@kateboshier used this presentation to model to a group of teachers how they could conduct action research in school, as part of www.researchingteachers.wordpress.com

1. ACTION
RESEARCH
Research Methods in Education 7th
Edition Chapter 18
© LOUIS COHEN, LAWRENCE MANION & KEITH MORRISON

2. STRUCTURE OF THE SESSION
• Defining action research
• Principles and characteristics of
action research
• Procedures for action research
• Reporting action research

3. ACTION RESEARCH
• Action research is a small-scale intervention
in the functioning of the real world to
address practitioners’ own issues, and a
close examination of the effects of such an
intervention.
• Kemmis and McTaggart (1992: 10): ‘to do
action research is to plan, act, observe and
reflect more carefully, more systematically,
and more rigorously than one usually does
in everyday life’.
• Action research combines diagnosis, action
and reflection.

4. ELEMENTS OF ACTION RESEARCH
• It works on participants’ own problems;
• It seeks to improve practice;
• It is collaborative and participatory;
• It is problem-solving;
• It is undertaken in situ;
• It is an ongoing cycle of diagnosis, planning,
implementation and evaluation;
• It is methodologically eclectic;
• It requires reflection;
• It builds on professional development.

5. ACTION RESEARCH IS . . .
• Critical (and self-critical) collaborative inquiry
by
• Reflective practitioners being
• Accountable and making results of their
enquiry public
• Self-evaluating their practice and engaged in
• Participatory problem-solving and continuing
professional development.

6. IDENTIFY
PROBLEM
PLAN ACTION
ACT
EVALUATE
PROCEDURES FOR ACTION RESEARCH

7. AN EIGHT-STAGE MODEL OF ACTION
RESEARCH
Stage One: Decide and agree one common
problem that you are experiencing or need that
must be addressed.
Stage Two: Identify some causes of the problem
(need).
Stage Three: Brainstorm a range of possible
practical solutions to the problem, to address the
real problem and the real cause(s).
Stage Four: From the range of possible practical
solutions decide one of the solutions to the
problems, perhaps what you consider to be the
most suitable or best solution to the problem.
Plan how to put the solution into practice.

8. AN EIGHT-STAGE MODEL OF ACTION
RESEARCH
Stage Five: Identify ‘success criteria’ by which
you will be able to judge whether the solution
has worked to solve the problem,
Stage Six: Put the plan into action; monitor,
adjust and evaluate what is taking place;
Stage Seven: Evaluate the outcome to see how
well it has addressed and solved the problem or
need, using the success criteria identified in
Stage Five.
Stage Eight: Review and plan what needs to be
done in light of the evaluation.

9. THE ACTION RESEARCH CYCLE
(Tripp, 2003)
Reconnaissance
(First Cycle)
F i r s t
P l a n
A c t i o n
T h e n P l a n
R e s e a r c h
F i r s t
P r o d u c e
D a t a
T h e n
A n a l y s e
D a t a
and
I m p l e m e n t
A c t i o n
M o n i t o r
A c t i o n
and
( s e p a r a t e l y
a n d t o g e t h e r )
( t o g e t h e r )
R e f l e c t
( o n A c t i o n )
R e v i e w
( R e s e a r c h )
P r o c e s s
P l a n
a c t i o n
R e s e a r c h
a c t i o n
E v a l u a t e
a c t i o n
Act
thoughtfully

10. Gathering Information and Data
• Record observations in a diary or log
book.
• Use an observer;
• Peer
• Trusted student
• Questionnaires before and after the
‘action’ has been trialled.

11. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM – CAUSES
NOT SYMPTOMS
Diagnosis:
• What actually is the real problem?
• What are the causes?

12. PLAN INTERVENTIONS
Divergent Phase:
• What actions are possible?
• What alternatives are there?
• Evaluate alternatives.
Convergent Phase:
• Which intervention will be adopted?
• Decide from amongst the alternatives.
Planning:
• How will the intervention be implemented?

13. IMPLEMENTATION
Putting the plan into action
• Initiation
• Development
• Sustenance
• Follow-up

14. EVALUATION
How successfully has the intervention
addressed the issue?
• What are the success criteria?
• How will you know if the intervention has been
successful?
• What are the outcomes of the intervention?
• What ongoing monitoring will there be?
• What will you do if the intervention is not
working?

15. INITIAL PROBLEM
PROPOSED
INTERVENTION
IMPLEMENTATION
OUTCOME
E
V
A
L
U
A
T
I
O
N

16. IDENTIFY
PROBLEM
PLAN ACTION
ACT
EVALUATE

17. ADVICE FOR ACTION RESEARCHERS
• Stay small, stay focused;
• Identify a clear research question;
• Be realistic about what you can do;
• Plan carefully;
• Set a realistic time scale;
• Involve others (as participants, observers, validators –
including critical friends – potential researchers);
• Ensure ethical practice;
• Concentrate on learning, not on the outcomes of action;
• The focus of the research is you, in company with others;
• Beware of happy endings;
• Be aware of political issues.

18. REPORTING ACTION RESEARCH
Report:
• The research issue and how it came to
become a research issue in the improvement
of practice;
• The methodology of, and justification for, the
intervention, and how it was selected from
amongst other possible interventions;
• How the intervention derived from an
understanding of the situation;
• What data were collected, when, and from
whom;
• How data were collected, processed and
analyzed;

19. REPORTING ACTION RESEARCH
Report:
• How the ongoing intervention was monitored
and reviewed;
• How reflexivity was addressed;
• What were the standard and criteria for
success, and how these criteria were derived;
• How conclusions were reached and how
these were validated;
• What and how the researcher learnt as a
consequence of the action research;
• How practice was changed as a consequence
of the findings.

20. REFLEXIVITY IN ACTION RESEARCH
• A self-conscious awareness of the effects that
the participants-as-practitioners-and-
researchers are having on the research
process, how their values, attitudes,
perceptions, opinions, actions, feelings etc.
are influencing the situation being studied.
• How the researcher/practitioner may be
biasing the research.

21. MAKING ACTION RESEARCH WORK
Collegiality must be present, e.g.:
• Participatory approaches to decision-making;
• Democratic and consensual decision-making;
• Shared values, beliefs and goals;
• Equal rights of participation in discussion;
• Equal rights to determine policy;
• Equal voting rights on decisions;
• The deployment of sub-groups who are accountable
to the whole group;
• Shared responsibility and open accountability;
• An extended view of expertise;
• Judgements and decisions based on the power of the
argument rather than the positional power of the
advocates;
• Shared ownership of decisions and practices.