capable of providing a reflective space for practitioners and researchers regarding practices with digital technology. We conclude by arguing that appreciative inquiry is useful in our continued negotiation of digital practices in PESP.