1. Bethlehem Moravian College
Education Department
Action Research Workshop Presentation
Abrilene Johnston-Scott, EdD
Research Coordinator
September 11, 2014

2. Action Research
Any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers, principals, school counselors, or other stakeholders …
in the teaching/learning environment …
to gather information about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how well their students learn.
Research done by teachers for themselves

3. Goals of Action Research
To improve the lives of children
To learn about the craft of teaching

4. The Process of Action Research

5. Mills’ Dialectic Action Research Spiral

6. Ethics

7. Informed Consent Ensures that research participants
enter the research of their free will
understand the study
are aware of any possible dangers
Intended to reduce the likelihood that participants will be exploited
Ongoing dialogue between participants and teacher-researcher
Written permissions if necessary

8. Freedom from Harm Students must not be exposed to risk
anonymity: researcher does not know identity of participants
confidentiality: researcher does not release personally identifiable information
There is no place for deception in action research!

9. Parental Permission Required if Not required if Request must specify
students are underage
data identify students
Not required if
school personnel have “legitimate educational interest”
records are anonymous
Request must specify
what data may be disclosed
for what purposes
to whom

10. Deciding on an Area of Focus
Clarify your area of focus.
Do reconnaissance.
Review related literature.

11. Clarifying an Area of Focus
General idea: statement that links idea to action and refers to a situation to change or improve
Area of focus: explicit question or problem to investigate
involves teaching and learning
focuses on your own practice
within your locus of control
something you feel passionate about
something you want to change or improve

12. Reconnaissance Preliminary information gathering 3 forms
Taking time to reflect on your own beliefs
Taking time to understand the nature and context of your general idea
3 forms
self-reflection
description
explanation

13. Self-reflection Reflect on theories that affect your practice
educational values you hold
historical contexts
how your work in schools fits into the larger context of schooling and society

14. Descriptive Activities
What evidence do you have that this is a problem?
Which students are affected?
How is the content currently taught?

15. Explanatory Activities
Develop a hypothesis
focus on the why
try to account for critical factors that have an impact on the general idea

16. Review of Related Literature
Systematically identifying, locating, analyzing documents related to the topic/area of focus
major themes
promising practices

17. Data Collection Techniques

18. Data Collection Largely determined by the nature of the problem
qualitative
quantitative
mixed method

19. Qualitative Data Collection Techniques

20. Using and Making Records
Archival documents
attendance and retention rates
discipline referrals
standardized test scores
Journals
Maps, video and audio recordings, photos, film
Dictation software
Other artifacts

21. Quantitative Data Collection Techniques
Teacher-made tests
Standardized tests
School-generated report cards
Questionnaires
etc

22. Triangulation Use of multiple sources of data
“multi-instrument” approach

23. Triangulation Matrix

24. Realigning Your Focus
Other directions appear more interesting, relevant, or problematic
That’s fine —
Action research is intimate, open-ended, unforeseen
Action research is done to benefit you and the students

25. Validity
Degree to which data collection methods measure what they are supposed to measure

26. Reliability
Degree to which a test consistently measures whatever it measures
expressed numerically, usually as coefficient
high coefficient (near 1.00) indicates high reliability
no test is perfectly reliable

27. Reliability in Qualitative Action Research
Degree to which data would be consistently collected
same techniques utilized repeatedly
same techniques used by different researchers

28. Generalizability
Degree to which behavior of one group can be used to explain the behavior of a wider group
Generalizability is not the goal of action research. Instead, it is to:
understand what is happening in your school or classroom
determine how to improve things in that context

29. Data Analysis and Interpretation

30. Ongoing Analysis & Reflection
Is your research question still answerable and worth answering?
Are your data collection techniques catching the kind of data you want and filtering out unwanted data?
Conduct interim analysis
Avoid premature action

31. Analysis & Interpretation
Data analysis
summary of data
technique determined by type of data
Data interpretation
finding meaning in the data

32. Organizing Qualitative Data
Reading/Memoing
record initial thoughts
Describing
include context, actions, interactions
Classifying
develop themes

33. Data Analysis Techniques
Identify themes
work inductively
Code surveys, interviews, questionnaires
try to find patterns, meaning
Analyze interviews
annotate and identify themes
Ask key questions

34. Data Analysis Techniques
Concept map

35. Data Analysis Techniques
Display findings
matrixes, charts, concept maps, graphs, figures, audiovisual media
State what’s missing
avoid making unwarranted assertions

36. Analyzing & Interpreting Quantitative Data
Descriptive statistics
shorthand way of giving lots of information about a range of numbers

37. Analyzing & Interpreting Quantitative Data
Descriptive statistics
central tendency
mean (average)
median (middle)
mode (most frequent)
variability
standard deviation (spread)

38. Qualitative Data Interpretation
Extend the analysis
raise questions
note implications that might be drawn, without actually drawing them
Connect findings with personal experience
Seek advice of “critical” friends
take time to build relationships

39. Qualitative Data Interpretation
Contextualize findings in literature
Turn to theory
link to broader issues
provide rationale, sense of meaning

40. Action Planning for Educational Change

41. Developing Action Plans
Reflect: “Based on what I have learned from this investigation, what should I do now?”

42. Steps to Action Summarizing findings Recommending action
Determining responsibilities
Sharing findings with colleagues
Ongoing monitoring (data collection)
Creating timeline
Developing resources

43. Levels of Action Planning
Individual
curriculum development, implementation
instructional & assessment strategies
classroom management strategies/plans
community involvement
Team
teachers, administrators, parents
Schoolwide

44. Action Should Be Ongoing
Taking action is a regular part of teaching
based on formative feedback
often intuitive and informal

45. Reflection
What were the intended and unintended effects of your actions?
What educational issues arise from what you have learned about your practice?

46. Challenges Facing Teacher Researchers
Lack of resources
Resistance to change
Reluctance to interfere with others’ professional practices
Reluctance to admit difficult truths
Finding a forum to share what you learned
Making time for action research

47. Writing Up Action Research

48. Format and Style
Format: general pattern of organization and arrangement
Style: rules of grammar, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and word processing

49. APA Style Manual
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
most widely accepted by colleges, universities, journals

50. Outline, Action Research Report
Area-of-focus statement
Related literature
Definition of variables
Research questions
Description of intervention or innovation

51. Outline, Action Research Report
Data collection
Data considerations
Data analysis and interpretation
Action plan

52. Conclusion This Concludes my presentation.
Thank you for your attention.
No action without research; no research without action.”
—K. Lewin, cited in Adelman, 1993, p. 8