Action Research

Action Research

Action ResearchDr Ayaz Afsar1Introduction

Action research is a powerful tool for change and improvement at the local level. Its combination of action and research has contributed to its attraction to researchers, teachers and the academic and educational community alike.2Introduction

The scope of action research as a method is impressive. It can be used in almost any setting where a problem involving people, tasks and procedures cries out for solution, or where some change of feature results in a more desirable outcome. It can be undertaken by the individual teacher, a group of teachers working cooperatively within one school, or a teacher or teachers working alongside a researcher or researchers in a sustained relationship, possibly with other interested parties like advisers, university departments and sponsors on the periphery (Holly and Whitehead 1986).

3Action research can be used in a variety of areas, for example:Teaching methods: replacing a traditional method by a discovery method Learning strategies: adopting an integrated approach to learning in preference to a single-subject style of teaching and learning Evaluative procedures: improving ones methods of continuous assessment Attitudes and values: encouraging more positive attitudes to work, or modifying pupils value systems with regard to some aspect of lifeContinuing professional development of teachers: improving teaching skills, developing new methods of learning, increasing powers of analysis, of heightening self-awarenesscont.

4Management and control: the gradual introduction of the techniques of behaviour modicationAdministration: increasing the efciency of some aspect of the administrative side of school life.These examples do not mean, however, that action research can be typied straightforwardly; that is to distort its complex and multifaceted nature. Indeed Kemmis (1997) suggests that there are several schools of action research.

5Dening action research

The different conceptions of action research can be revealed in some typical denitions of action research, for example Hopkins (1985: 32) suggests that the combination of action and research renders that action a form of disciplined inquiry, in which a personal attempt is made to understand, improve and reform practice. Ebbutt (1985: 156), too, regards action research as a systematic study that combines action and reection with the intention of improving practice. Cohen and Manion (1994: 186) dene it as a small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such an intervention6The Action Research Cycle7ContDening action research

Kemmis and McTaggart (1992:10) argue that to do action research is to plan, act, observe and reect more carefully, more systematically, and more rigorously than one usually does in everyday life. A more philosophical stance on action research, that echoes the work of Habermas, is taken by Carr and Kemmis (1986: 162), who regard it as a form of self-reective enquiry by participants, which is undertaken in order to improve their understanding of their practices in context with a view to maximizing social justice.McNiff (2002:17) suggests that action researchers support the view that people can create their own identities and that they should allow others to do the same.

8Action research combines diagnosis, action and reection (McNiff 2002: 15), focusing on practical issues that have been identied by participants and which are somehow both problematic yet capable of being changed (Elliott 1978: 3556). Zuber-Skerritt (1996b: 83) suggests that the aims of any action research project or programme are to bring about practical improvement, innovation, change or development of social practice, and the practitioners better understanding of their practices.

9Action research v/s everyday actions of teachersKemmis and McTaggart (1992: 212) distinguish action research from the everyday actions of teachers:It is not the usual thinking teachers do when they think about their teaching. Action research is more systematic and collaborative in collecting evidence on which to base rigorous group reection.It is not simply problem-solving. Action research involves problem-posing, not just problem-solving. It does not start from a view of problems as pathologies. It is motivated by a quest to improve and understand the world by changing it and learning how to improve it from the effects of the changes made.It is not research done on other people. Action research is research by particular people on their own work, to help them improve what they do, including how they work with and for others. . . .

10Action research is not the scientic method applied to teaching. There is not just one view of the scientic method; there are many. Noffke and Zeichner (1987) make several claims for action research with teachers, namely that it brings about changes in their denitions of their professional skills and roles: increases their feelings of self-worth and condenceincreases their awareness of classroom issuesimproves their dispositions toward reectionchanges their values and beliefsimproves the congruence between practical theories and practicesbroadens their views on teaching, schooling and society.

11Principles and characteristics of action researchHult and Lennung (1980) and McKernan (1991: 323) suggest that action researchmakes for practical problem-solving as well as expanding scientic knowledgeenhances the competencies of participantsis collaborativeis undertaken directly in situuses feedback from data in an ongoing cyclical processseeks to understand particular complex social situationsseeks to understand the processes of change within social systems is undertaken within an agreed framework of ethicsseeks to improve the quality of human actions

Cont. 12focuses on those problems that are of immediate concern to practitioners is participatoryfrequently uses case studytends to avoid the paradigm of research that isolates and controls variables, is formative, such that the denition of the problem, the aims and methodology may alter during the process of action researchincludes evaluation and reection is methodologically eclecticcontributes to a science of educationstrives to render the research usable and shareable by participants is dialogical and celebrates discourse has a critical purpose in some formsstrives to be emancipatory.

1314ContPrinciples and characteristics of actionresearchAction research is participatory: it is research through which people work towards the improvement of their own practices (and only secondarily on other peoples practices).Action research develops through the self-reective spiral: a spiral of cycles of planning, acting (implementing plans), observing (systematically), reecting . . . and then re-planning, further implementation, observing and reecting. . . .Action research is collaborative: it involves those responsible for action in improving that action. . . .

15Action research as critical praxis

Kincheloe (2003: 1389) suggests a seven-step process of emancipatory action research:Constructing a system of meaning.Understanding dominant research methods and their effects.Selecting what to study.Acquiring a variety of research strategies.Making sense of information collected.Gaining awareness of the tacit theories and assumptions which guide practice.Viewing teaching as an emancipatory, praxis-based act.

Praxis here is dened as action informed through reection, and with emancipation as its goal.

16Action research as critical praxis

Action research empowers individuals and social groups to take control over their lives within a framework of the promotion, rather than the suppression of generalizable interests (Habermas 1976). It commences with a challenge to the illegitimate operation of power, hence in some respects (albeit more politicized because it embraces the dimension of power) it is akin to Argyriss (1990) notion of double- loop learning in that it requires participants to question and challenge given value systems. For Grundy (1987), praxis fuses theory and practice within an egalitarian social order, and action research is designed with the political agenda of improvement towards a more just, egalitarian society. This accords to some extent with Lewins (1946) view that action research leads to equality and cooperation, an end to exploitation and the furtherance of democracy

17ContAction research as critical praxis

Zuber-Skerritt (1996a: 3) suggests that emancipatory action research . . . is collaborative, critical and self-critical inquiry by practitioners . . .into a major problem or issue or concern in their own practice. They own the problem and feel responsible and accountable for solving it through teamwork and through following a cyclical process of :strategic planningaction, i.e. implementing the planobservation, evaluation and self-evaluationcritical and self-critical reection on the results of points 13 and making decisions for the next cycle of action research. (Zuber-Skerritt 1996a: 3)

18Procedures for action research

There are several ways in which the steps of action research have been analysed. One can suggest that action research can be cast into two simple stages: a diagnostic stage in which the problems are analysed and the hypotheses developed; and a therapeutic stage in which the hypotheses are tested by a consciously directed intervention or experiment in situ. Lewin (1946; 1948) codied the action research process into four main stages: planning, acting, observing and reecting.He suggests that action research commences with a general idea and data are sought about the presenting situation. The successful outcome of this examination is the production of a plan of action to reach an identied objective, together with a decision on the rst steps to be taken. Lewin acknowledges that this might involve modifying the original plan or idea.

19ContProcedures for action research

The next stage of implementation is accompanied by ongoing fact-nding to monitor and evaluate the intervention, i.e. to act as a formative evaluation. This feeds forward into a revised plan and set of procedures for implementation, themselves accompanied by monitoring and evaluation.

20In practice, the process begins with a general idea that some kind of improvement or change is desirable. In deciding just where to begin in making improvements, one decides on a eld of action . . . where the battle (not the whole war) should be fought. It is a decision on where it is possible to have an impact. The general idea prompts a reconnaissance of the circumstances of the eld, and fact-nding about them. Having decided on the eld and made a preliminary reconnaissance, the action researcher decides on a general plan of action. Breaking the general plan down into achievable steps, the action researcher settles on the rst action step.21Before taking this rst step the action researcher becomes more circumspect, and devises a way of monitoring the effects of the rst action step. When it is possible to maintain fact-nding by monitoring the action, the rst step is taken. As the step is implemented, new data start coming in and the effect of the action can be described and evaluated. The general plan is then revised in the light of the new information about the eld of action and the second action step can be planned along with appropriate monitoring procedures. The second step is then implemented, monitored and evaluated; and the spiral of action, monitoring, evaluation and replanning continues.22ContProcedures for action researchReview your current practice.Identify an aspect that you wish to improve.Imagine a way forward in this.Try it out.Monitor and reect on what happens.Modify the plan in the light of what has been found, what has happened, and continue.Evaluate the modied action.Continue until you are satised with that aspect of your work (e.g. repeat the cycle).A model of emancipatory action research for organizational change

23ContProcedures for action research

24ContProcedures for action researchSagor (2005: 4) sets out a straightforward four-step model of action research:Clarify vision and targets.Articulate appropriate theory.Implement action and collect data.Reect on the data and plan informed action.

25Another approach is to set out a seven-step model:Decide and agree one common problem that you are experiencing or need that must be addressed.Identify some causes of the problem (need).Brainstorm a range of possible practical solutions to the problem, to address the real problem and the real cause(s).From the range of possible practical solutions decide one of the solutions to the problem, perhaps what you consider to be the most suitable or best solution to the problem. Plan how to put the solution into practice.Identify some success criteria by which you will be able to judge whether the solution has worked to solve the problem, i.e. how will you know whether the proposed solution, when it is put into practice, has been successful. Identify some practical criteria that will tell you how successful the project has been.266. Put the plan into action; monitor, adjust and evaluate what is taking place.7. Evaluate the outcome to see how well it has addressed and solved the problem or need, using the success criteria identied in Step 5.8. Review and plan what needs to be done in light of the evaluation.

27ContProcedures for action researchThe key features of action research here are:It works on, and tries to solve real, practitioner-identied problems of everyday practice.It is collaborative and builds in teacher involvement.It seeks causes and tries to work on those causes.The solutions are suggested by the practitioners involved.It involves a divergent phase and a convergent phase.It plans an intervention by the practitioners themselves.It implements the intervention.It evaluates the success of the intervention in solving the identied problem.

28Summary 29What is action research?Practitioner based: aims to improve professional practiceSeeks to answer a question such as How do I improve the way I teach?How can I improve the motivation ofHow can I teach. effectivelyIt relates a personal, professional journey (doing research on yourself)30What can I research?Problems related to: materialsparticular teaching areasachievement, motivation, behaviour(personal management issues)(Wallace, 1998)31Action Research PlanningTopic: what?Focus: formulate a question you are going to ask yourselfProduct: what do you expect the outcome to be? Mode: how are you going to do it?Evidence: how are you going to generate it?32Research Process: PreliminariesIdentify the research area and formulate a question: how can I.

Do some research: look at texts, lecture notes, talk to teachers, RECORDING your findings as you go.Compile a critical review of relevant literature33Planning for ActionPlan what you are going to do and prepare the necessary materials

Decide what data you will be able to collect to provide you with your evidence:

*journal*formative assessment*examples of work produced*feedback from the students34Action and data collectionConsider/ discuss any ethical issues (it is about you improving on your practice)

Gather as much evidence as possible in whatever form you can

35MethodsDiariesObservationQuestionnaires & interviewsRecordings, photographic evidence

36Analysis of dataReflect on what happened and whether you achieved what you set out to do.Sort your data and identify what will constitute your evidenceTriangulate as much as possible (within your data, with theory)37Write up your findingsIntroduction: explain what you are researching and why you decided to do it; give contextual information (brief & anonymous).

Research focus: State your questions and give a rationale for the approach that you selected (relate to literature)

38Write up your findingsLiterature review: Write up the review of the relevant literature and show how it links to the current study39Writing up your findingsFindings: describe what happened and the conclusions that you drew from the data collected

Try to also identify other possible interpretationsRELATE TO THEORY & OTHER RESEARCH

Conclusions and further action

(bibliography & appendices)40Examples from PracticeHow can I increase the receptive and productive vocabulary of ESOL learners?

lack of structured, disciplined recall opportunities in class that could influence learners capacity to transfer vocabulary from short-term to long-term memory and use.4141E1-3 classesThe interventionVocabulary boxWorksheets (revision)Collaborative story tellingVocabulary chart

42Research toolsPre- and post- questionnairesDiscussion with students and colleaguesObservations4343Questionnaire relating to frequency of revision of vocabulary and preferred strategies, their progressThe outcomesImproved understanding of effective strategies

Improved learner awareness of language

As professional teacher I feel satisfied that I was actively involved in trying to overcome a problem area in a disciplined, methodical way. It is something that I will continue in the future44Example 2: assessmentHow can I use peer and self assessment to improve the quality of students written work?

I find it disheartening when students quickly read my carefully written comments, look at the grade and then put the work away never to be referred to again4545The InterventionStandard correction code and work recordsPractice correction exercises; process of giving feedback modelledPeer checkingTarget setting for improvement

46463 groupsResearch toolsRecord sheetsStudents workInterviews with studentsGroup discussion47The outcomesDramatic improvements in the accuracy of written work

Even students with limited English quickly develop skills for self and peer assessment. It has become part of the class routine.

Students started to develop their own criteria for assessing their work

They recognised frequent errors and made a determined effort to eradicate them48Example 3How can I progress learners language skills and enhance their curriculum based studies of Macbeth?

Target group: teenagers with basic English who have to study Macbeth in their mainstream classes49The InterventionObservation and analysis of interaction of students prior to intervention. Questionnaire to assess prior knowledge

Contextualisation activities: map of the UK, listening & research activity.

DVD & reading of first part of the play (speech bubble text) with dictionary support.

Peer questioning using simple who/ what/ when/ why forms.Vocab card activity semantic web

50The interventionObservation, reading of further excerpts, character card game

Students wrote their own ending to the play using a model, read out to others for comment before reading real play.Character cards used to construct a time line of events in the playQuestionnaire, character card game

51The OutcomesMore positive attitudes to the study of Shakespeare and to the play

Additional resources had an important impact

Considerable increase in voluntary contribution and interaction despite personal issues52Research toolsObservation of interaction with another teacher), volunteering of information, ideas etc

Questionnaires

Record of activity

Written and oral work produced

53Conclusion

Action research has been seen as a signicant vehicle for empowering teachers. As a research device it combines six notions:a straightforward cycle of identifying a problem,planning an intervention implementing the interventionevaluating the outcomereective practicepolitical emancipationcritical theoryprofessional developmentparticipatory practitioner research.

54Useful referencesMcNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2005) Action research for teachers: a practical guide London. David Fulton Publishers

Mills, G. E. 2006, Action research: a Guide for the Teacher Researcher, Pearson

Sikes, P.J. 2008, Researching education from the Inside: investigations from within, Routledge55Useful referencesCampbell, A, 2007, An ethical Approach to Practitioner Research: dealing with issues and dilemmas in action research, Routledge

Altricher, H. 2008, Teachers Investigate Their Work: an introduction to action research across the professions 2nd Ed, Routledge

56The End57