Action Research in Education

ACTION  RESEARCH

Action Research in Education

Action research is a type of applied research and  is also  known by many other names, including participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipator research, action learning, and contextual action research, but all are variations on a common theme. i.e. action research is  a  “ Research in  Action ”  :  a group of people identify a problem,  then do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again.

Kurt Lewin, developed  the idea of action research. Kemmis   and  Carr  put the definition of action research in education as “action research is a form of self-reflective inquiry that can be utilized by teachers in order to improve the rationality and justice of (1) their own practices,        (2) their understanding of these practices and (3) the situations in which these practices are carried out.

Difference between Fundamental research and Action research

Action Research in a Research Paradigm 

Positivist Paradigm : Logical Positivism is the main research paradigm  in  action  research . This paradigm is based on  the   principle of objective reality, knowledge of which is only gained from sense data that can be directly experienced and verified between independent observers

Interpretive Paradigm : Interpretive Paradigm is based on the relationship between socially-engendered concept formation and  the  language.  Containing such qualitative methodological approaches as phenomenology, ethnography, and hermeneutics, it is characterized by a belief in a socially constructed, subjectively-based reality, one that is influenced by culture and history

Paradigm of Praxis : It deals with the disciplines and activities predominant in the ethical and political lives of people.

Action Research in Education

The  Action research is  suitable for any person or any group or organization who wishes to improve his  performance; As a matter of fact, action research is widely used in education, especially  by   the teachers’   who use it to improve their teaching. Action research well matches with education and benefits both teachers and a student in their teaching and learning since it meets the need of education and enables continuity in research.

Action research is used in the  real situations , since  its  primary focus is on solving real problems.  It can, however, be used by social scientists for preliminary  research  or pilot research, especially when the situation is too ambiguous to frame a precise research question.  Mostly, though, in accordance with its principles, it is chosen when circumstances require flexibility, the involvement of the people in the research, or change must take place quickly or holistically.

Burns acknowledges  that  action research as an influential tool for school and classroom investigation. He claims that  the  purposes of action research in education fall broadly into categories that reflect action research as:

●         As a  means of remedying  problems  in  a  specific situations or somewhat improving a given set of circumstances.

●         As  a   means of in-service training by equipping the teachers with new skills and methods, sharpening analytical powers and heightening self-awareness.

●         As  a   means of injecting additional or innovative approaches to teaching and learning into an ongoing system which normally inhibits innovation and change.

●         As  a   means of improving the normally poor communications between the practising teachers and the academic researchers and of remedying the failure of traditional research to give clear prescriptions.

●         As  a   means of providing a preferable alternative to the more subjective, impressionistic approach to problem-solving in the classroom.

According to Hopkins a basis for the selection of a classroom research  by  a teachers is based on the following criteria:

i)  The   teachers primary role is to teach and any research project must not interfere with or disrupt this commitment;

ii)  The   methods  of data collection should not be too demanding on the teacher’s time;

iii)  The   methodology used must be reliable enough to allow   the  teachers to formulate hypotheses confidently and develop strategies applicable to the classroom situation;

iv)  The   teacher should be committed to   research  problem  under  study;

v)  Teachers must follow   the  ethical procedures when carrying out research;

vi) Classroom research where possible should  be  adopt a perspective where all members of a school community build and share a common vision.

In teaching as research, teachers ,  researchers have adopted term “action research” to refer to their particular approach to classroom research. So far, action research has proved its suitability to education and become more  important in education organizations.

Areas of action research in education

Teaching practices: This field pertains to the  actual class teaching. The problems are related with instructional technology i.e. method, teaching aids, homework and other resources.

Behavioural Problems: The ultimate aim of education is to bring desirable behavioural changes in the students. Sometimes, some students can start doing some abnormal behaviour. The problems related  to this aspect fall under this field

Co-Curricular Activities:  co-curricular activities are   the  integral part of curriculum. The problem confronted is the inadequate application of them in school s .

Administration and organization: Healthy environment in the school is a special need of  the day. That  is why the solution relates to the problems in this areas  are  very important.

Evaluation: Evaluation is an important part of the teaching-learning process. Validity and reliability of  evaluation  is the need  of  the   day. The problems pertaining  to  testing  process falls under this area.

Principles / Components of Action Research

Schuler   and Borgia  describe components of action research as the “Five C’s”:

Commitment: Collaboration: Concern: Consideration:. Change:

Winter  in  1989  provided  a  comprehensive  overview  of  six key principles.

1) Reflexive critique

Truth in a social setting is relative to the tellers .  The principle of reflective critique ensures that  people reflect on issues and processes and make explicit the interpretations, biases, assumptions and concerns upon which judgments are made.  In this way, practical accounts can give rise to  the theoretical considerations.

2) Dialectical critique

Reality, particularly the  social reality, is consensually validated, which is to say it is shared through language.  Phenomena are conceptualized in dialogue  and  therefore a dialectical critique is required to understand the set of relationships both between the phenomenon and its context, and between the elements constituting the phenomenon.  .

3) Collaborative Resource

Participants in an action research project are co-researchers.  The principle of collaborative resources   presupposes  that  each  person’s  ideas are equally significant as potential resources  for  creating  interpretive  categories  of  analysis, negotiated among the participants.  It strives to avoid the skewing of credibility stemming from the prior status of   the   idea-holder

 4) Risk

The  change  in  process potentially threatens all previously established ways of doing things, thus creating psychic fears among the practitioners.  One of the more prominent fears comes from the risk to ego stemming from open discussion of one’s interpretations,   judgments  and  ideas,.  Initiators of the  action research will use this principle to allay others’ fears and invite participation by pointing out that they, too, will be subject to the same process, and that whatever  will  be   the outcome, learning will take place.

5) Plural Structure

The nature of  action  research embodies a multiplicity of views, commentaries and critiques, leading to multiple possible actions and interpretations

6) Theory, Practice, Transformation

For the  action researchers, theory informs practice, practice refines theory, in a continuous transformation. 

Types of Action Research

1.       Traditional Action Research

2.       Contextual Action Research (Action Learning)

3.       Radical Action Research

4.       Educational Action Research

Characteristics of Action Research

Many scholars have attempted to characterize   the  action research in terms of a school-based research.

McDonough proposes four characteristics  of  action research  which  are as follows:

●         It is participant-driven and reflective;

●         It is collaborative;

●         It leads to change  and   improvement of practice not just knowledge in itself; and

●         It is context-specific. Action research is implemented in a classroom by a particular teacher or group of teachers who work together to pursue a change or improvement in their teaching and learning issues.

Creswell proposes six key characteristics of action research as  follows :

●         A practical focus;

●         The educator-researcher’s own practices;

●         Collaboration;

●         A dynamic process;

●         A plan of action and; and

●         Sharing research.

Creswell asserts that  understanding  the above characteristics will help teachers better design their own study to read, evaluate and use an action research study published in literature.

The Action Research Process

Considering  the   action research as an activity research, Nunan develops seven steps in the action research cycle :

Step 1: Initiation – A  that  problem triggers the idea of action research

Step 2: Preliminary investigation –  Baseline data are collected  to help  to understand the nature of the problem.

Step 3: Hypotheses – At this step  a  hypothesis is formulated after reviewing the initial data.

Step 4: Intervention –  Here  a  number of strategies are devised and applied.

Step 5: Evaluation – At  this  step  an assessment  is  carried out to evaluate the intervention. Some steps may be repeated.

Step 6: Dissemination – At  this  step  a  report  of  the  research  is  published. Ideas emerged from the research are shared.

Step 7: Follow-up –At  this  step  alternative solutions for the problem are continually investigated.

In contrast, Creswell  looks  at  the   procedure of action research as detail process with 8 steps as:

Step 1: Determine  whether  action research is the best design to use;

Step 2: Identify a problem to study;

Step 3: Locate resources that  helps  to  address the problem;

Step 4: Identify information to be needed;

Step 5: Implement the data collection;

Step 6: Analyze the data;

Step 7: Develop a plan for action; and

Step 8: Implement the plan and reflect  In  brief, these above processes of  the  action research are different from one another since they are either basic, simple or elaborate models

Advantages of Action Research in Education

1.       These include reflection on education practice, identification of strategies for improvement and acquisition of research skills. Collaborative action research has the additional benefit of engaging teachers and   the  principals in joint work to improve education outcomes.

2.       Teachers investigate their own practice in new ways, looking deeper in what they and their students actually do and fail to do.

3.       Teachers develop a deeper understanding of students, the teacher learning process and their role in the education of both teachers and students.

4.       Teachers are viewed as equal partners in deciding what works best and what needs improvement in their classroom or classrooms.  In most  of  the  cases, solutions for identified problems are arrived cooperatively among teachers.

5.       Teacher reflection can be conducted individually or in a school-based team composed of students, teachers and administrators.

the importance of action research in education is  to

●         Encourages change in schools

●         Fosters a democratic approach to education

●         Empowers individuals through collaboration on projects

●         Positions teachers and other educators as learners who seek to narrow the gap between practice and their vision education

●         Encourages educators to reflect on their practice

●         Promotes a process of testing new ideas.

Limitations of Action Research

1.       Theoretically, action research can be either descriptive or experimental. Most  of  the  action research studies use descriptive research designs but attempt to draw conclusions about the effects of an action on some outcome.

2.       Conclusions about cause and effect are reliable, only when they are based on solid experimental research designs.

3.       Most  of  the  action research is restricted to one classroom or school, which means that the results cannot be generalized to other classrooms or schools. Thus,  the  action research studies often lack both internal and external validity.

4.       Action research is carried out  by individuals who are interested parties in the research. T his  fact has led to criticisms of the validity of the research process, with accusations of inevitable researcher bias in data gathering and analysis.

Action researchers draw attention to the notion of commitment  and  the  commitment cannot be measured easily and the process will continue to be criticised because of this