UNDERSTANDING ACTION RESEARCH
Step 1: Issue Identification
The first priority you should have when doing action research is to make sure that your research question is open ended. In other words, your ques- tion should not have a simple yes or no answer! Deciding upon your ques- tion is one of the hardest tasks of the action research project. How you write this question will impact the way you will approach your topic, the type of data to collect, how you will analyze the data, and the ways in which you will report the results of your study.
You may be pondering what approaches there are to developing a good research question. This process may be a bit messy at first. As you write and reflect upon your question, you will find that you revise and refine it often.
Remember the reflection-in-action mindset discussed in chapter 1? Utilize your professional resources such as your school and university supervisors, college professors, and other experts in the field. It is not unusual to revise the wording of your question many times throughout the process of the initial question formulation, the review of related literature, and during the planning and procedural phases in writing your paper.
When identifying a possible topic, one approach is to use question stems.
These are thought starters that allow you to focus on topics of interest to you related to teaching and learning. Some common questions stems (Hubbard & Powell 1999) to help you get started in thinking and develop- ing a topic of interest include:
• What classroom procedures or activities promote . . . ?
• How does . . . ?
• What issues do students encounter when . . . ?
• What happens when . . . ?
• How can . . . ?
• What is the difference between . . . ?
• How do students . . . ?
• What strategies do students use to . . . ?
Consider the following open-ended statements to help you get started:
• Something I am particularly interested in learning about teaching is . . .
• A content area that I am particularly interested in learning about in classrooms is . . .
• In my classroom teaching, I am bothered by . . .
• I am very curious about . . .
• I desire to . . .
• I would like to make a difference in the classroom by . . .
• If I could change something about teaching or student learning it would be . . .
• I am passionate in wanting to learn about . . .
Keep a journal, such as a teacher-as-researcher journal, as described in the previous chapter and brainstorm a list of things that you wonder about in your classroom. What surprises, concerns, intrigues, or delights you (Hubbard & Powell 1999)? Other strategies to assist you in finding your research question are to consider the following four approaches (Johnson 2003; Sagor 1992):
• Study or evaluate a teaching method or technique in order to deter- mine its effectiveness.
• Identify and investigate a problem to understand what is happening and the possible causes of the problem.
• Examine an area of interest. What are you curious about? What in par- ticular about teaching interests you the most?
• Create a graphic representation, brainstorm and arrange factors, vari- ables, and contexts related to a topic of interest.
Some action research questions developed by previous teacher candi- dates include:
• How will using a rubric to self-edit a weekly personal narrative impact students’ writing skills? (Lauren)
• What is the relationship between the incorporation of the arts into vocabulary instruction and vocabulary achievement? (Alycia)
• How will the use of sight word strategies increase reading fluency?
(Melissa)
Developing an Action Research Project 63
• How does drill and repetition affect the retention of math multiplica- tion facts? (Jesse)
• How does adding art to a project enhance student academic perfor- mance? (Melissa)
• How does the use of graphic organizers impact paragraph writing?
(Kimberly)
• What are the impacts of kinesthetic and visual instructional strategies on letter recognition with kindergarten students? (Molly)
While developing an issue to study, keep in mind that
• Key starting words of action research questions are usually “what” or
“how,” which focus on explanations, reasons, and relationships.
• A good action research question is meaningful to you, possible to do in your classroom, manageable, written in everyday language, and has not already been answered.
• It is concise but is not a yes or no question.
• An appropriate question is one in which you feel commitment and passion.
• It should provide you with an opportunity to grow as a professional while providing you with a deeper understanding of the topic and will definitely lead to other questions.
A final suggestion to aid in refining your research question and to frame your study’s introductory paragraph is to develop a problem statement. Use the question development chart below to develop your problem statement.
Always come back to what you wonder about and what intrigues you in your classroom. Your problem statement consists of a brief statement that answers the following critical queries that are affected by the question that you select:
1. Who is affected?
2. Who or what is suspected of causing the problem?
3. What kind of problem has been identified?
4. What is your goal for improvement or what will be the outcome if your action has an ideal impact? (Sagor 1992)
Complete the following checklist in figure 3.1 to help you with your issue identification:
Checklist for Success
❏ Identify factors, variables, and contexts related to your topic of inter- est.
❏ Reflect on the curriculum standards and the strategies you might implement to meet your students’ needs.
❏ Focus on a subject area where students need improvement.
❏ Study the above list of previous successful action research questions.
❏ Consider a short list of possible questions you might be interested in researching.
❏ Begin to think about who is affected, what the problem is, or what improvement is needed to each of your questions.
❏ Generate key words and resources that might offer information on your proposed research questions.
❏ Identify possible data that would align with research questions under consideration.
❏ Discuss the feasibility and practicality of investigating proposed re- search questions with your cooperating teacher and university super- visor.
❏ Narrow down your short list to one research question that is of inter- est and worth investigating to you.
❏ Refine your question so that it is clearly worded and understandable.
❏ Construct a graphic representation of your research question.