I have been researching Restorative Justice or Restorative Practices for my doctoral studies since 2020. During that time, I have found many narrative inquiries, counterstories, ethnographic case studies, counternarratives through the lens of Critical Race Theory, and autobiographies that discuss the researchers’ personal experiences with Restorative Practices or a small sample of case studies.

Many of these articles use an interpretive method since they are sharing their research and data through a lens of lived, cultural, and historical experiences and understanding.

For example, Pratt (2021) articulates five steps of this methodology, which are to reflect on past teaching, look for gaps in teaching through feedback and further learning, contemplate how to incorporate new learning to revise and refine lessons, precisely to remove aspects of racism and oppression, and finally apply the knowledge in future teaching.

Stovall (2013) utilizes a narrative, counterstory that documents a 19-day hunger strike by 14 community members to protest the poor education students were receiving at a Chicago public school. Stovall weaves his narrative observations into five sections. These sections include critical race theory and praxis, information on Chicago public schools, Stovall’s involvement in the two community agencies, the design team’s beginning of the school year responsibilities, and the community action to keep the school open and thriving. Stovall notes that through the hunger strike and eight and a half years of constant community involvement, the school opened with mixed success. However, throughout the trials, the community continued to rally on behalf of and for its students.

Through my two years of research about Restorative Practices, I have yet to find quantitative or mixed-method studies. Is it because Restorative Practices aren't widely used and therefore there isn’t a big enough data set to examine; do folx think that Restorative Practices are not as numbers heavy and therefore lend themselves to a more narrative form of research? I am excited to add to the body of research with my dissertation in the next year.

Ruth (2010)

References:

Pratt, A. B. (2021). Seeking a way: A white teacher’s journey from critical race theory to black power pedagogy. JCT: Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 36(1), 40–58.

Ruth, M.R. (2010). Interpretive Research Models for Informatics: Action Research, Grounded Theory, and the Family of Design- and Development Research.

Stovall, D. (2013). 14 souls, 19 days, and 1600 dreams: Engaging critical race praxis while living on the “edge” of race. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 34(4), 562-578.