Module: Research methodology Hajare Halim

Trainer: Mrs. Gourja Yasmine Eljylaly G4(A)

Definitions :

Action research is a process of a systematic inquiry into a self-identified teaching or learning problem
to better understand its complex dynamics and to develop strategies geared towards the problem’s
improvement. (Hamilton, 1997,3).

Action research is strategy teachers can use to investigate a problem or area of interest specific to
their profession context. It provides the structure to engage in a planned, systematic and
documented process of professional growth.

Action research can:

- focus on the teaching and learning process.

- Be used to solve a problem or institute a change.
- To document teacher’s professional growth.

The action research can result in:

- Professional development
- Education change
- Enhanced personal awareness
- Improved practice and new learning

Action research is one form of applied research. Because action research draws on a range of designs
and methodologies, it can provide teachers with the opportunity to examine a practical problem
within a classroom or school setting. Action research has the potential to greatly enhance both
teacher professional development and school improvement initiatives.

Forms of action research:

1. Individual : An educator works on personal inquiry

2. Collaborative: A team or a group focuses on one issue
3. Schoolwide/ districtwide: a community of practitioner works to solve a prolem or make a
change.

Action research is a valuable form of inquiry for educators because it is:

- Practical : Practical improvements are the focus.

- Participative: Teachers, administrators, teacher assistants, students and parents can all be
involved in a meaningful way.
- Empowering: All participants can participate to and can benefit from the process.
- Tentative: There are not always right or wrong answers, but there are possible solutions
based on multiple view point.
- Critical : Participants look critically at specific problems and act as self-critical change agents.
Module: Research methodology Hajare Halim
Trainer: Mrs. Gourja Yasmine Eljylaly G4(A)

Steps in actions research:

1. Select a focus:
Includes three steps: a) know what you want to investigate, b) develop some questions about
the area you’ve chosen; and c) establish a plan to answer the question. As you focus on a
problem, begin to pose some questions that will serve to guide your research. Developing
guiding questions will eventually lead to specifying research questions and/or hypotheses.
Selecting a focus also includes developing a research design.
2. Collect data:
Once you have developed the research question you can begin to collect data that will
provide evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. You may administer tests, conduct
surveys and interviews and examine documents. Collected data must be transformed into a
useable form.
3. Analyze and interprete data:
Once the relevant data is collected, you need to begin the process of analysis and
interpretation in order to arrive at a decision.
4. Take action:
The research question is answered based on the data collected and a decision is made. Three
possibilities exist: a) continue the intervention, b) disband the intervention, c) modify the
intervention in some way(s).

Action research is cyclical – the process doesn’t necessarily have to stop at any particular point.
Information gained from previous research may open new avenues of research.

Teaching practice can be described as The ways in which faculty understand and implement
instruction. Teaching practices generally reflect beliefs and ethics about the teaching and learning
process.

Teaching practice is Part of an education degree in which students perform supervised teaching at a
school. It is also the instruction of a subject that takes place in a real classroom environment.

Contemporary educational reform has focused mainly on top-down, outside-in approaches to

changing teaching practice. Rather than rely on teacher judgment and teacher decision making in the
classroom, databases of “evidence-based” practices describe “what works” in education. However,
current research demonstrates that teaching practice is little affected by top-down, one-size-fits-all
approaches to educational reform. Short-duration workshops in particular appear to have little
impact on improving teacher practice. Rather, professional learning opportunities must be
connected to everyday practice, sustained and prolonged, and conducted as part of community of
practice to bring about real change in teaching.

Resources:

Article: Action Research Guide for Alberta Teachers

Article: Action research and systematic, intentional change in teacher practices

Module: Research methodology Hajare Halim
Trainer: Mrs. Gourja Yasmine Eljylaly G4(A)

The difference between Method and Methodology

Method

By research method, we simply mean the research techniques or tools that will be used to conduct
the research, regardless of whether the research pertains to the physical or social sciences or any
other discipline. A method is simply the tool you use to answer your research questions - how, in
short, will you go about collecting your data. Examples of research methods include:

 Contextual research
 Interview
 Usability study
 Poll
 Daily study

The methods include three large groups:

First group includes methods that deal with the collection and description of data;

Second group consists of techniques used to establish a statistical relationship between variables;

Third group deals with the methods used to evaluate the reliability, validity and precision of the
results discerned by the data.

A physical scientist can use, for example, tools such as an electron microscope or a radio telescope to
obtain his data. Instead, a social scientist or manager may use, as a technique, an opinion poll or
sample survey with a mail questionnaire or conduct a personal interview to obtain their data. You
could do a phone interview, a group discussion, a case study approach to collect data. Still, in
essence, they are employing the same "observation" technique of some kind that generates data for
research.

Methodology

A methodology is the foundation of the research approach and the lens through which the analysis is
conducted. In other words, a methodology describes the “general research strategy that describes
the way in which research should be undertaken” (Introduction to the philosophy of methodology,
Howell 2013). The methodology should influence which method (s) for a research effort are selected
in order to generate the compelling data.

Examples of methodologies include:

Participatory: view participants as active researchers

Ethnomethodology - Examines how people use dialogue and body language to build a world view.

Grounding Theory - Take on a blank slate and use an inductive approach to develop a new theory

If you wanted to know the experiences lived when buying food in the United States, for example, you
would be using the methodology of phenomenology, and from there you could choose between
different methods to collect that data. For example, you can conduct a contextual inquiry and shop
Module: Research methodology Hajare Halim
Trainer: Mrs. Gourja Yasmine Eljylaly G4(A)

alongside participants; You can also interview a handful of participants and ask them to share their
most recent grocery shopping experience; You can also choose to take a survey and ask hundreds of
participants the same questions. Because contextual inquiry brings the researcher much closer to the
real environment, the results can be considered more robust and transferable in the future.

Objectives of the Research Methodology

Research methodology is a way of studying the various steps that a researcher generally takes when
studying their research problems in a systematic way, along with the logic, assumptions, justification,
and reasoning behind them. Whenever we choose a research method, we must justify why we prefer
this particular method over others. The methodology seeks to answer this question. Therefore, when
we talk about research methodology, we are not only talking about research methods, but we also
take into account the logic and justification behind the method that we use in the context of our
research task.

The methodology of a researcher aims to answer questions such as:

Why was this particular group of people interviewed and not the other groups?

How has the research problem been defined?

How many people provided the answers on which the researcher's conclusions were based?

Why were these particular techniques used to analyze data?

In what way and why has the research hypothesis been formulated?

What level of evidence was used to determine whether or not to reject the hypothesis raised?

Examples of when to use Method and "methodology"

Here are some ways you can use "methods" in context:

We are trying to decide between doing contextual research or bringing in participants for interviews.
Which method would you choose while balancing cost, research time, and utility of the data?

We want to have data from a large number of participants, so we must choose a quantitative
method, such as a Likert scale.

Below are several examples of the use of the "methodology":

The phenomenological methodology was chosen for this study on the experience of people residing
in low-income housing in California because the holistic living experience uncovered areas of
opportunity for the state to implement for its next housing project for low-income people. low
income.

To create a new party board game, we used the participatory methodological approach in our design
research process. This allowed us to consider the social atmosphere and receive feedback from our
participants when developing the game and the rules.
Module: Research methodology Hajare Halim
Trainer: Mrs. Gourja Yasmine Eljylaly G4(A)

References

https://online-tesis.com/en/the-difference-between-method-and-methodology/