Practice research is a paradigm that studies practices as meaningful arrangements of actors, actions, documents and artifacts. It aims to generate knowledge that improves practices. Practice research is based on ontological assumptions that see practices as the primary units of study, and epistemological foundations of pragmatic, provisional knowledge co-created through action and dialogue between researchers and practitioners. It uses situational inquiries, action research, and design research to study local practices and generate abstract knowledge in the form of practical theories, models and methods that can be applied in general practices and contribute to the scientific body of knowledge.