A handbook for Exploratory Action Research

2. Other people’s written ideas on the topic
Besides keeping notes of your own perceptions of a 
situation, it is also useful to know what other people have 
written about the topic. By reading, you can compare other 
people’s views with your own and also learn more about the 
topic you will explore. Andrea did this when she decided to 
find out more about the meaning and role of ‘wrapping up’. 
What she did was to surf the web to look for information 
about it and she found some good websites which 
suggested that a wrapping-up was effective when it 
involved students and was focused on their learning. 
Collecting this kind of information about a topic is 
something you can do either by surfing the web, as
Andrea did, or by reading magazines, journals or books. 
Task 5.2 @
Let’s practise looking for other people’s written ideas on
a topic. This time, and just for the sake of this task, please 
find additional information about ‘wrapping up’ to 
complement what Andrea found. Surf the web and take 
some notes about the ideas you find.
Note: We will also do the exercise; you can check what we 
found in the answer key. 
1. Your own written reflections and/or notes
2. Other people’s written ideas on the topic
3. Notes from informal conversations with colleagues
4. Reflective writing by students
5. Notes or recordings of focus group discussions
6. Notes or recordings of interviews / chats
with individuals
7. Responses to a questionnaire 
8. Lesson plans and materials
9. Lesson recordings
10. A critical friend’s notes about your lesson
11. Pictures of your class
12. Students’ performance on tasks (written or 
recorded)

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