Action Researc

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What is Action Research?

Action Research is a process

in which participants examine

their own educational practice

systematically and carefully,

using the techniques of research.

(Watts, 1985, p.118)

Action Research is based on the following assumptions:

Teachers and principals work best on problems they have identified for themselves;

Teachers and principals become more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working differently;

Teachers and principals help each other by working collaboratively; and

Working with colleagues helps teachers and principals in their professional development.

(Watts, 1985, p.118)

Although there are many types of research that may be undertaken, action research specifically refers to a disciplined inquiry done by a teacher with the intent that the research will inform and change his or her practices in the future.

Implicit to the term action research is the idea that teachers will begin a cycle of posing questions, gathering data, reflection and deciding a course of action.

What is Not Action Research?

Action research is not usually comes to mind when we hear the word “research.”

Action research is not a library project where we learn more about a topic that interests us.

It is not problem-solving in the sense of trying to find out what is wrong, but rather a quest for knowledge about how to improve.

What is Not Action Research?

Action research is not about doing research on or about people, or finding all available information on a topic looking for the correct answers. It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies.

Action research is not about learning why we do certain things, but rather how we can do things better. It is about how we can change our instruction to impact students.

Similarities and

Differences between

Action Research and

Formal Quantitative

and

Qualitative Research

Action Research Formal ResearchSystematic inquiry.

Systematic inquiry.

Goal is to solve problems of local concern.

Goal is to develop and test theories and to produce knowledge generalizable to wide population.

Little formal training required to conduct such studies.

Considerable training required to conduct such studies.

Action Research Formal ResearchIntent is to identify and correct problems of local concern.

Intent is to investigate larger issues.

Carried out by teacher or other local education professional.

Carried out by researcher who is not usually involved in local situation.

Uses primarily teacher-developed instruments.

Uses primarily professionally developed instruments.

Action Research Formal ResearchLess rigorous. More rigorous.Usually value-based.

Frequently value-neutral.

Purposive samples selected.

Random samples (if possible) preferred.

Selective opinions of researcher often considered as data.

Selective opinions of researcher never considered as data.

Generalizability is very limited.

Generalizability often appropriate.

Types of Action Research

Individual Teacher Research – usually focuses on a single issue in the classroom.

Collaborative Action Research – may include as few as two teachers or a group of several teachers and others interested in addressing in a classroom or department issue.

School-wide Research – focuses on issue common to all.

Types of Action Research

District-wide Research – far more complex and utilizes more resources, but the rewards can be great. Issues can be organizational, community-based, performance-based or processes for decision making.

History of Action Research

1940: The idea of using research in a “natural” setting to change the way that the researcher interacts with that setting was traced back to Kurt Lewin.

Kurt Lewin – credited for coining the term “action research” to describe work that did not separate the investigation from the action needed to solve the problem.

History of Action Research

Stephen Corey - the first to use action research in the field of education.

1950: Action research was attacked as unscientific, little more than a common sense and the work of amateurs (McFarland & Stansell, p. 15).

1970: Saw again the emergence of action research.

Steps in Action Research

Within all the definitions of action research, there are four basic themes: empowerment of participants, collaboration through participation, acquisition of knowledge, and social change. In conducting action research, we structure routines for continuous confrontation with data on the health of a school community.

Steps in Action Research

These routines are loosely guided by movement through five phases of inquiry:

1. Identification of problem area

2. Collection and organization of data

3. Interpretation of data

4. Action based on data

5. Reflection

Identify the

Problem

Gather Data

Interpret Data

Act on Evidence

Evaluate Results

Next Steps

Action Research

Cycle

Identify a Problem Area

Teachers often have several

questions they wish to investigate;

however, it is important to limit the

question to one that is meaningful and

doable in the confines of their daily

work. Careful planning at this first

stage will limit false starts and

frustrations.

Identify a Problem AreaThere are several criteria to

consider before investing the time and effort in “researching” a problem. The question should:

be a higher-order question- not a yes/no

be stated in common language, avoiding jargon

be concise

be meaningful

not already have an answer

Gather Data

The collection of data is an

important step in deciding what action

needs to be taken. Multiple sources of

data are used to better understand the

scope of happenings in the classroom

or school.

Gather Data

There are many vehicles for

collection of data:

Interviews Portfolios

Journals

Diaries Videotapes Audio Tapes

Photos Memos Case Studies

SurveysField Notes Checklist

Questionnaires Logs of Meetings

Individual Files Self-assessment

Records – tests, report cards,

attendance

Interpret Data

Analyze and identify major

themes. Depending upon the question,

teachers may wish to use classroom

data, individual data or subgroup data.

Some of the data are quantifiable and

can be analyzed without the use of

statistics or technical assistance.

Act on Evidence

Using the information from the

data collection and review of current

literature, design a plan of action that

will allow you to make a change and to

study that change. It is important that

only one variable be altered.

Evaluate Results

Assess the effects of the

intervention to determine if

improvement has occurred. Is there is

improvement, do the data clearly

provide the supporting evidence? If no,

what changes can be made to the

actions to elicit better reults?

Next Steps

As a result of the action research

project, identify additional questions

raised by the data and plan for

additional improvements, revisions

and next steps.

Guide Questions

1. What was my concern?

2. Why was I concerned?

3. What could I do?

4. What could help me?

5. What did I do?

6. How can I evaluate my work?

Benefits of Action Research

1. Focus on school issue, problem or

area of collective interest.

2. Form of teacher professional

development.

3. Collegial interactions.

4. Potential to impact school change.

5. Reflect on own practice.

6. Improved communications.

Sample #1

Ms. Wong, a third-grade teacher, finds

her class continually interrupted by a student

who can’t seem to keep quiet. Distressed, she

asks herself what she can do to control this

student and wonders if some kind of time out

activity might work. Accordingly, she asks:

Studying the Effects of Time-Out on

a Student’s Disruptive Behavior

by Means of a Single-Subject

Experiment

Would brief periods of removal from the

class decrease the frequency of this student’s

disruptive behavior?

What might Ms. Wong do to get an

answer to her question?

This sort of question can best be

answered by means of a single-subject A-B-A-

B design. First, Ms. Wong needs to establish a

baseline of the student’s disruptive behavior.

Hence, she should observe the student

carefully over a period of several days,

charting the frequency of the disruptive

behavior.

Once she has established a stable

pattern of the student's behavior, she should

introduce the treatment – in this instance,

time-out, or placing the student outside the

classroom for a brief period of time –for

several days and observe the frequency of the

student’s disruptive behavior after the

treatment periods. She then should repeat the

cycle.

Ideally, the student’s disruptive

behavior will decrease and Ms. Wong will no

longer need to use a time-out period with

this student.

The main problem for Ms. Wong is being

able to observe and chart the student’s

behavior during the time-out period and yet

still teach the other students in her class. She

may also have difficulty making sure the

treatment (time-out) works as intended (e.g.,

that the student is not wandering the halls).

Both of these problems would be greatly

diminished if she had a teacher's aide to

assist with these concerns.

Sample #2

I am a teacher of English in China, I

have been teaching for two years. I undertook

my professional learning within a traditional

context, which emphasized that teachers

should help their students learn correct

answers and achieve a high standard of

language proficiency.

How Can I Improve My Students to

Improve in English?

By Ma Hong

This involved using pedagogies that

put the responsibility for success on the

teacher’s teaching, rather than on the

student’s learning. Using this approach also

meant that my students and I were

exhausted at the end of each day. I

wondered what I could do about the

situation.

In 2003, I heard from my colleague, Tao

Rui about the action research approaches she

was developing under the guidance of Moira

Laidlaw at the Guyuan Teacher’s College,

so I asked Moira to help me develop new

pedagogies. Under Moira’s guidance I began

my formal action inquiry within the context

of my class 40 English major students aged

15-18, of which 98% had failed the entrance

examination for senior middle school. I met

them for a two-hour class three times a

week.

This report sets out the action-

reflection steps I took to develop my inquiry.

What was my concern?

The level of proficiency of 80% of the

students in spoken and written English was

unsatisfactory. They had limited vocabulary,

could not pronounce even simple words,

understood little when I used English as my

teaching medium, and could not use the basic

grammar they had learned in junior middle

school. I wanted to help them develop

confidence, show more initiative and become

more motivated to learn English.

What was my concern?

I decided to monitor the progress of the

whole class, focusing especially on three

students. Ma Jie, Ma Fei, and Yu Jinghu, whose

level of proficiency was representative of the

low achievers. I felt that if I could help them, I

could help others also.

Why was I concerned?

Three reasons drove my inquiry. The

first was my desire to help the whole class to

concentrate more on their learning, rather

than spend time chatting and wasting time.

The second reason was to improve my own

teaching methods. The students were still in a

traditional mode of learning passively, waiting

to be told what to do, and were unwilling to

answer questions in public for fear of losing

face if they made a mistake.

Why was I concerned?

I seemed to be doing the work for

them, rather than enabling them to practice

and think themselves. Third, I could

empathize with the experience of being a less

able student because I had also had that

experience at school and had achieved my

current position through sheer hard work and

determination. I knew how important it was

for all students to feel cared for by their

teacher.

What could I do?

I wanted to:

Create a friendly, well-disciplined, united

class spirit;

Help students develop confidence in

themselves; and

Encourage them to take more

responsibility for their learning.

What could help me?

I could observe lessons given by Moira,

and colleagues Li Peidiong, Tao Rui, and

others. I could ask them to observe my

lessons and offer critical feedback.

What did I do?

1. To overcome students’ anxieties about

speaking in front of the class, I divided the

whole class into eight groups. Each group

nominated a leader who was proficient

and confident and proactive. One found

that many students became more

confident and proactive. One of my

special participants, Ma Jie, one day

volunteered to answer a question for the

fist time.

What did I do?

2. I developed strategies to encourage

students to take the initiative about their

learning, and to ask questions as well as

offer answers.

3. I paid particular attention encouraging

effort. I praised them publicly and wrote

encouraging comments in their books.

When less able students answered

correctly I got the whole class applaud

them.

What did I do?

3. I also encouraged them to regard

mistakes as opportunities for learning. It

took a long time to persuade them that I

was genuine about this, because our

culture regards making mistakes as loss

of face. This one of the most difficult

aspects of my new pedagogies, but

students responded well.

What did I do?

4. I also encouraged my students by taking

interest in their family stories. Many less

able students come from rural

environments, where opportunities for

schooling are rare. We talked about how

hard their parents and families worked to

make them come to college, and how

important it was for them to succeed. I

showed that I was prepared to work as

they were.

What did I do?

4. We developed good relationships, and soon

the spirit of the class became one of

collaborative working through a respectful

atmosphere.

5. I aimed to make my teaching more

interesting. Rather than teaching the rules

in action. Students were asked to listen to

the stories, and work out the rule for

themselves.

What did I do?

5. I set them short exercises, and organized

them into groups to share their learning.

Because of these were new methodologies

for me, I asked them for feedback, and

they said that they found this way of

learning interesting and enjoyable. I shifted

the emphasis from learning rules to

practicing language. I varied the exercises

according to student’s ability.

What did I do?

6. I expressed my pleasure and gratitude to

my students. I thanked the group leaders

for helping others. They in turn took their

duties seriously, and checked with their

peers whether they had understood that

the task and volunteered extra help when

appropriate. I valued this aspect

particularly, because it met my own values

of the need for moral teaching and the

value of hard work and care for others.

How can I evaluate my work?

I used the following strategies to get

feedback on the effectiveness of my work.

I kept field notes about when students

volunteered to speak. I noted much increased

activity and confidence among all the

students.

I invited group leaders to keep journals, and

asked their permission to access their journals

for evidence about my influence. The journals

contain comments such as:

“ I made progress in dictation this time.”

How can I evaluate my work?

I have more time to reflect on the

record what happens in class and make an

instant evaluation of my teaching. Though I

now do less speaking in class. I spend more

time preparing, and I ask myself questions

such as, “What do I want my students to

learn?” “Which way would be better for them

to learn? How can I help them learn?”.

How can I evaluate my work?

Interestingly, out of this research a new

problem has arisen. Students who were more

proficient in English seem less motivated than

before. I am wondering whether it is because

of the attention I have paid to the lower-

achieving students. So my next research

question will be about developing

differentiated teaching methodologies that

enable all to learn according to their individual

learning strengths.

Thank You^.^

WorkshopMake an action research

individually. Use the following guide

questions.

1. What was my concern?

2. Why was I concerned?

3. What could I do?

4. What could help me?

5. What did I do?

6. How can I evaluate my work?

happy working

^.^