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Conducting action research in the classroom.



At some point, teachers and instructors will come across some form of problem that they would like to address in their classroom or course. Some teachers will rely on traditional ways to solve these problems. Teachers will also seek out the advice of experts or colleagues to try and address challenges. Really good educators will conduct their own investigations to identify and solve problems while analyzing information about their school and the learning environment. These learning environments may be brick and mortar classrooms, online learning environments, or a hybrid mix of the two.
Action Research is either research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving that integrates research, action, and analysis. The integration of action includes the development and implementation of a plan or strategy to address the focus of the research. The research includes building a knowledge base to understand the effectiveness of the action or plan being considered. Put simple, action research can be viewed as a form of disciplined inquiry utilized by teachers, instructors, and supervisors to better understand student learning and teacher effectiveness. There are many guides and permutations available for conducting action research in the classroom. I will link to some of these resources in the citations section at the conclusion of this post. The purpose of this post is to get you up and running with four basic steps needed to conduct action research in your own practice.
Selecting a focus
The first step in conducting action research is to identify and define the focus of your investigation. You’ll want to develop some questions about the area of your focus. Finally, you’ll need to identify a plan to effectively study and answer the questions you’ve developed. Please note that action research typically will include an examination of the school, programs, students, and instructional practices. You’ll want to consider what aspects of these areas will you need to study in your research. Specifically, will you need to examine student outcomes (dispositions, achievement); curriculum (instructional materials, content standards, frameworks); instruction (teaching strategies, use of technology); school climate (student morale, teacher morale, relationships between teachers and supervisors); parental involvement (participation on committees, attendance at events). As you develop your focus and identify a specific frame to guide your thinking, you should also adjust your research questions. As an example, if you’re concerned with issues of school climate, you might want to consider the following guiding questions:

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  How can I document the morale of teachers?
  
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  What impact does possible low morale of teachers have on student achievement?
  
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  Will increased relationships between teachers and supervisors yield higher teacher morale?
  
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  How might we increase more positive relationships between students, teachers, and supervisors? Developing and revising the focus and guiding questions for your action research will help you understand what elements you are interested in examining. You will also need to identify questions you can effectively gather information about and conduct your research. What research questions do you want to answer? What research questions do you think you can answer?