"CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Action Research

 ------------------Glee, 2009

"The purpose of action research is to provide

teacher-researchers with a method for solving
everyday problems in schools." (p. 452)

CHAPTER 17

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After reading Chapter 17, you should be able to
do the following:
17 .:t State a definition and describe the purpose
of action research.
17 .2 Identify the key characteristics of action
research.
17 .3 Identify two types of action research.
I 7 .4 Describe the different levels at which action
research can be conducted.
17 .S Describe the steps in the dialectic action
research process.

The chapter learning outcomes form the basis for
the following task.

ACTION RESEARCH 451

TASK9

Develop a plan for an action research study to
answer a school-based research question. Use the
following steps to create the components of your
written plan:
1. Write an area-of-focus statement.
2. Define the variables.
3. Develop research questions.
4. Describe the intervention or innovation.
Describe the membership of the action
research group.
6. Describe negotiations that need to be undertaken.
1. Develop a time line.
8. Develop a statement of resources.
9. Develop data collection ideas. (see
Performance Criteria, p. 461).

s.

SUMMARY: ACTION RESEARCH
Definition

Design(s)

Types of appropriate
research questions
Key characteristics
Steps in the process
Potential challenges

Example

Action research in education is any systematic inquiry conducted by
teachers, principals, school counselors, or other stakeholders in the
teaching-learning environment that involves gathering information
about the ways in which their particular schools operate, the teachers
teach, and the students learn.
• Critical action research
• Practical action research
• Individual
• Collaborative, small group
• Schoolwide

The types of research questions that emerge from your area of focus
should involve teaching and learning and should focus on your
practice and be within your locus of control. The topic should be
something you feel passionate about and something you would like to
change or improve.
• Action research is persuasive, authoritative, relevant, and accessible.
• Action research challenges the intractability of reform of the
educational system and is not a fad.

1. Identify an area of focus.
2. Collect data.
 - Conduct data analysis and interpretation.
4-. Develop an action plan.
• Generalizability of the research findings

How will incorporating more meaningful discussions into my biology
classroom affect my teaching and the ability of students to learn?

452 CHAPTER 17 • ACTION RESEARCH

ACTION RESEARCH: DEFINITION
AND PURPOSE
Action research in education is any systematic
inquiry conducted by teachers, principals, school
counselors, or other stakeholders in the teaching­
learning environment that involves gathering infor­
mation about the ways in which their particular
schools operate, the teachers teach, and the stu­
dents learn. This information is gathered with the
goals of gaining insight, developing reflective prac­
tice, effecting positive changes in the school envi­
ronment (and on educational practices in general),
and improving student outcomes and the lives of
those involved.
The purpose of action research is to provide
teacher-researchers with a method for solving
everyday problems in schools so that they may
improve both student learning and teacher effec­
tiveness. Action research is done by teachers, for
themselves; it is not imposed on them by some­
one else. Action research is largely about develop­
ing the professional disposition of teachers; that is,
encouraging teachers to be continuous learners­
in their classrooms and of their practice. In con­
ducting research in their own classrooms and
schools, teachers have the opportunity to model
for students not only the skills needed for effec­
tive learning but also curiosity and an excitement
about gaining new knowledge.
Action research is also about incorporating
into a teacher's daily routine a reflective stance-a
willingness to look critically at one's own teach­
ing so that it can be improved or enhanced. For
example, a high-school teacher confronted with
the challenges of teaching "unmotivated" students
critically reflects on her teaching practices to deter­
mine the specific strategies that are most effective
in improving student outcomes. Teaching students
who are unmotivated and apathetic can be a dif­
ficult challenge for any teacher to overcome. This
example illustrates the power of action research to
empower the teacher to try different teaching strat­
egies and to collect student outcome data (e.g., test
scores, student attitudes, and on-task behavior) to
help determine which teaching strategy works best
for the unmotivated students in her classroom.
Action research contributes significantly to the
professional stance that teachers adopt because it
encourages them to examine the dynamics of their

classrooms, ponder the actions and interactions of
students, validate and challenge existing practices,
and take risks in the process. When teachers gain
new understandings about both their own and
their students' behaviors through action research,
they are empowered to make informed decisions
about what to change and what not to change, link
prior knowledge to new information, learn from
experience (even failures), and ask questions and
systematically find answers. 1 Teachers' goals-to
be professional problem solvers who are com­
mitted to improving both their own practice and
student outcomes-provide a powerful reason to
practice action research.
My Lab Education Self-Check 17 .1
My Lab Education Application Exercise 17.1:

Evaluating Research Articles: Evaluating
an Action Research Project Part 1

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF
ACTION RESEARCH
Action research exhibits five key characteristics:
It is persuasive and authoritative, relevant, acces­
sible, a challenge to the intractability of reform of
the education system, and not a fad.

Action Research Is Persuasive and
Authoritative
Research done by teachers for teachers involves
collecting persuasive data. Because teachers are
invested in the legitimacy of the data collection,
they identify data sources that provide persuasive
insights into the impact of an intervention on stu­
dent outcomes. Similarly, the findings of action
research and the recommended actions are author­
itative for teacher-researchers. In doing action
research, teacher-researchers develop solutions to
their own problems. The teachers-not outside
"experts"-are the authorities on what works in
their classrooms.

"Teacher as Researcher: A Synonym for Professionalism," by V.
Fueyo and M.A. Koorland, 1997,journal of Teacher Education,
48, pp. 336-344.
1

CHAPTER 17

Action Research Is Relevant
The relevance of research published in journals to
the real world of teachers is perhaps the most com­
mon concern raised by teachers when asked about
the practical applications of educational research.
Either the problems investigated by researchers
are not the problems teachers really have, or the
schools or classrooms in which the research was
conducted are not similar to the teachers' own
school environments.
In reviewing two decades of research on
schools and teaching, Kennedy cited seminal
works2 to illustrate the relevance of the findings
of these studies-classroom life is characterized by
crowds, power, praise, and uncertainty. By crowds,
she meant that students are always grouped with
20 or 30 others, which means that they must wait
in line, wait to be called on, and wait for help.
By power, she meant that teachers control most
actions and events and decide what the group will
do. Teachers also give and withhold praise so that
students know which students are favored by the
teacher. Finally, the presence of 20 to 30 children
in a single classroom means there are 20 to 30 pos­
sibilities for an interruption in one's work-a lot of
uncertainty.
Kennedy further argued that one aim of educa­
tional research is to increase certainty by creating
predictability within the classroom. An outcome of
action research is that it satisfies the desire that
all teachers have to increase the predictability of
what happens in their classrooms-in particular,
to increase the likelihood that a given curriculum,
instructional strategy, or use of technology will
positively affect student outcomes. In other words,
the results of action research are relevant to the
work of individual teacher-researchers.

Action Research Is Accessible
Action research addresses several key concerns
about accessibility. First, it addresses the concern
that educational research does not affect teaching
because it does not address teachers' prior beliefs
and values; second, it addresses the concern
2

M. M. Kennedy, 1997, Educational Researcher, 26(7), pp. 4-12;
the seminal works include Life in Classrooms, by P. \V. Jackson,
1968, New York: Holt, Rinehart & \Vinston; Schoolteacber: A
Sociological Study, by D. C. Lortie, 1975, Chicago, IL: University
of Chicago Press.

ACTION RESEARCH 453

that teachers have little access to research find­
ings·' third' it addresses the concern that, even if
teachers were informed of the results of studies,
most would be unlikely to change their practices.
Herein lay the beauty, power, and potential of
action research to affect practice positively. Action
researchers challenge their own taken-for-granted
assumptions about teaching and learning. Research
findings are meaningful to you because you have
identified the area of focus. You have been will­
ing to challenge the conventional craft culture. In
short, as an action researcher, your willingness to
reflect on and change your thinking about your
teaching has led you to become a successful and
productive member of the professional community.

Action Research Challenges the
Intractability of Reform of the
Educational System
In her review, Kennedy suggested that the lack
of connection between research and practice can
be attributed to the education system itself, not
the research. She noted that the educational sys­
tem can be characterized as a system that lacks
agreed-on goals and guiding principles, has no
central authority to settle disputes, and is continu­
ally bombarded with new fads and fancies. Fur­
thermore, the system provides limited evidence to
support or refute any particular idea, encourages
reforms that are running at cross-purposes to each
other, and gives teachers (in the United States) less
time than those in most other countries to develop
curricula and daily lessons. Given this character­
ization ' it is little wonder that the more tilings
change, the more they stay the same! Reform is difficult to direct or control-it is intractable. Action
research gives teacher-researchers the opportu­
nity to embrace a problem-solving philosophy and
practice as an integral part of the culture of their
schools and their professional disposition and to
challenge the intractability of educational reform
by making action research part of the system.

Action Research Is Not a Fad
Action research is decidedly not a fad for one
simple reason: Good teachers have always looked
systematically at the effects of their teaching on
student learning. They may not have called this

454 CHAPTER 17 • ACTION RESEARCH

. .

I;,TABLE·i17.1 , • Components of, a critical;perspective'ofaction·research·,
.

Key Concept

Example

Action research is participatory and
democratic.

You have identified an area in your teaching that you believe can be improved
(based on data from your students). You decide to investigate the impact of your
intervention and to monitor if it makes a difference.

Action research is socially
responsive and takes place in
context.

You are concerned that minority children (for example, English as a Second
Language [ESL) students) in your classroom are not being presented with
curriculum and teaching strategies that are culturally sensitive. You decide to
learn more about how best to teach ESL children and to implement some of
these strategies.

Action research helps teacher­
researchers examine the everyday,
taken-for-granted ways in which
they carry out professional practice.

You have adopted a new mathematics problem-solving curriculum and decide
to monitor its impact on student performance on open-ended problem-solving
questions and students' attitudes toward mathematics in general.

Knowledge gained through action
research can liberate students,
teachers, and administrators and
enhance learning, teaching, and
policy making.

Your school has a high incidence of student absenteeism in spite of a newly
adopted districtwide policy on absenteeism. You investigate the perceptions
of colleagues, children, and parents toward absenteeism to understand more
fully why the existing policy is not having the desired outcome. Based on what
you learn, you implement a new policy and systematically monitor its impact on
absenteeism levels and students' attitudes toward school.

Source: Mills, Geoffrey, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 6th Edition,© 2018, p. 8. Reprinted by permission of Pearson
Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.

practice action research, and they may not have
thought their reflection was formal enough to be
labeled research, but it was action research!
Mylab Education Self-Check 17.2

Mylab Education Application Exercise 17.2:

Evaluating Research Articles: Evaluating an
Action Research Project Part 2

certainly be both. Table 17.1 shows a summary of
the most important components of critical action
research.
The values of critical action research dictate
that all educational research not only should be
socially responsive but also should exhibit the fol­
lowing characteristics: 3
1. It is democratic, enabling the participation of
all people.
2. It is equitable, acknowledging people's
equality of worth.
3. It is liberating, providing freedom from
oppressive, debilitating conditions.
4. It is life enhancing, enabling the expression
of people's full human potential.

TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH
The two main types of action research are criti­
cal (or theory-based) action research and practical
action research.

Critical Action Research

In critical action research, the goal is liberating
individuals through knowledge gathering; for this
reason, it is also known as emancipatory action
research. Critical action research is so named
because it is based on a body of critical theory,
not because this type of action research is critical,
as in faultfinding or important, although it may

Although this critical theory-based approach has
been challenged for lack of practical feasibility,4
it is nonetheless important to consider because it
provides a helpful heuristic, or problem-solving
approach, for teachers who are committed to
3 Action Research (3rd ed, p. 11), by E.T. Stringer, 2007, Thou­

sand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Italics in original.]
"On the Teacher as Researcher," by M. Hammersley, 1993,
Educational Action Research, 1, pp. 425-441.
4

CHAPTER 17

ACTION RESEARCH

455

TABLE 17 .2. • Components ofa· practical.perspective ofaction research
Key Concept

Example

Teacher-researchers
have decision-making
authority.

Your school has adopted a school-based decision-making approach that provides teachers
with the authority to make decisions that have the most direct impact on teaching and
learning. Given this decision-making authority, you decide, as part of your continued
professional development, to investigate the effectiveness of a newly adopted science
curriculum on students' process skills and attitudes.

Teacher-researchers
are committed to
continued professional
development and school
improvement.

Based on the results of statewide assessment tests and classroom observations, the
teachers and principal at your school determine that reading comprehension skills are weak.
Collaboratively, staff members determine the focus for a school improvement effort and
identify the necessary professional development that will be offered to change the ways
teachers teach reading.

Teacher-researchers
want to reflect on their
practices.

You are a successful classroom teacher who regularly reflects on your daily teaching and
what areas could be improved. You believe that part of being a professional teacher is the
willingness to examine your teaching effectiveness continually.

Teacher-researchers use
a systematic approach
for reflecting on their
practice.

Given a schoolwide reading comprehension focus, you have decided to monitor the
effectiveness of a new reading curriculum and teaching strategies by video-recording a
reading lesson (once per month), administering reading comprehension "probes" (once per
week), interviewing children in your classroom (once per term), and administering statewide
assessment tests (at the end of the school year).

Teacher-researchers
choose an area of
focus, determine data
collection techniques,
analyze and interpret
data, and develop action
plans.

To continue the example above, you have focused on the effectiveness of a new reading
curriculum and teaching strategies. You have decided to collect data using video-recordings
of lessons, regular interviews ("probes"), and statewide assessment tests. During the year,
you try to interpret the data you are collecting and decide what these data suggest about
the effectiveness of the new curriculum and teaching strategies. When all of the data have
been collected and analyzed, you decide what action needs to be taken to refine, improve,
and maintain the reading comprehension curriculum and teaching strategies.

Source: Mills, Geoffrey, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 6th Edition,© 2018, p. 9. Reprinted by permission of Pearson
Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.

investigate through action research the taken-for­
granted relationships and practices in their profes­
sional lives.

focus, determine their data collection techniques,
analyze and interpret the data, and develop action
plans based on their findings. These beliefs are
summarized in Table 17 .2.

Practical Action Research
Compared to critical action research, practi­
cal action research emphasizes more of a how­
to approach to the processes of action research
and has a less philosophical bent. An underlying
assumption is that, to some degree, individual
teachers or teams of teachers are autonomous and
can determine the nature of the investigation to be
undertaken. Other assumptions are that teacher­
researchers are committed to continued profes­
sional development and school improvement and
that they want to reflect on their practices sys­
tematically. Finally, the practical action research
perspective assumes that, as decision makers,
teacher-researchers choose their own areas of

Mylab Education Self-Check 17.3
My Lab Education Application Exercise 17.3:
Explaining the Types of Action Research

LEVELS OF ACTION RESEARCH
Educational action research can be undertaken at
three levels: the single school or department level,
in which small teacher groups or teams conduct
the research; the schoolwide level; or the indi­
vidual teacher level. It is important to note that
teachers rarely carry out action research involving

456 CHAPTER 17 • ACTION RESEARCH

multiple schools because of the organiza­
FIGURE 17 .1 • The dialectic action research spiral
tional complexity and the uniqueness of the
many settings or schools.
It is likely that in a single school, action
Identify an
research is carried out by groups of teachers,
Area of Focus
all of whom seek to understand and improve
a common issue, rather than by an individual
teacher. For example, a group of high-school
math teachers may work together to imple­
Develop an
Collect Data
ment a promising hands-on math strategy
Action Plan
for students who are lagging in math perfor­
mance and then determine its impact on stu­
dent math performance. At the school level,
it is more common and interesting for teach­
Analyze and
Interpret Data
ers to focus their action research in their own
disciplines, although some teachers collaborate across subject areas, and shared goals are
surely voiced by teachers in diverse content Source: Mills, Geoffrey, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher,
6th Edition,© 2018, p. 19. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc.,
areas. For example, elementary-school teach­ Upper Saddle River, NJ.
ers may form a small group and design a study
to answer questions about varied strategies such as
study. Individual teacher action research can be
inclusion of special education students, inquiry­
a useful tool for solving educational problems in
based learning, or literary clubs, which cross con­
one's own setting.
tent area and grade lines. Other teachers may be
involved in collaborative or participatory research
Mylab Education Self-Check 17.4
by working with university-based researchers in
their classrooms. For example, teachers may study
their own research questions along with similar or
THE ACTION RESEARCH
related questions that the university researcher has.
In schoolwide action research, the major­
PROCESS
ity of the school community identifies a problem
The basic steps in the action research process are
and conducts research together with a common,
identifying an area of focus, data collection, data
focused goal in mind. For example, a schoolwide
analysis and interpretation, and action planning.
emphasis on reading is a common goal of many
This four-step process has been termed the dia­
elementary schools. As another example, coun­
lectic action research spiral5 and is illustrated in
selors, teachers, and administrators may band
Figure 17.1. It provides teacher-researchers with
together in a middle school and try strategies to
a practical guide and illustrates how to proceed
integrate cliques or other groups of students to
with inquiries. It is a model for research done
create a more cooperative environment.
by teachers and for teachers and students, not
Although a group of teachers working together
research done on them, and as such is a dynamic
is more common, individual teachers can conduct
and responsive model that can be adapted to dif­
action research to improve their understanding
ferent contexts and purposes. It was designed to
and practice in their own classrooms. Quite often,
provide teacher-researchers with "provocative and
individual teachers seek to study aspects of their
constructive ways"6 of thinking about their work.
classrooms that are unique to them and to their
students. For example, a teacher may gather infor­
mation by observing students to understand their
5 Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher (6th ed.),
interests or behaviors in a particular subject area.
by G. E. Mills, 2018, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice
Alternatively, the teacher may select or construct
Hall.
6 Kwakiutl Village and School (p. 137), by H. F. \Volcon, 1989.
simple instruments or tests to collect student infor­
Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
mation pertaining to the issue or problem under

CHAPTER 17

Action research techniques can be viewed in
terms of the dialectic action research spiral. In this
section, we discuss specific action research tech­
niques related to this model.

■ In my reading of the subject, I have been

Identifying an Area of Focus
Finding an area of focus can be hard work for
teacher-researchers who, confronted with many
problems in their classrooms and schools, are
not sure which one to choose. It is critical in the
early stages of the action research process that
the researcher take time to identify a meaningful,
engaging question or problem to investigate. One
technique that can help in identifying an area of
focus is to ensure that four criteria are satisfied:
(1) the area of focus should involve teaching and
learning and should focus on your own practice,
(2) the area of focus is something within your
locus of control, (3) the area of focus is something
you feel passionate about, and (4) the area of focus
is something you would like to change or improve.
The next important step in the action research
process is reconnaissance, or preliminary infor­
mation gathering. More specifically, reconnais­
sance is taking time to reflect on your own beliefs
and to understand the nature and context of
your general idea. Doing reconnaissance involves
gaining insight into your area of focus through
self-reflection, descriptive activities, and explana­
tory activities.

Gaining Insight through Self-Reflection

You can begin reconnaissance by exploring your
own understandings of the theories that affect your
practice, the educational values you hold, how
your work in schools fits into the larger context
of schooling and society, the historical contexts of
your school and schooling and how things got to
be the way they are, and the historical contexts of
how you came to believe what you believe about
teaching and learning.7 For example, suppose that
your general idea for your action research inquiry
is the question "How can I improve the integra­
tion and transfer of problem-solving skills in math­
ematics?" Your exploration and self-reflection may
include the following observations:
7 The Action Research Reader (3rd ed.), by S. Kemmis and R.

McTaggart (Eds.), 1988, Geelong, Victoria, Australia: Deakin
University Press.

ACTION RESEARCH 457

■
■
■
■

■

influenced by Van de Walle's8 theory
about teaching and learning mathematics
developmentally. In particular, the goal of
mathematics is relational understanding, which
is the connection between conceptual and
procedural knowledge in mathematics. This
theory of mathematics directly affects the ways
I think about teaching mathematics to my
children.
I hold the educational value that children ought
to be able to transfer problem-solving skills
to other areas of mathematics as well as to
life outside school. That is, I am committed to
relevancy of curricula.
I believe that mathematical problem solving,
and problem solving in general, fits the larger
context of schooling and society by providing
children with critical lifelong learning skills that
can be transferred to all aspects of their lives.
The historical context of mathematics teaching
suggests a rote method of memorizing facts
and algorithms. Although this approach to
teaching mathematics worked for me (as a child
and young teacher), it no longer suffices as a
teaching method today.
The historical context of how I came to believe
in the importance of changing how I teach
mathematics to children has grown out of my
own frustration with knowing what to do to
solve a problem but not knowing why I need to
use a particular approach or algorithm.
Given this self-reflection on an area of focus
related to the integration and transfer of
problem-solving skills in mathematics, I can
now better understand the problem before
I implement an intervention that addresses
my concern for how best to teach a relevant
problem-solving curriculum.

Gaining Insight through Descriptive
Activities

To continue in the reconnaissance process, you
should try to describe as fully as possible the situa­
tion you want to change or improve by focusing on
who, what, where, and when. Grappling with these

8

Elementary School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally,

by J. A. Van de Walle, 1994, New York: Longman.

458 CHAPTER 17 • ACTION RESEARCH
questions to clarify the focus area for your action
research efforts keeps you from moving ahead with
an investigation that was too murky at the start. For
example, in this stage, you may ask yourself a series
of questions, such as "What evidence do I have that
this (the problem-solving skills of math students) is
a problem?" "Which students are not able to trans­
fer problem-solving skills to other mathematics
tasks?" "How is problem solving presently taught?"
"How often is problem solving taught?" "What is
the ratio of time spent teaching problem solving to
time spent teaching other mathematics skills?'' The
answers you develop provide a framework for the
research.

Gaining Insight through Explanatory
Activities

After you've adequately described the situation
you intend to investigate, you can try to explain it.
Focus on tl1e why. Can you account for the critical
factors that have an impact on the general idea? In
essence, in this step you develop hypotheses about
the expected relations among variables in your
study. For example, you may hypotl1esize that stu­
dents are struggling with the transfer of problem­
solving skills to other mathematics tasks because
they are not getting enough practice, because they
lack fundamental basic math skills, or because
the use of math manipulatives has been missing
or they have not been used to their full potential.
Given these possible explanations for why children
have not been transferring problem-solving skills to
other areas of mathematics successfully, you may
further hypothesize that the use of a mathematics
curriculum that emphasizes the children's knowl­
edge of what to do and why to do it is related
to children's abilities to transfer problem-solving
skills; you may further hypothesize that the use of
a mathematics curriculum that emphasizes the use
of manipulatives to help children create meaning
is related to children's abilities to transfer problem­
solving skills.
Reconnaissance
activities
such
as
self­
reflection, description, and explanation help
teacher-researchers to clarify what they already
know about the proposed focus of the study; what
they believe to be tn1e about the relations among
the factors, variables, and contexts that make up
their work environments; and what they believe
can improve the situation.

Data Collection, Analysis, and
Interpretation
The type of data collected for an action research
study is largely determined by the nature of the
problem. A teacher-researcher must determine how
the data will contribute to the understanding and
resolution of a given problem. Hence, data collec­
tion during action research is often idiosyncratic,
fueled by the desire to understand one's practice
and to collect data that are appropriate and acces­
sible. Therefore, data collection strategies (and
hence research design) are chosen on the basis of
the type of research problem confronted by the
action researcher. No single method is better (or
worse) than another; it is chosen on the basis of
the research questions.
The literature on action research supports the
assertion that qualitative data collection methods
are more often applied to action research prob­
lems than are quantitative methods and designs. In
part, this choice can be attributed to the fact that
teachers and administrators do not routinely assign
children to an experimental group that receives
a treatment or to a control group that does not.
However, action researchers do not-and should
not-avoid numerical data. Clearly, many quantita­
tive data sources are readily available for collection
by teacher-researchers. For example, standardized
test scores are increasingly important to justify
state and federal funding for academic programs.
For the most part, numerical data collected
as part of an action research study are appropri­
ately summarized with descriptive statistics, such
as measures of central tendency (i.e., mean, mode,
median) and variability (e.g., standard deviation).
Our advice here is simple: Count what counts! If
it makes sense to tally and count events, catego­
ries, occurrences, or test scores, use an appro­
priate descriptive statistic. However, do not feel
compelled to include elaborate statistical measures
simply to add a perceived sense of rigor or cred­
ibility to your inquiry.

Action Planning
One of the final tasks in action research is for the
researcher to share the findings with others, in
both formal and informal settings. For example,
results can be shared with other teachers, both in
the researcher's school or in other schools, and

CHAPTER 17

results may be presented verbally-in formal pre­
sentations and informal conversations-or in writ­
ten reports. Writing can lead to further analysis,
improved interpretation, and deeper understand­
ing of the problem-as well as suggestions for
how to act on the findings. Writing also creates a
permanent record of the research that others may
use. Other teachers, administrators, researchers,
and current or potential investors in the program
may be in a position to benefit from the results.
As the name suggests, action research is
action-oriented, and it is directed toward both
understanding and improving practice. Thus, the
last step in the research process is deciding what
steps, if any, need to be taken to alter or improve
practice. For example, study results can be used
in the classroom, school, or district to improve

ACTION RESEARCH 459

instruction, procedures, and outcomes of education
or to aid teacher understanding of instruction and
applications. Often, action research leads to new
questions to examine, thus forging new forms of
understanding and deeper insights in practice. The
practical natu.re of action research fosters much of
the teacher-based improvement in schools.
Mylab Education Self-Check 17.5
Mylab Education Application Exercise 17.4:
Evaluating Research Articles: Identifying
Steps in the Action Research Project
Mylab Education Application Exercise 17.5:
Planning an Action Research Study

460 CHAPTER 17 • ACTION RESEARCH

SUMMARY
ACTION RESEARCH: DEFINITION AND
PURPOSE
1. Action research in education is any systematic

inquiry conducted by teacher-researchers,
principals, school counselors, or other
stakeholders in the teaching-learning
environment that involves gathering information
about the ways in which their particular schools
operate, the teachers teach, and the students
learn.
2. The purpose of action research is to provide
teacher-researchers with a method for solving
everyday problems in schools so that they
may improve both student learning and
teacher effectiveness.
3. Action research is research done by teachers,
for themselves; it is not imposed on them by
someone else.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF ACTION
RESEARCH

4. Action research is persuasive, authoritative,
relevant, and accessible.
S. Action research challenges the intractability of
reform of the educational system and is not a
fad.

TYPES OF ACTION RESEARCH

6. Critical action research is based on a body
of critical theory and has a goal of liberating
individuals through knowledge gathering. It is
also known as emancipatory action research.
7. Practical action research emphasizes a
how-to approach to the processes of action
research. An assumption is that teachers are

autonomous and can determine the nature of
the investigation to be undertaken.

LEVELS OF ACTION RESEARCH

8. Education action research can be undertaken
at three levels: the individual teacher level,
the single school or department level, or the
schoolwide level.

THE ACTION RESEARCH PROCESS

9. The action research process includes identify­
ing an area of focus, data collection, data anal­
ysis and interpretation, and action planning.
These four steps form a process known as the
dialectic action research spiral.
10. The area of focus for action research should
involve teaching and learning, focus on your
practice, and be within your locus of control. It
should be something you feel passionate about and
something you would like to change or improve.
11. Insight into an area of focus can be gained
through self-reflection, descriptive activities,
and explanatory activities.
12. Data collection techniques used in action
research depend on the area of focus.
13. Qualitative data collection techniques are
more often applied to action research
problems than are quantitative methods and
designs. Teachers do not routinely assign
children on a random basis to an experimental
group that receives a treatment or to a control
group that does not.
14. Action research is action-oriented. Action
researchers follow through with their action
plans to ensure that lessons learned are
implemented in the classroom or school setting.

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