EARCOS Teachers’ Conference
28-31 March 2012
Donna Kalmbach Phillips, Ph.D.
Pacific University, OR USA
Trustworthy Teacher Action Research
What makes a teacher action research project
‘good’?
This interactive workshop is designed to
introduce criteria for creating and implementing
trustworthy action research projects.
Participants will analyze the role of
triangulation and self-reflexivity; consider the
selection of appropriate data collection
strategies; and explore the importance of
critical colleagues and collaboration.
Teacher Action Research: Process Workshops
Framing the
Study
Trustworthy
Action Research
Design
Data Analysis,
Interpretation
Discover an Area of
Focus
Criteria for
Trustworthiness
Data Analysis
Fundamentals
Develop a critical
Question
Research Design
Ongoing Analysis:
Cycle & Strategies
Research Design
Triangulation
Final Data
Interpretation
Literature Review
Researcher
Dispositions
Going Public
………………………………………………………Critical Questions……………………………………………………………
What is trustworthy action research?
Methodological Rigor
“Since action research starts with
everyday experience and is concerned
with the development of living
knowledge in many ways the process of
inquiry is as important as specific
outcomes.”
Reason & Bradbury, 2001
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
Multiple Perspectives: Triangulation
Observation
Researcher’s
Journal
?
Artifact
Interview
“Thick Description”
Researcher’s
Journal
Seeking Multiple Perspectives: Data Collection
Seeking Multiple Voices: Colleagues, students,
parents, specialists, community members.
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research
What kind of design supports
trustworthy AR?
•Gets to the heart of what you want to
study
•Focused but not too narrow
•Structured and flexible
•Deliberately plans for on-going
assessment, adjustments
•Is do-able: enriches & energizes, does not
overwhelm
Who is the trustworthy
researcher?
•Curious
•Tenacious
•Risk-taker
•Able to re-frame, re-configure, re-think
•Collaborative
Critique Research Design
for
Trustworthiness
•Find a partner
•Read through the integrated research
design
•Critique for trustworthiness
•Act as a critical colleague: What are the
strengths? What suggestions would you
make?
•Focused but not narrow
•Structured with flexibility
•Deliberate plans for on-going analysis
•Is do-able as a teacher
Getting Started
What is my area of interest?
What is my question?
What design gets to the heart of what I want to
study?
What am I going to try out, evaluate and study?
What data will best serve my research?
When is it best to conduct this research?
What is a possible time line?
Who should be involved and in what ways?
What are my paradigm, beliefs and biases?
What literature do I need to read? How can I find this
out?
Ethical Considerations of Action
Research:
Gaining Permissions
Question 1:
Will your research project be made public?
Yes
No
You must gain written permission from
parents and verbal permission from
students. University and/or school district
policies may apply
If the project is embedded within the
teaching-learning project, you may not need
to gain permissions. Check with EARCOS.
Getting permission is always preferred.
Question 2:
Does your research project include participants who
may be more vulnerable than others or have
protected status under law?
YES
Permission is critical. Check with school
See Question 1
administrator. Make sure informed consent
letters are sent home, can be read &
understood by parents/guardians, and are
returned signed by parents/guardians.
NO
Question 3:
Is there any possibility that data collected from your
research project would be harmful to participants
(emotionally, physically)?
YES
Re-think & revise your project. Anything
harmful, even potentially harmful, should
not be included in the project. This
includes any opportunities for other
students to bully students or threat to a
student’s sense of self-worth. Grades
should never be tied to the AR project.
NO
Excellent! Continue to next question.
Question 4:
Do you plan to collect images of students?
YES
Many schools have policies surrounding
video-imaging and/or taking pictures of
students, even if they are not going to be
made public. Check with administrator. If
you plan to include any images in a public
presentation of any kind, you must seek
and have signed permission from
parents/guardians/students. Be specific
about the kind of images you will collect,
where and how they will be displayed, and
how they will be stored.
NO
Are you sure? Often, audio-recordings,
video-images, and/or digital pictures are
excellent data, support triangulation, and
place other data in context.
Getting Permission: Informed Consent
Topic of Project
Objective of project
Interventions, strategies, what will be tried out
Data to be collected
Timeline of project
Why & how image-taking will happen; what will
happen to images
Request to use images
How project will be made public
How confidentiality will be maintained
Any potential risks
A returned slip to be signed by parents
Action research is systematic. … It involves a
self-reflective spiral of planning, acting,
observing, reflecting and re-planning. It requires
teachers to be acutely aware of a sense of
process, and to refine their perceptions to
account for that process…action research raises
to a conscious level much of what is already
being done by good teachers on an intuitive
level. It enables teachers to identify and come to
grips with their practice in a human way that is
at once supportive and critical.
McNiff, 2008
Teacher Action Research: Process Workshops
Framing the
Study
Trustworthy
Action Research
Design
Data Analysis,
Interpretation
Discover an Area of
Focus
Criteria for
Trustworthiness
Data Analysis
Fundamentals
Develop a critical
Question
Research Design
Ongoing Analysis:
Cycle & Strategies
Research Design
Triangulation
Final Data
Interpretation
Literature Review
Researcher
Dispositions
Going Public
………………………………………………………Critical Questions……………………………………………………………
Reference List