Workshop 4.5: Friday afternoon

Action Research: Basics

Christa BAUER

Schulverbund Graz/West

AUSTRIA

Action Research is "the study of a social situation with a view to

improving the quality of action within it"

John Elliott: Action Research for Educational Change. Open University Press: Milton Keynes 1991, 69.

Basic idea: Attitude of reflecting about one’s own practice and asking for feedback from the persons affected

Main features:

  • done by teachers/practitioners themselves
  • actual practice as starting point for research
  • AR uses simple methods for research and consequent improvement of one’s own practice
  • Action and reflection always relate to each other creating a cyclical process: Action

followed by reflection leading to further action, modified or enhanced by reflection.

Cycle:

Why Action Research?

AR is an approach in which the practitioner examines interesting situations of his/her own practice which may be perceived as either positive or negative in order to bring about qualitative change.

This may be:

to improve the quality of teaching or interaction in professional situations

to improve the understanding of professional situations and to expand the repertoire of strategies to deal with these situations and finally

to increase knowledge about the profession and contribute to the recognition of the achievements of the profession in public

What is an Action Research process?

HOW? / OBSERVING / COLLECTING
FEEDBACK
WHO? / Self-
observation / Observation
by others / Person (T), Institution (Schule)
By people affected (S, P, C)
By means? / Research Diary / Critical Friend
Talk to a Colleague
Giving and taking Feedback / Questionnaire
Interviews
Instant feedback methods
Video, Fotos, Tapes
Analysis of Documents

Elgrid Messner, GrazChrista Bauer, Graz;WS AR,Brdo 2003

Action Research - Methods of collecting data

Bauer, Workshop Action Research, Brdo 2003

1. Research diary.

Written reflections; taking notes of everything that helps understand a situation better: observations, feelings, reactions, interpretations, reflections, anticipations, plans, hypotheses, explanations, photographs, drawings, notes, copies of documents....

Diaries are private and should be written up at regular intervals.

Tip: Separate observations from reflections

2. Observation notes:notes on focussed observation ( e.g. teaching situation, parents’ meeting...) Use:

  • direct quotations ( what do the people affected say?)
  • lists on how often different people speak
  • plan of seating order; marking who reacts to whom? how?
  • description of body language und movement: what do the observed people do?

Tip: Fold paper in half, reserve left hand side for observations, right hand side for comments after observation, use abbreviations

3. Tape recordings: to keep a record of spoken information. Transcriptions allow an exact study of talk

Disadvantage: loss of all non-acoustic information ( gestures, facial expression, movement..) and situational framework.. ( room...)

Tip: tape short situations with a special aim ( group work, one exam...) It is more rewarding than taping everything

4. Interviews: raising awareness and gathering information at the same time

Choice of interview-partners depends on research focus

single interview

several single interviews on the same situation

group interview

Some hints on how to interview people:

  • explain the purpose of the interview ( creating a private atmosphere facilitates the information transfer)
  • listening requires patience ( take your interview partner seriously)
  • formulate open questions
  • active listening ( repeat, make sure you understand..)

Tip: create an open and relaxed atmosphere, start with facts, turn to more intimate subjects later

make up guidelines for your interview first

5. Photographs: Photos enable you to obtain

  • an overview of a situation
  • the study of non-verbal details of a social situation (e.g.: take a photo every 60 seconds...)
  • provoking questions and ideas to generate discussion

Tip: It is very important to have information on the context, so

  • the situation „before and afterwards“ should be described in writing
  • always give reasons for taking the picture

Inscribe the printed photo with date, place, subject, topic

Tip: Flashes disturb the situation, use high speed films

6. Videotaping:

Advantage: sound+picture+movement; ideal for dynamic processes

Disadvantages: high technical effort

may be irritating for the people observed

analysis requires a lot of time

more demanding to carry out

Tip: instal video camera in a stable position

7. Questionnaire

a kind of formalized interview

advantage: easy to carry out

disadvantage: less valuable content since you cannnot ask additional

questions, questions are strictly formalized

Analysis/ Evaluation is easier if you use a lot of yes/no questions; however, you get more information with open questions (e.g. questions on personal opinion)

When formulating the questions you should take the following aspects into account:

What do I want to find out?

Will I get this information from my question?

Can the question be misunderstood?

Does the question suggest something?

Do I expect a certain answer?

Does it create the impulse for contradiction?

Does the question aim at descriptions or reproductions of subjective statements?

Action Research: Methods of Asking for Feedback

It is important to know what people who are affected by your work as a teacher think of it. There are some quick and simple methods that enable you to collect feedback :

Pupils: one-minute paper, open letter, snapshot (right at the moment: what are your ideas on.... certain topic?), smilies  (clap your hands at the one expressing your feelings...), photographs, interviews, questionnaire...... learning journal / diary...

Parents: use parents’ meetings for a snapshot, one question, a diagram depicting a

certain question..., questionnaire...

Colleagues: concept of critical friend for reflection, observation, feedback...

interview on how colleagues are affected by your work.

analytic discourse : problem- solving, deepening understanding:. The

method is excellent whenever you need to gain the understanding of a

different group of people or have a group of interested people who can help

you analyse a problem.

Recommended Literature:

H. Altrichter, P. Posch , B. Somekh: Teachers Investigate their Work. Routledge: London 1993

John Elliott: Action Research for Educational Change. Open University Press: Milton Keynes 1991