This document provides an overview of action research, including its history, key characteristics, types, design process, and role of reflection. Action research began with Kurt Lewin in the 1940s and aims to solve practical problems through participatory and cyclical research. It positions itself within the critical theoretical research paradigm as research done "with" rather than "on" or "for" people. The presentation reviews action research methodology, emphasizing its practical and collaborative nature. It also addresses validity, ethics, and the importance of reflection in the action research process.

1. Introducing Action
Research
Muireann O'Keeffe

2. This presentation explores the
following:
 Research Paradigms
 History of action research
 Practitioner as researcher
 Types of action research – collaborative, participatory
 Design: cycles
 Data collection/analysis
 Validity, rigour
 Role of reflection

3. Kurt Lewin
 Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
 German social psychologist
 Involved in combating of anti-Semitism
 Joined Psychological Institute, University of Berlin
 Moved to USA
 Generally credited as the person who coined the term
„action research‟

4. Action research and its position within
the research paradigms:
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
(Quantitative)
INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH
(Qualitative)
CRITICAL THEORETICAL
RESEARCH
ACTION RESEARCH
Interpretive
approaches
Living theory
approaches
Critical theoretic
approaches
(McNiff & Whitehead 2002)

5. Action research is:
 Not research ‘on’ people (Quantitative paradigm)
 Not research ‘for’ people (Qualitative paradigm)
BUT
 Research ‘with’ people
(Critical Social theory paradigm)

6. Critical Research Paradigm
 Emancipatory interest (Freire)
 Advocates Change
 Political, ideological factors, power and
interests shaping behaviour
 Feminism
 Small scale research
 Participant researchers
 Understanding, interrogating, critiquing,
transforming actions and interests
 Critical theorists, action
researchers, practitioner researchers

7. 4 Defining Characteristics of Action
Research
Practical nature – real world problems
Change – integral part of research
Cyclical process – feedback loop
Participation is active not passive

8. Action Research
 It recognises that practitioners can and should
contribute to research - initiated, directed and
controlled by practitioner
 Research in action rather than about action
 It puts the „I‟ at the centre of the research
process

9. Key Features of Action Research
 It is research in action rather than about
action
 It is participative
 Starts small
 It has a sequence of events (cycle)
 Compiles evidence – keeps records
(logs, journals)
 Aims to manage change and/or solve
problems in an analytical, reflective series of
actions, evaluations and further actions.

10. Key Features of Action Research CTD
 It takes place in situ
 It is self consciously analytical
 It is generally grounded in a theoretical
framework and through its activities generates
emergent theory
 It is informed by an overt ethical framework

11. Practitioner Action Research
(in education/health)
 Aims to improve education/health practices by
changing practice and learning from the
consequences of change
 It is participatory and collaborative
 Establishes self critical communities keen to
„enlighten‟ themselves and thus „emancipate‟
themselves from rigid practices

12. Cycles of action research
Plan
Act
Observe
Reflect
(Lewin 1946)

13. Action Research Map
2. Imagine a possible solution
1. Identify a problematic issue
3. Try it out
4. Evaluate it
5. Change your
practice in the light of
the evaluation
(McNiff 2002)

14. Simple 5 step process (ITDEM)
1
• Identifying a problem/issue
2
• Thinking of ways to solve the problem
3
• Doing it
4
• Evaluating it (research findings)
5
• Modifying future practice
(Norton, 2009)

15. Criticisms of action research
 Not valid research as seen from positivist/scientific
perspective
 Largely un-theorised descriptions of practice
 Need to be aware of major criticisms, and have
confidence in that approach to action research is well
thought out and systematic
 Findings not generalisable
How can we combat this?

16. Establishing reliability & validity
Critical friends
(Whitehead, McNiff)
Recording of events
(journaling)
Validation of focus
groups/interviews
Triangulation
Reflection: Helps to
acknowledge
individual bias

17. Role of reflection
What is reflective practice?
“The ability to reflect to learn from and make sense of
experience”
Jackson (2006)
…the process of stepping back from experience to process what
the experience means, with a view to planning further
(Kolb 1984)
“we might find ourselves driving somewhere we go every day
when we actually intended going somewhere different”
(Somekh 2006)

18. Triangulation
 Checking data from multiple sources for consistency
 Member-checking, is the data consistent?
 Redundancy, ask the question in various ways
 Effort to assure that right information and interpretation
obtained?
 Does phenomenon remain the same at other times?

19. Action Research and Ethics
 Action research is „insider research‟
 If our journals remain private and our videotapes aren‟t
played, we can inquire with equanimity……..however we
rarely work in isolation (Zeni, 1998)
 What at first seemed a rather straightforward exercise in
translation proved a formidable task…………informed
consent can be sought but the journey of research often
changes as action progresses
(Malone, 2010)

20. Checklist for action research
Cycle structure
Timescales
Ethical approval
How will you insure quality
and validity

21. My Action Research Study
 Problem: students not engaging with
ePortfolio, lack of reflective practice
 Question: How can I support
postgraduate students developing
ePortfolios?
 Cycle of 2 years
 Change of teaching practices, change
design of curriculum implementation of
new supports for students
 Analysis: Currently investigating if the
activities/strategies put in place during
the academic year 2012-13 been
effective in supporting the development
of ePortfolios
 Data Collection: Interviews, focus
groups, student ePortfolios, my
reflections.

22. What action research means for my
practice as a teacher:
How do I improve
what I am doing?
Applied research
carried out on an
identified need for
improvement
An enquiry carried
out to understand
, evaluate and
then change, in
order to improve
some educational
practice
Process of
systematic
reflection ..........

23. References & Resources
 Costello, Patrick (2011) effective action research: developing reflective thinking and
practice. London, New York: Continuum International Pub. Group.
 Denscombe, M (2010) The Good research guide: for small-scale research projects
(4th Ed) Open University Press
 Farren & Crotty Educational action research
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg83f72_6Gw&feature=player_embedded
 Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin
 Malone(2010) Ethics at home: informed consent in your own backyard, International
Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 16:6, 797-815
 Mcniff, J., Lomax, P. Whitehead, J ( 2003) You and your research project (2nd ed)
 Norton, L., (2009) Action research in teaching and learning: A practical guide to
conducting pedagogical research in universities. Routledge
 Whitehead, J (2011) All you need to know about action research. London: Sage
Publications
 Zeni (1998) A guide to ethical issues and action research, Educational Action
Research, 6:1, 9-19

24. Action Research Journals
 Action research http://arj.sagepub.com/
 Educational journal of living theories EJOLTS
http://ejolts.net/
 Educational Action Research
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/reac20/current