A handbook for Exploratory Action Research

Exploratory questions
Focus
Kind of data 
Example: What are the characteristics 
of my wrapping up?
Behaviour
A critical friend’s notes about your 
lesson.
1. 
2. 
3. 
1. Your own wr
itten reflections
and/or notes
2. Other’s peopl
e’s written 
ideas on the
topic
3. Notes from in
formal
conversation
s 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
Exploring behaviour 
(including performance)
Exploring others’ 
perceptions
Exploring your
own perceptions

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51 
| How can I explore?
5.4 What should I keep in mind
when collecting data?
Let’s think further about your own research
and your exploratory questions. What kinds of 
information could you realistically get that would 
help you to answer them? By ‘realistically’, we 
mean information that you can collect yourself
or with the support of your colleagues in a 
relatively short period of time, requiring minimum 
preparation. As far as possible, gathering 
information should not be a task that takes too 
much time away from your normal planning and 
teaching time.
Other things to consider are more specific
to certain ways of collecting data. Since 
questionnaires, interviews and classroom 
observations are very common methods used,
we provide below a list of things you may want
to consider in relation to each of these methods 
before starting the data collection process.