1. Application in the Education
Profession

2.  Action research is an approach by one or
two individuals or groups for the purpose
of solving a problem or obtaining
information to inform local practice.
 These may have practical applications i.e.
How to decrease the incidence of
absenteeism in class; motivate apathetic
students; improve the teaching of
mathematics or to increase funding

3.  Examples are:
 What kind of methods work best with
certain types of students?
 How can teachers encourage students to
think about important issues?
 How can content, teaching strategies and
learning activities be varied to help
students?
 How can subject matter be better
presented to promote understanding?

4.  Teachers
 Counselors
 supervisors
 Administrators
 Political leaders

5.  Those undertaking the research must be
informed individuals capable of identifying
problems that need to be solved i.e.
Economic experts in talking about what to do
with OFW remittances
 The ones involved must be seriously
committed to solving the problem and
improving their performance
 The participants must engage in the research
systematically

6.  Identify
the problem
 Decide on investigative procedures
 Determine data collection techniques
 Analyze and interpret data
 Develop plans of action to deal with
problems
 The ones undertaking the research must
have the authority to undertake the
necessary procedures and implement
recommendations.

7.  Practical action research – this is intended to
address a specific problem within a
classroom, school or other communities.
 It can be carried out in a variety of settings such as
the educational, school service or business
locations
 The primary purpose of practical action research is
to improve practice in the short term and to inform
larger issues.
 This is performed by individuals, teams or larger
groups provided the focus remains clear and
specific.
 The result of this research is an action plan

8.  This type of research involves individuals
which are called stakeholders
 These individuals function as equal partners
 In this type of research the subject and the
researcher find ways to bring about social
change and improve their lives.
 Stakeholders may not be involved at the
beginning of the research but become active
early in the process and jointly plan the study.

9. A collaborative research provides people
with the means to take systematic action in
an effort to resolve specific problems
 It is consensual,
 Democratic
 Participatory
 Encourages people to formulate accounts
and explanations of their situation and to
develop plans to resolve these problems

10. A trained researcher may identify the
problem and brings it to the attention of the
stakeholders.
 It is important that the problem is not just
of interest to the researcher but also to the
stakeholders
 The researcher stands alongside the
stakeholders he is not anymore an
outsider but is now an internal consultant.

11.  Information gathering
 Crafting of the instruments i.e.
Questionnaire
 Participants may review the findings
 Data collection and analysis
 Making the recommendation

12. # 1: Identify the research question
 The research question must be clear
 It must be manageable
 Large-scale and complex questions should
be better left to professional researchers

13.  Find out the best method: experiments,
surveys, causal-comparative studies,
interviews, ethnography; historical method
 Teachers can be active participants
(observing computer techniques by
students)
 Taking down notes
 Interviews and use of questionnaires
 Analysis of documents

14.  Interview schedules, checklists, rating
scales, attitudinal measures
 Triangulation – finding of common data
 How to treat anecdotal data- while it is
important to collect such data it is
important to get substantive evidence i.e.
Common denominators in the interviews

15.  After getting the general focus of the
information, it is important to provide a
guiding procedure in answering the
questions
 Get the purpose of the data
 Then the what, how, who, where and when
and finally the why

16.  When analyzing and interpreting data
gathered in participatory research it is
important for the participants to reflect on
the perception of all the stakeholders in the
study. They should work together to create
description of what the data may reveal.
Finally they must keep all the stakeholders
informed of what is going on in the data-
gathering stage and provide opportunities
for everyone to read accounts of what is

17. A formal document should be prepared
and should indicate clear direction for
further work on the original problem or
concern

18.  Sample -Action research almost always
focuses on a particular group or individual
whereas the sample in formal research is
not identical
 Internal validity – threats in action research
is greater because of collector bias. The
source of data is also the researcher
 External validity – results in external
research cannot be generalized compared
to formal reserarch

19.  It can be done by an individual or a group
 It improves educational practice and helps
create better professionals
 Educators can develop ways to improve
their craft
 The researchers identify the problems
systematically
 It can lead to the development of research-
oriented individuals
 It is collaborative and democratic

20.  “Investigating
the teaching of science
concepts by means of comparison-group
experiment”
 Problem: does using drama help fifth-
graders understanding of basic science
concepts?
 Method: assigning some teachers to use
dramatics while others do not
 They compare the results with an
instrument designed to measure

21.  “Checking for bias in English anthologies
by means of a content analysis”
 Problem: “Is the content presented in the
literature anthologies in our district biased
in any way? If so, how?
 Method: images of heroes are presented
in literature anthologies . The researcher
restricts herself to the texts used in the
district and creates a scale adjectives
which is analyzed for triangulation

22.  Action research is conducted by a
teacher, administrator or an educational
professional to solve a problem at a local
level
 Each of the specific methods of research
may apply in research action methods but
in a smaller scale
 A given research question may often be
investigated by any one of several
methods

23.  Several assumptions underlie action
research studies.
 These are the participants that should
have the authority to make decisions, want
to improve their practice and are
committed to continual professional
development and will engage in systematic
inquiry

24.  Practical action research addresses a
specific local problem
 Participatory action research while also
focused on a specific local problem
attempts to empower participants or bring
about social change

25.  Purpose/justification
 Definitions
 Prior research
 Hypotheses
 Sample
 Instrumentation
 Procedures/internal validity
 Data analysis
 Results/discussion/interpretation