About Action Research

Conducting Action Research is like traveling the road less traveled.


A friend told me once, that when he was being observed by a group of Principals in one of their meetings , he used a motivational strategy that awe them all. He passed around a gift box and asked the students as well as the observers to peep inside the box. Before he passed the box around, he told them that it is the gift of God to them. When the students and the Principals looked inside the box, everyone were surprised and can't seem to hold back the smiles in their faces. When I asked him, what was inside the box, he told me that the box was empty. The box was just layered with a square mirror that fit in the bottom of the box that when you peep inside you can actually see your own face.
Amazing strategy. Amazing realization too, for those who were able to see inside the box. The best gift God has given to us is our lives. Nothing more nothing less. It's the reality.

In action research it is like seeing oneself in a mirror. As an individual, we can not justify our actions and practices. Why? Because in our rational thinking , we believe what we do is right. With no tool to evaluate one own self, one can not actually say he is wrong. It is very hard for one to admit he is wrong.

Action Research is a tool to improve one's practice. It is a process where one has a chance to look inward and reflect on his actions as a practitioner. One can be a teacher, a master teacher, a principal or a supervisor.

According to Dr Stephen Waters-Adams of © S Waters-Adams, Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth, 2006 , if one has concerned about his practice , it may be a doubt of his strategies, or trying out something new one has to sort things out and try to validate things. The process of validating one's own practice through data collection and analysis is actually an action research.

However, one has to be honest, open and rigorous while undergoing the process. My concern about the principals and teachers craving for a training in action research is the motivation behind the thirst. When action research was made as a requirement in promotion to master teachers or principal positions or when it was made part of the criteria in the performance evaluation of school heads and master teachers, everybody were frantic about attending a training in action research.

Action Research for promotion?

Definitely not the right kind of thinking people in education should possess. If it is - then they fail right at the very start.

Teachers ,Master Teachers, Principals or Supervisors, should conduct an action research because 1) they want to improve their practice 2) they want to know if the strategies or techniques they used are effective to the children or teachers 3) to resolve discomfort in their workplace 4) they want to know how to effectively use the new strategy learned recently.

Dr. Stephen Waters-Adams explains it this way:

• understand one’s own practice;
• understand how to make one’s practice better;
• understand how to accommodate outside change in one’s practice;
• understand how to change the outside in order to make one’s practice better.

And this is one practical example of how to cut across the "theory-practice divide" Improving one's practice can actually result to improved result or output. For example teachers can examine their teaching-learning practices and understand ways to improve it to effect higher learning for the students. Principals can also find ways to improve their practices to effect higher performance of their teachers.


Dr. Adams explains how action research works.

research on action
by using

action as a tool for research

with the process being driven by a dialogue between the elements of:

action and the intentions behind action

or

practice and the values behind practice.


Emphasising the individual nature of action research, Jack Whitehead (1985) puts forward a simple representation of how the process feels:

1. I experience a problem when some of my educational values are negated in my practice;
2. I imagine a solution to my problem;
3. I act in the direction of the solution;
4. I evaluate the outcomes of my actions;
5. I modify my problems, ideas and actions in the light of my evaluations.



Put in the context of our school environment one has to consider the following process in the conduct of an action research:

1. Identify an issue
a) in your classroom (for teachers, master teachers)
b) in your school (for principals)

2. Formulate a question out of the issue
This is your research problem

3. Gather data and analyze data

4. Act on evidences/interventions

5. evaluate your result

6. reflect on the result

7. plan ( go through the cycle again)

Conducting action research is very dynamic. You can actually change one problem to another as the need arises. Data is the most important factor that affect your actions in an action research. Your actions must be based on the data you have. Having said that, data must be true, valid and without an iota of manipulation. Informed decisions spring from what is really happening. You can not do actions based on data that is not true or else you should live in a world of fantasy and you your work is not a research anymore but a mediocre work of a frustrated writer.

Finally, always publish findings of your action research. It will help other practitioners.

For more readings about action research follow the links on the side bar of this page.