Activity: reviewing the Guest Lecture (1) 
     In small groups, discuss your reactions to the guest 
     lecture. Use the following questions as a guide:  
     1.  Which parts of the talk resonated with your own experience?  
         Try to be as specific as possible. 
     2.  Did anything surprise you? If so, what?
     3.  What more, if anything, would you still like to know about the 
         lecturer’s findings?
     4.  What do you think the connections are with Educational 
         Leadership?
     5.  Can you see how strands from the talk might inform your own 
         research or professional practice in future?
  Activity: reviewing the Guest Lecture (2) 
  Would you describe the lecture as ‘research-based’? If 
  so, how do you know?
  Working as a group, make a list of all the features of the 
  lecture which made you think it was based on research 
  evidence.
  Is there anything else, not on your list, which would 
  identify a piece of work as research-based?
  Activity: reviewing the Guest Lecture (3) 
  Now consider the literature you read in preparation for 
  today. Did any part of those texts lead you to think that 
  the material might be the product of research? Do you 
  need to add any more factors to your list of research 
  features?
  With all the factors you have accumulated, revisit your 
  earlier definition of research.  Revise it if necessary. 
  Write a final agreed version.
  How do others define research? 
  “The triumph of evidence over anecdote” 
  (Mortimore, 1999).
  “A focused and systematic enquiry that goes beyond 
  generally available knowledge to acquire specialised and 
  detailed information, providing a basis for analysis and 
  elucidating comment on the topic of the enquiry” 
  (Johnson, 1994:3).
  More definitions
  Bassey (1999:38) suggests:
   Research is systematic, critical and self-critical 
   enquiry which aims to contribute towards the 
   advancement of knowledge and wisdom.
  It is ethical, sceptical and analytical (Robson, 2002) and 
  “seeks to make a difference” (Kellett, 2005: 8).