Appreciative Inquiry
In: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research,
Measurement, and Evaluation
By: Gervase R. Bushe
Edited by: Bruce B. Frey
Book Title: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation
Chapter Title: “Appreciative Inquiry”
Pub. Date: 2018
Access Date: June 7, 2020
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks,
Print ISBN: 9781506326153
Online ISBN: 9781506326139
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139
Print pages: 108-110
© 2018 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Research Methods. Please note that the pagination of the
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Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an organizational development method grounded in social constructionist theory
that engages stakeholders in an inquiry into their collective strengths, assets, and what is working as a
precursor to identifying what they want more of and how to achieve that. It has proven to be a popular
and successful transformational change approach. Some researchers advocate its use as a participatory
evaluation method under certain conditions, particularly when there is a desire to improve a program or
process. This entry describes first the theory and practice of AI and then its use as a method of evaluation.
AI Theory
AI was originally developed in the mid-1980s by David Cooperrider, Frank Barrett, Ron Fry, and Suresh
Srivastva of the Organizational Behavior Department at Case Western Reserve University, in response to
the dominant use of problem-solving in action research, a method of improving social systems by involving
system members in self-study. They noted the lack of new theory generated by action research and argued
that it engendered an unhelpful bias toward seeing organizations as problems to be solved. They argued that
using positivistic, scientific assumptions and methods to improve groups and organizations made the mistake
of treating people like simple stimulus–response mechanisms, ignoring how so much of collective life is based
on sensemaking, narratives, and beliefs about the future.
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