ACTION RESEARCH

Some Definitions:
Reason & Bradbury (2002) Action research is
an interactive inquiry process that balances
problem solving actions implemented in a
collaborative
context
with
data-driven
collaborative
analysis
or
research
to
understand underlying causes enabling future
predictions about personal and organizational
change.

Mill (2000) stated that Action research is any

systematic inquiry conducted by teacher
researchers, principles, school counselors, or
other stakeholders in the teaching/ learning
environment to gather information about the
ways that their particular schools operate,
how they teach, and how well their students
learn.

Action research is also defined as an Inquirybased research conducted by teachers that

follows a process of examining existing
practices, implementing new practices, and
evaluating the results, leading to an
improvement cycle that benefits both
students
and
teachers.
http://cs3.wnmu.edu/elearning/a404/support/
a404b0_50100.html
)

Watts in Ferrance (2000) states

that action
research is a
process in which participants
examine their own educational
practice systematically and
carefully, using the techniques
of research.

Object of Action Research

Student aspects
Teacher aspects
Course aspects
Educational instrument aspects.
Result of learning aspects
Environmental aspects

Purpose of Action Research

Improving

teaching-learning

process
Improving the effectiveness of
certain methods of teaching

Types of Action Research

Individual Action Research
Collaborative Action Research

Characteristics of Action Research

On job problem oriented
Problem solving oriented
Improvement oriented
Multiple data collection
Cyclic
Participatory

Steps in Doing Action Research

Planning

In this step, the researcher identifies a

problem or issue and develops a plan of
action in order to bring about improvement
in a specific area of research context. This
is a phase where the researcher considers:
a. what kind of investigation is possible
within the realities and constrains the
teaching situation; b. and what potential
improvements are possible.

Continued
Acting

After the planning step has been

completed, the next step is acting. In
acting step, the researcher implements the
plan that has been arranged as a guideline.

Continued
Observing

This step is intended at observing

systematically the effects of the action and
also documenting the context, actions and
opinions of those involved. It is a data
collection phase where the researcher uses
open-eyed and open-minded tools to collect
information about what is happening.

Continued
Reflecting

At this step, the researcher evaluates the

effects of the action in order to get the
clear result of the action. Besides, the
researcher may decide to do further cycle
of action research to get the expected
result.

Cycles

Things differentiate action research from

other types of educational research
Action Research
Conducted by teacher

Formal Research
Mostly conducted by
other (non-teacher)
No need representative Sample must be
sample
representative of
population
Do not pay attention to The instrument must be
valid and reliable
valid and reliable
instruments
No need complicated
Demanding the use of
statistics in analyzing
statistics in analyzing
the data
the data
Not always use
Demanding the use of
hypotheses
hypotheses

QUESTIONS
1.