Dialogue as inquiry and intervention

Abstract

This article by Dr. Rajesh Tandon presents dialogue as a method of integrating inquiry and intervention in social systems. It starts by presenting a case study from Dr. Tandon's two-year fieldwork among small and marginal farmers in Western India. The dialogue took place with 25 peer group leaders, during which interactions led participants to analyse the problems they had experienced. The article talks about some critical implications from this case study. First, it argues that dialogue has a mutual impact, affecting both the researcher and participants. Second, it states that the data-collection process that is most relevant to both parties should determine its validity. Third, dialogue is noted to be inherently political and ideological. The abstract concludes with the final implication that studying under-organized systems eventually organizes them through change generated by dialogue.