Educational Action Research

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Educational Action Research

• Todd Twyman
• Summer 2011
• Week 1

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Ethics of Research

• Three basic principles
• 1. Respect
• 2. Beneficence
• 3. Justice

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Respect

• Allow participants to make choices about
  participating.
• Select methods that minimize harm.
• Maintain confidentiality.

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Beneficence

• Try to ensure participants well-being
• Consider
• How will the research benefit the participants in
  the study?
• How will the research benefit the population or
  society at large?

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Justice

• Consider who ought to receive the benefits of
  research and bear its burdens
• Who is involved in the research?
• Who will benefit?
• Focus on overcoming your own inherent biases that
  will influence your interpretation of reality.
• General semantics (from reading)

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The Influence of Perspective

• Each of you will be assigned a particular
  perspective.
• Go outside and observe for 15 minutes from the
  perspective youve been assigned.
• Return and meet with others who share your
  perspective to discuss what you saw / any
  meanings it might hold.
• Share as a class. Reflect

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The questions you ask determine

• Your methodology
• Methods of gathering data
• Types of analyses you will run
• The sort of conclusions you can come to
• In short, your questions drive your research

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Two Major Traditions

• Qualitative
• Attempts to figure out why things are the way
  they are, to describe cultures, groups, events
• Microscopic look at phenomena

• Quantitative
• Attempts to figure out the extent to which
  something is related to something else to
  generalize to a larger population
• Wide-angle look at phenomena

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Research

• Typically leans most heavily on one or the other
  research methodologies.
• But may use methods from the other to present a
  more well-rounded picture.
• Case study with test scores used as one form of
  data.
• Treatment/ Control Group Pre- Post-test design
  with interviews as one form of data.

Reflect
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Elements of Research

• Reflection - define the problem
• Select a Focus - state a hypothesis or research
  question
• Collect and Analyze Data - design a study to
  gather relevant information
• Interpret Data - consider the results in light of
  the context
• Draw Conclusions - determine what actions can be
  taken

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Reflection Understand the Context

• Action research is conducted within a context.
• Consider the context when identifying the problem
  situation.
• Review the relevant research that may inform the
  situation.

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Select a Focus

• Identify
• What do you want to change?
• What will make a difference?
• Frame your focus
• Measurable
• Observable

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Pose a Question

• Research Question
• Open ended approach to research
• Not stated as an expected outcome
• Hypothesis
• Focused approach to research
• Clear expected outcome
• Null hypothesis Statistical step not needed in
  Action Research

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Collect and Analyze Data Select an Approach

• Mixed-Methods v Single Method
• Qualitative
• Descriptive
• Observational
• Narrative
• Quantitative
• Numerical
• Measured outcomes
• Statistical analysis of results

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Collect and Analyze Data Select a Design

• In Quantitative approaches
• Identify the target variables
• Determine how you will investigate the
  relationship between the variables
• Control for outside sources of error
• In Qualitative approaches, these steps may be
  more fluid.

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Examples

• Spending an additional 20 minutes a day reading
  silently in the classroom will improve student
  scores on statewide reading tests.
• Students who eat a light snack 1 hour before
  reading class will improve scores on ORF tests
  faster than students who dont eat a snack or who
  eat a full 800 calorie lunch.

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More Examples

• Students prefer using electronic readers (eBooks)
  to print texts with identical content.
• Students retain more of the information presented
  in class lectures when they are required to
  reflect on that information in writing at least
  once per hour during lectures.

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Nonexamples

• What can I do to make students pay attention in
  class?
• How can I deliver this material to make it more
  interesting?
• Is there any way I can get more money for my
  work?
• Why did I go into teaching in the first place?

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Homework

• Read Chapters 3 - 4 in Glanz (after class).
• Make a list of possible topics for an Action
  Research project this term. Ill collect them
  tomorrow morning
• Purpose To solidify the skills youre learning.
• Goal A complete study (including data which
  youve analyzed) by the end of Fall 2011 term.
• Remember This is an exercise you are building
  the muscles to perform independently in the
  future!