This study examines how one school leader used action research to help her develop a rounded view of the professional learning that was occurring in the school and used this understanding to evaluate the compatibilities and incompatibilities which existed between her espoused theories or principles of practice and her theories in action with the intention of refining her practice. The researcher used the evaluation to develop new strategies that would provide more coherence between her beliefs and daily actions in order to improve her performance as building principal. She found that three of her principles of practice were consistent with her theories in action and three were inconsistent requiring either she develop ways to reconcile her actions with her principles or redefine her principles of practice. While the terms of consistent and inconsistent were used to provide measurement for the study, the dissonance created by the inquiry process does not fit with a measure of consistency. The use of these terms is contradictory to the complexity of the inquiry process. Self-study scholars might need to consider how to reflect the dissonance and ambiguity that is critical to the inquiry process when analyzing congruence between their theories in action and their principles of practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]