ACTION RESEARCH FOR CLASSROOM TEACHERS

Teachers and instructors will come across a problem in their classroom or course that they would
like to address at some point. To tackle these issues, some teachers will use traditional methods.
In order to address issues, teachers will seek the counsel of specialists or colleagues. While
examining information about their school and learning environment, truly excellent educators
would perform their own investigations to discover and remedy problems. These learning
environments could be physical classrooms, virtual classrooms, or a combination of the two.
Action Research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving that integrates research,
action, and analysis. It is either research undertaken to solve an immediate problem or a
reflective process of progressive problem solving that integrates research, action, and analysis.
The formulation and implementation of a plan or strategy to address the research's emphasis is
included in the integration of action. Building a knowledge base to understand the effectiveness
of the action or strategy under consideration is part of the research. To put it another way, action
research is a type of disciplined inquiry that teachers, instructors, and supervisors use to better
understand student learning and teacher effectiveness.
Action research in the classroom can be done in a variety of ways, according to the instructions
and permutations accessible. In the citations section at the end of this essay, I'll provide links to
some of these resources. This post's goal is to get you started with four fundamental stages for
conducting action research in your own practice.

Selecting a focus
The first step in conducting action research is to identify and define the focus of your
investigation. You’ll want to develop some questions about the area of your focus. Finally, you’ll
need to identify a plan to effectively study and answer the questions you’ve developed.
Please note that action research typically will include an examination of the school, programs,
students, and instructional practices. You’ll want to consider what aspects of these areas will you
need to study in your research. Specifically, will you need to examine student outcomes
(dispositions, achievement); curriculum (instructional materials, content standards, frameworks);
instruction (teaching strategies, use of technology); school climate (student morale, teacher
morale, relationships between teachers and supervisors); parental involvement (participation on
committees, attendance at events).
As you develop your focus and identify a specific frame to guide your thinking, you should also
adjust your research questions. As an example, if you’re concerned with issues of school climate,
you might want to consider the following guiding questions:
How can I document the morale of teachers?
What impact does possible low morale of teachers have on student achievement?
Will increased relationships between teachers and supervisors yield higher teacher morale?
How might we increase more positive relationships between students, teachers, and supervisors?
Developing and revising the focus and guiding questions for your action research will help you
understand what elements you are interested in examining. You will also need to identify
questions you can effectively gather information about and conduct your research. What research
questions do you want to answer? What research questions do you think you can answer?

Collecting data
The second step involved in conducting action research includes collecting data to use in
answering your research questions. Once again, in step one you’ll identify questions you are
interested in answering..and think that you can effectively “answer”? In the second step, you’ll
need to gather info to address these questions. This data may consist of teacher-made surveys
and standardized test data. Data may consist of surveys and interviews. Collected data may also
consist of student portfolios, observations, and other sources of information.
The data you collect may also consist of research conducted to identify best practices, or
research tested techniques. This is an opportunity to learn from others that may have been trying
to unpack the same problems or challenges. In my own work I use a two-step process of Google
searches and then Google Scholar to quickly learn more about a topic. After I have identified the
focus, keywords, and relevant search terms, I can continue my examination at the library or
using online sources.
You’ll want to make sure that your data will address the focus of your action research. If you’re
interested in studying the district’s new ELA/Reading curriculum, you might collect interview
and survey data. You may also collect student scores on district-wide assessments. Finally, you
may collect the previous curriculum, or examine other curricular materials available.
As you collect data, you’ll want to make sure that you organize it to make it easy for you (and
others) to analyze. You may not present the data to others, but it helps you in the long run in you
keep your work organized as you work. You may also choose to share your data with others to
help prove a point or connect your findings with others.
One of the last points I’d like to make about data collection is identifying when you have
collected enough data. This is always a question that is asked as we begin the research process.
What you’re looking for is “saturation of data.” As you collect data, you’ll begin to recognize
patterns in the data. If you start to get a “gut feeling” that “you’ve already seen this before”…
chances are you’re approaching saturation.

Analyzing and interpreting data

After identifying your focus and collecting data, you’ll need to analyze and make interpretations
from your materials. In this you’ll want to describe or summarize the data clearly. You’ll also
look for consistent patterns or themes across the data. Finally, you’ll want to use the data to
answer your research questions and/or prove your hypotheses.

There are multiple strategies and techniques that can be used as you analyze your data. In my
own work I find it is helpful to lay out all of my data and the identified themes or patterns in an
area that is easily visible while working. I’ll save these themes and patterns written on paper on
my desk, or on a white board in my office. I also find it helpful to just write and think through
the data, themes, and patterns as I make sense of the results.
As you “make sense” of the results, you’ll want to identify how you’ll develop your findings. In
qualitative analysis, there is usually a focus on deductive or inductive analysis of the data.
Deductive means that you’re moving from concepts to examples while inductive means that
you’re moving from examples to concepts. Another way to consider this is that deductive
reasoning has you examine your data with an open mind, look for patterns, develop a hypothesis,
and then move to theory. Inductive on the other hand has you moving from the theory and using
your hypothesis and the data to confirm your findings.

Please also note that it is possible and appropriate to move from one frame to another, or include
bits and pieces across the research process. You’ll just want to understand where you’re
obtaining your results, and what lenses you’re using as you analyze and interpret your data.

Taking action
The fourth step includes you making a decision about your research and identifying next possible
actions. Let us suppose you have researched the question above about teacher morale and have
uncovered the root cause of the problem. You’ve surveyed the students, teachers, and
supervisors and you know exactly how to “fix” the problem.

You now have to take action and this includes several possibilities. First, you may choose to
continue the system as it currently operates and make no changes. Second, you may choose to
disband the organization to address the problem. This may include shutting down the school and
sending all of the students, teachers, and supervisors elsewhere. Third, you may choose to
modify or make small tweaks to the school, program, or relationships between all partners to
address the culture of the school.

Your decision on how you take action will be determined by a multitude of factors…some of
which may be out of your control. Please note that action research typically follows a cycle as
you move through each of the steps. As you work through the sequence, you’ll learn a bit more
about the problem or research question. You’ll use this information as a way to improve your
focus, research, or action in subsequent steps through the cycle. This most likely will not be the
end of the cycle. You’ll continue to observe, act, and reflect as you continue to plan and operate
in the classroom.