In this paper we interrogate our dialogic research practices through the theory of practice architectures, attending to the onto-epistemological base that underpins them. This is a collaborative autoethnographic study with two main layers: firstly, we share experiences of two separate educational research projects and explore how different dialogic research practices facilitate both participants and researchers to discover the phenomenon being studied; secondly, we engage in our own discovery about our research practices. Focusing on research projects in two different countries (Canada and Norway), our initial centring question for this chapter is: How do our research practices facilitate insight into participants’ real-life experiences and practices? Then turning the light on our own research practices, we ask: What onto-epistemological assumptions shape our dialogical research practices? The theory of practice architectures (Kemmis et al., 2014) attends to the nexus of sayings, doings, and relatings that keep practices in place; site ontologies teach us that practices are shaped by particular locations, contexts, and moments. With this in mind, our epistemic approach has been to develop research methods that engage in site-specific conversations about aspects of education. In different ways we, as researchers or participants, personally take part in conversations for knowledge production. For us, the process of discovery is as important as the product. This was true for the initial studies—our PhD work—that we are reporting on here; it is also true for research conducted for this paper. Transparency, by giving information and time to participants and researchers to be familiar with the topicality, relevance, needs, intentions, and applicability, as driving forces for conducting the research, increases the integrity of all parties. It supports how peace methodologies have long argued that our values need to be present in our processes (Bretherton & Law, 2015; Toews & Zehr, 2003).

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