My own imaginative resolution of the problem of perpetual pragmatism is to embrace the philosophy of pragmatism (large "p") through the concepts of John Dewey, particularly in his quest to achieve what he called "the intellectual organization, or philosophy of experience." By this he meant a more desirable reconstruction of experience through the functional pathway of competent inquiry or aesthetic achievement in which experience, which is somehow unsatisfactory, becomes reconstructed toward the more desirable, or even into art, as the case may be. In a current project underway, I'm seeking to draw out parallels between Dewey's key text, Logic: The Theory of Inquiry and Cochran-Smith and Lytle's Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge, in which I draw on a discussion of the "plateau effect" in relation to low-level adult literacy readers for illustrative purposes. The underlying issues with which I am dealing in this new essay is whether and/or the extent to which experience is susceptible to such organization as Dewey pointed toward, and whether and/or the extent to which teacher research is susceptible to "systematic, intentional inquiry" as Cochran-Smith and Lytle envision.
Whether such a theoretically-laden project would be of interest to practitioners or teacher researchers, even if the topic is that of the illumination of experience perhaps is also problematic, as reflected in a recent listserv discussion where I posted the Introduction, seeking feedback and dialogue, and received what I consider as a somewhat chilled response. In short, the ideal of probing into the theoretical aspects of practitioner-based inquiry, however viable or problematic, for that matter, the effort may be, at the very least buts up against the perpetual pragmatism in the more immediate search for "what works," however that may be defined, even in teacher research. This practical bias is at the least, a limiting influence, in both theory construction and in the development of teacher research, particularly if the latter is to become a substantial subset of educational research. The effect may be particularly ironic if one accepts Kurt Lewin's maxim that there is nothing more practical than a good theory. Perhaps this is not generally assumed.
I don't give the issue of resource scarcity for research much attention since I'm not connected with a university or an agency that focuses on research and theory construction. I do my writing on my own time and receive no reimbursement for expenses incurred. In terms of unrealistic expectations, it may be important to come to terms with the reality that improving practice is only one of the functions (an important one, to be sure) of research, and even here, the influence may be more indirect than direct. In my own program, while the volunteer tutors may be interested in research or theory (some more than others), they are primarily motivated by what can help them more immediately in their teaching, and even more so, by instructional materials given to them from which they can directly teach, which they then adapt. In my program director's function, I may bring in snippets of research or theory into tutor tips or materials designed for immediate use, but my primary goal is to be practical, as commonly understood, as I have internalized what that means into my on-site social role.