Donna Frost

to the purpose of each step and how it ‘looked’ in the various stages of the inquiry process. The description is generally of a collaborative process, reflected in my use of ‘we’. Unless otherwise specified, ‘we’ refers to the members of both inquiry groups. Where individual activities are described, for example those summarised in section A of Table 4.1, that is noted. Also specifically noted are descriptions of data generation involving people outside the inquiry groups. i) Articulation Whether during the CCCI meetings or in clinical practice, an inquiry ‘loop’ began with the articulation of insights, as they were at the time, and an inquiry question (see purple zone in the centre of Figure 4.5, and the associated text in orange). The overarching inquiry question during this research was ‘What is the nature of professional artistry and its facilitation within nursing practice?’ This was broken down into sub-questions which were investigated in a series of inquiry cycles. We left each CCCI meeting with an inquiry question to take with us into practice and this enabled a shared inquiry focus during each cycle. As well, we took ideas and inspiration for ways of capturing experience and generating data relevant to the chosen focus. Often those ideas were formalised into concrete agreements such as the kinds of practice encounters we would attempt to observe, or particular stakeholders we would try and interview. This meant that aspects of our collaboration could be carried into practice even though, while in practice, we inquired alone or in duo’s, instead of as a group. Working through steps ii to iv of the lower half of the lemniscate in practice, sometimes more than once between meetings, meant that a start was made with reflecting on and interpreting practice experiences before commencement of the following CCCI meeting. ii) Experience The second step in both loops of the lemniscate is experiential, as shown in Figure 4.5. Paying attention to a particular experience was the start of a specific episode of data generation. Within practice The particular episode of professional practice was chosen, beforehand or after the event, in terms of its relevance for giving insight into the inquiry question in general and, specifically, to the current focus of the inquiry. This meant that the kind of practice experience considered relevant depended on the decisions made during the preceding CCCI meeting: it depended in other words on the questions articulated in step i of the lemniscate process. Chapter 4 104