Why We Need Collaborative
Action Research
 In almost all professions, practitioners spend as much
time interacting with their colleagues as they do with
their clients.
 Teachers spend relatively little time interacting with
their colleagues.
 Teaching is less likely to have an absolute solution to a
problem.
 One of the greatest sources of dissatisfaction in
teaching is professional isolation.
Knowledge Base
A knowledge base is a body of accepted research
literature on effective teaching practices and successful
schooling techniques. It must composed of work
contributed primarily by practicing teachers.
 All professions are informed by a knowledge base
 All professionals should contribute to that knowledge
base
 Most educational journals have articles written by
people no longer in the classroom
Data - Generalizability, Validity,
Reliability.
 It is essential that teachers have access to relevant data
and that they combine this with their own classroom
data in order to make effective choices for their
students.
 Your goal is to is to determine what is happening in
your classroom and determine what might improve
things in that context
 Data should be valid (Skull size to intelligence)
 Reliability – do our instruments accurately measure
student performance?
Sources & Types of Data
 Attendance
 Test Scores – has the student improved? Where is the
student strong / weak?
 Interviews with parents
 Observation of student class work
 Projects
 Conversations with the student(s)
 Credit accumulation
 Regents exams
 Looking at student work for trends incl. item analysis.
 Exit slip, Do Now, …. etc
12 Norms for Student Growth &
Development
 Collegiality
 Experimentation
 High Expectations
 Trust and Confidence
 Tangible Support
 Reaching out to knowledge bases
 Appreciation and Recognition
 Caring, Celebration, and Humor
 Involvement in Decision Making
 Protection of What’s Important
 Traditions
 Honest, Open Communication.
What is Collaborative
Action Research?
 Collaborative Action Research is done by people who want to
improve their own situation. People undertake action research
because they want to know if they can do something in a better
way.
 Whereas scientific research looks at what others are doing or
should be doing, action research is where we look at what we are
or should be doing.
Let’s look at the 3 words separately
The Meaning of Action
3 Stages of Action.
 Initiating Action. For example -Using rubrics with all
assessment items. Changing seating in a classroom.
Preparing students to answer essay / written response
questions instead of leaving them blank
 Monitoring and adjusting.
 Evaluating.
The Meaning of Research
Any effort towards disciplined inquiry. In collaborative
action research, the focus of the inquiry is defined by
the practitioners themselves. The guidelines are:
 The phenomena chosen for study must concern the
teaching / learning process
 The phenomena must be within the practitioner’s
scope of influence
The Meaning of Collaborative
Having common interests and working together to
investigate issues related to those interests.
The 5 Step Process
Step 1. Select the issue or problem: Identify the issues
of greatest professional concern. (Chapter 3)
 The issue involves teaching and learning.
 This issue involves something that I can influence
 The issue is something that I’m deeply concerned
about.
Selection of the issue can involve processes such as
 Reflective Interviewing
 Analytic Discourse or
 Graphic Representation
The 5 Step Process
Step 2.
Data Collection: (Chapter 4)
 Quality data is critical (Data from tests, assessment,
class work, exit slips, your observations, student
responses, collaborative discussions, item analysis,
etc).
 3 sets of data for each research question
The 5 Step Process
Step 3.
Data Analysis (Chapter 5)
 Looking systematically at all the data collected to find
trends, patterns, problems, and draw conclusions.
 The analysis can give you information on an individual
student, a group of students, a specific question, a
process, an assessment item such as a test or a project,
or a standard / performance indicator.
 The data analysis is our turning point.
The 5 Step Process
Step 4.
Sharing / Reporting Results (Chapter 6)
 Sharing / discussing findings with other researchers
The 5 Step Process
Step 5- Action Planning (Ch 7)
The final step is to complete a plan of action based on
our inquiry to facilitate school and classroom
improvement. This is called an Action Research Report
The Action Research Report is comprised of
 Introduction
 A description of the research process
 An Analysis of the data
 An action plan
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 Ways to select the issue or problem.
Reflective Interviewing
1. Select a partner
2. Set out guidelines
- select an issue that involves teaching & learning
- the issue must be something I can influence
- the issue should be something I am deeply concerned about
3. One partner interviews the other for a set time.
4. Leader calls time and partners swap roles.
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 Ways to select the issue or problem.
Reflective Interviewing
5. Remember this is an interview not a discussion.
6. Interviewer should asking probing and clarifying
questions
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 Reflective Interviewing: Examples of probing and
clarifying questions.
Select an issue that you are deeply concerned about?
What have you done about this so far? Did it work?
Why not? Did you talk to other teachers about this
problem? Is this happening in other classrooms? What
different approaches can you try?
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 
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Analytic Discourse: Use this after the reflective interview.
Have all team members sit together and share issues that surfaced
during reflective interviews.
If one particular issue surfaces as being important to most
participants, then this becomes a logical focus for analytic discourse.
Each team should then find a volunteer to be the subject of a group
interview
Each team forms into a horseshoe with the volunteer in the front.
Interviewers proceed to ask questions based on rules set out by the
group leader. (See handout)
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 Graphic Representation: For those of you who would
prefer to use the right side of your brain.
 Brainstorm all of the relevant factors, variables and
contexts.
 Arrange all of the relevant factors, variables and
contexts in relational order.
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 -
The 5 Step Process in detail
Step 1 - The Research Problem
Statement.
 Who is affected?
 Who or what is suspected of causing the problem?
 What kind of problem is it?
 What is the goal for improvement?
 What do we propose to do about it?
Goals For Today – staff will
 Have an understanding of how to conduct
Collaborative Action Research
 Participate in a reflective interview
 Participate in analytic discourse
 Produce a research problem statement.