C-CS

inquiry
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Working Definition:

A deliberate and sustained sequence of questioning with respect to a problem (re: everyday life, unssystematic, re: disciplinary, systematic).

In C-CS inquiry is an abbreviation for "a cycle of inquiry" which includes the following events though not necessarily in the order given below. Although there are various ways of delineating the process of collaborative inquiry,* in C-CS it is described as six conditions of experience:

concurrence that there is a problem because the researchers have each experienced it (this does not entail agreement about how to articulate it).
the development of a negotiated hypothesis about the problematic experience. The hypothesis developed can be considered as a "problematic."
the development of a set of questions (a query) on the basis of the hypothesis/problematic.
Gathering information about the observations (data or speculations) that can be made given the questions raised.
Re-articulating the problematic/hypothesis as a theorem (a warrant in the argument now underway)
A thesis statement which is often a recommendation (conclusion/claim) about the amelioration of the problem. (The term amelioration is preferred to the term solution since few problems are completely solved.)

Note that the last three conditions of an inquiry are the basis for a publishing the results of the inquiry as an argument.

*In C-CS every inquiry is construed as collaborative because even in cases where a single person undertakes the tasks required by it, that person is most likely to incorporate the work of others in articulating a problematic, etc.

Disciplinary Definitions:

"Inquiry is the controlled or directed transformation ofan indeterminate situation into one that is so determinate in its constituent distinctions and relations as to convert the elements of the original situation into a unified whole"

Dewey delineates the "stages" in the process of inquiry in the following way:

the indeterminate situation
the institution of a problem
the determination of a problem solution
reasoning
the operational character of facts meaning
the determination of the common sense or scientific inquiry

John Dewey, "The Pattern of Inquiry," Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, pp 101-119

Comments:

Given Halliday's remarks (see notes) on registers, the situation influences the linguistic codes employed. Hence in an inquiry, the problematic is the situation and the query is the linguistic code employed. But the query also anticipates a particular outcome (necessary, probable, or possible aspects of experience.

Notes

According to Michael Halliday,: "Types of linguistic situation differ from on another, broadly speaking, in three respects: first, what is actually taking place; secondly, who is taking part; and thirdly, what part the language is playing. These three variables, taken together, determine the range within which meanings are selected and the forms which are used for the expression. In other words, they determine the 'register.'; The notion of register is at once very simple and very powerful. It refers to the fact that the language we speak or writer varies according to the type of situation. This in itself is no more than stating the obvious. What the theory of register does is to attempt to uncover the general principles which govern this variation, so that we can begin to understand what situational factors determine what linguistic features. It is a fundamental property of all language that they display variation according to use; but surprisingly little is yet known about nature of the variation involved, largely because of the difficulty of identifying the controlling factors. (31-32); [Halliday, Michael. Language As Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. London: Edward Arnold, 1978.]

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