1. Action Research

2. What is Action Research?  Applied focus  Specific, practical issue  Solve problem  Improve practice

3. Importance of AR  Promotes reflection  Tests new ideas  Encourages change  Empowers teachers  Improves educational practice

4. Practical AR  Studies local practices  Involves individuals or teams  Focuses on teacher development or student learning  Implements plan of action  Leads to teacher-as-researcher

5. Limitations of AR  Researcher as participant  Limited number of subjects  Lack of traditional controls  Limited replication

6. Pay attention to ….  Validity Sensible Meaningful Useful  Reliability Stable Consistent

7. Triangulation Use multiple sources of data Achievement Engagement Attitude

8. Data Collection: 3E 3 E Experiencing Observation Field notes Enquiring Interview Survey Questionnaire Test Examining Archival data Artifact Videotape

9. Ethical and Practical  Do no harm  Informed consent  Confidentiality  Don’t mess your nest

10. Systemic Reform  Systemic issue or problem  Systemic action or solution  Substantive collaboration Plan intervention & assessment Implementation

11. Research Design  To claim the intervention is effective…  You must provide evidence of change…  Comparisons are critical

12. Comparison I  Individuals With v Without E.g. K students learn some letters with pictures and some letters without pictures  Caution: Equal time on task  Caution: Sequence of treatments - randomize if possible

13. Comparison II  Group/Class With v Without E.g. One class uses paired discourse and another uses individual worksheet to summarize.  Caution: Equal time on task  Caution: Equal inclusion of classes. NB: Hawthorne effect.

14. Comparison III  Student Subgroups  Consider groups disaggregated under NCLB Race/ethnicity Gender SES/poverty LEP

15. Comparison IV  Skill Subsets  E.g. facts, concepts, problems  E.g. achievement, engagement, attitude

16. Comparison V  Individual Before & After  Useful for skills & attitudes  Can be combined with other comparisons  Caution: Students may learn something under any conditions.

17. Comparison VI  Progress over time  Comparison of daily or weekly scores.

18. Collecting Data  To interpret your results, Look for…. Significant differences Correlations Patterns & emergent themes  Collect the data you need Observation journal