A friendly introduction to using action research in library and information environments. Presented at LILAC 2018 by Sam Aston, Geoff Walton and Emma Coonan.

1. Research for the terrified
(and the tied up, the tired and
the just plain turned-off)
Sam Aston
Geoff Walton
Emma Coonan

2. YES, YOU ARE A
RESEARCHER

3. Who’s the best critical
questioner you know?

4. Webster (2013) argues that small children and
teenagers ask great critical questions
Why?
What’s that?
How does that work?
What does this mean?
Why should I?
So what?
Says who?

5. First you make an observation
Scientific method

6. First you make an observation
Scientific method
“Why is my car making a funny noise?”

7. First you make an observation
then you form a hypothesis
Scientific method
“Why is my car making a funny noise?”
“it sounds like my tyre is flat”

8. First you make an observation
then you form a hypothesis
make a testable prediction
Scientific method
“Why is my car making a funny noise?”
“it sounds like my tyre is flat”
“if my tire is flat, then it should be
deflated when I pull my car over and
look at it”

9. First you make an observation
then you form a hypothesis
make a testable prediction
and finally obtain data by
performing your test
7 crazy realities of scientific publishing , PNIS
Scientific method
“Why is my car making a funny noise?”
“it sounds like my tyre is flat”
“if my tyre is flat, then it should be
deflated when I pull my car over and
look at it”
“Yes, it’s flat! I’m a Science God!”

10. “Research is formalized curiosity.
It is poking and prying with a
purpose.”
Zora Neale Hurston, 1942

11. What is action research?
“An approach in which the action researcher (you) and a client (users,
learners etc) collaborate in the diagnosis of a problem and in the
development of a solution based on the diagnosis” (Bryman, 2012,p709)

12. Action research can be
inductive OR deductive
OR Both
Deductive (test a hypothesis - quantitative) OR
Inductive (exploratory and qualitative) OR
Mixed methods (both)

13. It’s about influencing change,
collaboration, empowerment
Action research cycle: Planning a change, Acting, Observing, Reflecting,
Planning a change (Robson, 2002)

14. CASE STUDIES

15. Information
discernment of
16-17 year olds
Worked with students in groups (n=45) to enable them to think about and describe in their
own word how they make judgements about information
Then we gave them information discernment tools to extend their existing abilities
Evidence form their teachers clearly demonstrated that students had begun to question
information (authority, credibility etc) in away they hadn’t even thought about before

16. E-learning goals for
school teachers in 5
European countries
Teachers were from Croatia, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the UK

17. Worked with 12 school
teachers over 3 days to find
out what they wanted to
learn about
Teachers talked about learning how to create movies, online
cartoon strips and animations
We then constructed a 6 week online course based on their
responses

18. USING ACTION
RESEARCH IN PRACTICE

19. What data can be
collected?
https://padlet.com/sam_aston/lilacactionresearch

20. Designing out bias

21. “I want to prove that higher
education library use means
students get better marks.”
No researcher ever

23. Critical questions about information
• Whose interests does this point of view represent?
• Who benefits from this information, and the particular angle it
takes?
• Whose voice is not being heard – even if they are being talked
about?
• Do I disagree because this information is untrue, unethical or
invalid, or simply because it is unwelcome to me?
Secker & Coonan, forthcoming

24. Good luck with your research!
sam.aston@manchester.ac.uk
g.walton@mmu.ac.uk
emma.coonan@anglia.ac.uk