Action Research – Key ideas, influences and issues
- All research ‘socially constructed’
- Knowledge creation varies across time
and/or different social contexts
Process – spiral of action circles
- develop plan, implement, observe, reflect
- each cycle increases knowledge; may create new problems and
questions
- reflection “intentional and systematic” (Anderson, 2007, p20.)
Origins
-Late 19th C .
Teachers = data gatherers;
classrooms = labs.
- Buckingham (1926) saw
use for qualitative case
studies
- Dewey:- “all inquiry
involves both common
sense and science”
(Anderson, 2007, p18.)
Early research flawed;
couldn’t generalise findings;
researchers untrained.
Key ideas:- ‘Insider’ research (an intervention)
- Theory built from actual practise
- Context bound research
- Aims to create positive change(s) and/or
improvements.
- Teacher’s personal values / beliefs important
Action Research
Teachers as researchers
Idea not new; not monolithic
Distinct Traditions:UK:- response to ‘forced implementation’ of
curriculum objectives / cult of ‘expert.’ Role for
feminist researchers; criticised as ‘narrow pragmatism.’
US:- response to positivism; school based initiatives
more successful than top down approaches; reaction
to teacher de-skilling / school restructuring.
South America:- Legacy of Freire; Participatory Action
Research (PAR); goal(s) = adult literacy, social action
Action Science:- status quo needs questioning
Tensions
(purpose, goals, who can ‘do’ research)
Collaboration /
problem solving
Individual reflection
/ personal growth
Challenge status
quo
Reinforce status
quo
Action
(improvement
of practise)
Outside experts
e.g. academics
Vs
Research (creating
knowledge about
practise)
Knowledgeable, but
possibly untrained
insiders
Action Research – Implications for practise
Teachers need to think about possible
issues the new knowledge they create
may cause
Process:- Teachers need to be aware of
the problems “intentional and systematic”
reflection may cause (Anderson, p20.) e.g.
teachers need to decide how ‘critical’ they
really want their reflection to be.
Process:- Teachers need to be aware of the
spiral process and accept that, rather than
solving a problem they may find even more
issues that need to be investigated
Political issues:Teachers need to know that no
research can be apolitical. Some
research may encounter resistance.
Teachers need to be aware of the risks
of doing research in their context.
Influence of values /Beliefs
Teacher’s need to aware of
the importance of their
personal values and beliefs
and need to understand how
these are likely to influence
their research process
Action
Research
Implications for
practise
Chance to test / make theory
Teachers should be aware of
the huge opportunity they
have to test their ideas
and/or create new ones.
Tensions:- Teachers need a clear purpose,
and goals and need to decide whether / how
much:- they prioritise an individual approach
over more collaborative ones
- they wish to challenge the status quo
- they are interested in improving their
practise through action, versus improving
their own knowledge about it
- they want to change / use their voice and
what problems this may cause
- Their ideas are realistic and able to be
done within their teaching context
Teachers need to use ‘science’
Teachers need training to understand and
use what Dewey called ‘science’ (probably
academic literature etc.) not just their
common sense.
Generalising findings
Teachers need to be aware of whether their
findings are likely to be able to be applied to
other pupils, classes or contexts.
Quality in Action Research - issues
Traditional division in research
Quantitative
Validity (stats.)
Vs
How trustworthy
are inferences?
Qualitative Trustworthiness
Action research
different as ‘insiders’
affect their context
Debate:Is action
research
serious
research ?
Research validity / trustworthiness related to purpose and context. Academic notions
of validity little use to action researchers (Anderson, 2007, p39.) Researchers need to
find suitable criteria for their work. 5 suggestions
Insider / outsider
boundary unclear
Teachers may be
trained researchers;
Academics may be
formers teachers.
External validity
Can findings be
applied to other
Uni. research generalised
contexts?
and disseminated
Schools vs Unis.
Teachers find
downwards. Action
Different norms,
academic
research is bottom up,
working practises,
research
and used in the context it
knowledge research
theoretical,
was produced in.
culture
not related to
Action research’s 2nd class
Transferabiliy?
their context.
status shown by distinctions; Naturalistic
formal (research) vs practical generalisation; role
Workability?
(school) knowledge,
of formal vs
BUT what
separation of research from
personal
works where?
practice and use of phrases
knowledge;
like ‘practical enquiry.’
narratives vs stats.
Issues
Outcome validity:– can deepen understanding of and/or solve a problem
- Implies successful outcome BUT successful for whom?
- May lead to reframing of problem / new problem(s.)
Process validity:– can frame problem in a way that encourages ongoing
reflection on / learning about individuals / systems
- Triangulation, ensures range of perspectives, data and/or methods;
- Empirical standards for narratives BUT narratives can be faked
Democratic validity:– can do research in collaboration with all stakeholders
- Ethical / social justice issue e.g. does teachers research benefit some
stakeholders but not others?
- Students benefit from being involved in research
- local validity; solutions fit local context BUT what is a ‘relevant’ solution?
Catalytic validity:– extent to which research “energizes participants towards
knowing reality in order to transform it” (Latham 1986, p272, cited in
Anderson, 2007, p42.)
- Everyone involved in research deepens their understanding of socialreality and moves to transform and/or support it
- Researchers use journals to document /monitor change
Dialogic validity:– similar to an informal peer review
-Researchers acknowledge and examine beliefs, values, experience and
biases.
-critical friends used to help researchers reflect / validate research claims
Quality in Action Research - Politics of Action Research
Quality in Action
Research
implications for practise
How to validate research?
Teachers need think carefully
about how to validate their
research:- which criteria to use
- whether their
methodologies, data
collection and analysis
techniques will be
appropriate
- who makes a suitable
‘critical friend.’
- what impact their role,
teaching context, values and
beliefs will have on their
research
- Whether their research is
likely to have ‘transcontextual credibility.’
All research political
Affects and is affected by
context (schools part of
political context)
Critiquing profession a
political move Action research
allows teachers to expand,
redefine and control their role.
Micropolitics
Schools are social institutions.
Everyday struggles e.g.
staffroom moans often about
micro-political issues.
Changes in power relations
Administrators may feel
threatened by possible effects of
research (Anderson, 2007, p50.)
‘Dynamic conservatism’
(Schon, 1971, cited in Anderson,
2001, p50.) social institutions
resist change.
Schools hierarchical; have formal
power structures; schools value
“individual effort, professional
isolation and conformity.”
(Anderson, 2007, p50.)
Politics in
Action
Research
Teacher
autonomy
Action research
holistic
Difficult to separate
from context (and its
politics)
Who creates / assigns value to
educational knowledge?
- Ed. Knowledge creation, problem definition;
outside ‘experts Vs teacher researchers
- Conflict‘ scientific’ vs nuanced personal
knowledge. General ‘whole school’ / best
practise models Vs local teacher led research
- Role of subjugated knowledge
Should
teachers help
young people
re-create
society or just
adapt to it?
Should teachers
become involved in
social issues? e.g.
social justice;
challenging status quo
Politics in
Action Research
implications for practise
Teachers need to:- accept that they
cannot be ‘apolitical.’
- be prepared to
encounter resistance
to their research /
ideas
- accept their notions
of ‘professionalism’
and ‘competence’
may be challenged
- be sensitive to
research
stakeholders e.g.
parents, students
- accept that what
works in their
context may not
work elsewhere