1. GRDG690 Action Research: Literacy
Week 3:
Methods, Data Collection & Ethics
Gloria E. Jacobs, Ph.D.

2. Agenda Ethics Methods & Data Collection Writing the methods section
Context of the study
Participants
Data collection methods
Ensuring trustworthiness

3. Ethics Respect for Persons Beneficence Justice
Informed consent/ parental permission/ child assent
Trust
Anonymity & confidentiality
Beneficence
Do no harm
Never deceive your participants
Justice
The research will help the people with whom you are working
Your action research ethics should reflect the principles of your teaching
Data should reflect what really happened

4. Permissions – Keep it Simple
Parental permissions from any students you’ll be working with.
Consent from any adults you’ll be interviewing or observing
Assent from children you’re working with. Verbal assent is ok with young children. A written assent form is good for older children
Sample consent/permission/assent letters are online.

5. Online Ethics Course
The main thing to keep in mind is the rights of the participants supercede your needs as a teacher researcher.
The right to know/no
Questions?

6. Methods: Issues Triangulation Validity Reliability Generalizability
Quantitative/Experimental
Qualitative/Action Research
Triangulation
Validity
Reliability
Generalizability
Bias
Guba’s approach p
Triangulation & Dependability p. 104
Credibility p. 103
Transferability p. 104
Confirmability p. 105
Transparency (being candid)

7. Wolcott’s Approach (pp. 110-112)
Talk little/listen a lot
Record observations accurately
Start writing early
Show, don’t tell
Report fully (do not be afraid of that which doesn’t fit)
Be candid – what biases do you have?
Seek feedback – use your critical colleagues

8. Methods: Data Collection p. 89
Experiencing
Observation
Participant Observation
Active
Privileged
Passive
Field Notes pp
How to observe
What to take notes on
Anecdotal record forms p. 80
Enquiring
Interviewing
Informal
Formal
Focus Groups
Questionnaires
Take notes during interviews and focus group meetings even if recording
Examination
Journals (teacher & student)
Maps
Video recordings
Audio recordings
Photos
Artifacts (district data, student work, test results, reading inventories)

9. Organizing your data Date / Time Location
Participant names & demographic information
Code names

10. Planning Your Research
Identify Data Collection Techniques (p. 89, Box 4-4)
How will you be experiencing, enquiring, and examining?
Identify Data Sources: (p. 97, Figure 4-4)
Strive for multiple forms of data for each subquestion
Identify the actual documents you’ll be collecting

11. Planning Your Research II
How will you ensure the validity of your research? (Mills, Box 5-1, p. 105).

12. Sample Action Research Cycle
Based on your reading, select a method you would like to learn more about.
Try it in your teaching
Observe, keep field notes, collect student work, interview student(s) about their experience
Analyze the data – How did the method impact student learning?
Adjust the method based on what you learned from the analysis
Go back to step 2
Do this cycle at least three times
Analyze all the data and determine the outcomes

13. Sample Passive Observer Action Research Cycle
Identify a teacher or teachers who use the method you are interested in (based on your reading)
Observe them use the method and take field notes
Collect samples of student work
Interview the teacher(s) about what they did
Interview the student(s) about their learning
Analyze the data to see what emerges.
Share what you learned with the teacher and get their feedback
Repeat with the same method or different methods as appropriate for your question.

14. Contents of Methods Section
Write in future tense – you will change it after you are done to reflect what you really did
Context
Describe the school or location
Participants
Describe each participant (age, race/ethnicity, gender, years of teaching, reading level, etc.)
Your role (as teacher, observer, etc.)
Method
What you are going to do (did)
Credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability (see Mills)
Be specific and concrete.
Data Collection
What tools did you use to collect data (active observation, field notes, interviews (how many), questionnaires (how many), artifacts, video recording etc.
If you are using interviews and questionnaires, include copies of the questions in your appendices. DO NOT INCLUDE RAW DATA!

15. Next Steps Draft of methods section due on 2/23 (1-1 meeting week)
Begin data collection as soon as you have the consents/permissions
Next Class meeting 3/16 – Data Analysis
Read Mills chapter 6 & 8
All data must be collected by this time.
Bring whatever data you have to class for workshopping
Revised intro, theoretical framework, literature review, methods combined into one document due on 3/16. You can send it in earlier if you wish.