European Scientific Journal May 2014 edition vol.10, No.

13 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431

ACTION RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

Jonida Lesha, PhD. C

Universityof Shkodra”Luigj Gurakuqi”,
Faculty of Educational Sciencies , Shkoder, Albania

Abstract
Action Research is a formative study of progress commonly practiced
by teachers in schools. Basically an action research is a spiral process that
includes problem investigation, taking action & fact-finding about the result
of action. It enables a teacher to adopt/craft most appropriate strategy within
its own teaching environment.
Action research is actually suitable for any person who wishes to improve his
or her performance; or any group or organization who hopes for doing the
same. As a matter of fact, action research is widely used in education,
especially by teachers who use it to improve their teaching. Teachers from
all over the world have employed action research as a part of their teaching
and research. Obviously, action research well matches with education and
benefits both teachers and students in their teaching and learning since it
meets the need of education and enables continuity in research with its cyclic
process. The suitability of action research to education reveals in its nature,
characteristics, “circle within circle” process, etc. This article will look at all
aspects concerning action research including definitions, advantages, steps,
etc to see the importance and the benefits of action research to education.

Keywords: Action research, education, benefits, teachers

Introduction
Throughout the nation, teachers and administrators are being
challenged to collaboratively investigate the effectiveness of research-based
instructional practices currently used in classrooms to improve student
learning.
Teachers are encouraged to reflect on and analyze student data on a
consistent and collaborative basis to ensure success for all students. In order
to meet the challenges being faced, schools are encouraged to restructure
their professional development system providing faculty members with
opportunities for collaborative inquiry, reflection, and dialogue what is
driven by student data.

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Action research is a model of professional development that

promotes collaborative inquiry, reflection, and dialogue. “Within the action
research process, educators study student learning related to their own
teaching.
The origins of Action Research (AR) are unclear in the literature but
generally Kurt Lewin is considered the ‘father’ of AR (Kemmis &
McTaggert, 1990; Zuber-Skerrit, 1992 & Holter & Schwartz-Barcott, 1993),
who first coined the term, in his paper about Minority Problems (Kurt, 1946)
. Its function in educational system began with the Science in Education
Movement of late nineteenth century in which scientific method was applied
to education (Masters, 1995) followed by the UK originated Teacher-
Researcher Movement advocating that all teaching should be based upon
research (McKernan, 1991).
By the mid 1970s, it was discussed as a separate field of research and
four major types were reported including: 1) Traditional: that was applied
within organizations in the areas of Organization Development, Quality of
Working Life (QWL), Socio-technical systems (e.g., Information Systems),
and Organizational Democracy. This traditional approach tends toward the
conservative, generally maintaining the status quo with regards to
organizational power structures. 2) Contextual: that encompasses relations
between organizations. It stresses that participants act as project designers
and co-researchers. The concept of organizational ecology and the use of
search conferences come out of contextual action research. 3) Radical: it has
a strong focus on emancipation and the overcoming of power imbalances. 4)
Educational Traditional Action Research: A fourth stream, that of
Educational Action Research, has its foundations in the writings of John
Dewey, the great American educational philosopher of the 1920s and 30s,
who believed that professional educators should become involved in
community problem-solving. “Educational action research is founded after
John Dewey, an American educational philosopher, who held that
professional educators should become involved in community problem-
solving”. Naturally, it concentrates on development of curriculum,
professional improvement, and applying learning in a social context. From a
different point of view, Creswell [16] argues that there are two main types of
action research as follows:

Practical action research

Participatory action research
Practical action research is used in situations in which teacher
researchers “seek to enhance the practice of education through the systematic
study of a local problem.” It usually involves a small-case research project,
narrowly directs at a specific problem or issue and is undertaken by

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individual teachers or teams within a particular education setting.

Participatory action research is usually implemented in larger scale to
improve “the quality of people’s organisation, communities and family
lives”. Namely, it has a “social and community orientation” and it focuses on
research that “contributes to emancipation or change in our society”.
Its practitioners, not surprisingly, operate mainly out of educational
institutions, and focus on development of curriculum, professional
development, and applying learning in a social context. It is often the case
that university- based action researchers work with primary and secondary
school teachers and students on community projects (O’Brien, 2001).
Initially AR was limited to school settings and practiced by teachers to
observe the effect of any teaching strategy modification on focused students
or to incorporate progressive changes in the syllabus taking all stakeholders
but owing to its flexibility and more practical approach, now it has been
experimented at all levels of professional & formal education.
Action research is a model of professional development that
promotes collaborative inquiry, reflection, and dialogue. “Within the action
research process, educators study student learning related to their own
teaching. It is a process that allows educators to learn about their own
instructional practices and to continue to monitor improved student
learning” (Rawlinson & Little, 2004). “The idea of action research is that
educational problems and issues are best identified and investigated where
the action is: at the classroom and school level. By integrating research into
these settings and engaging those who work at this level in research
activities, findings can be applied immediately and problems solved more
quickly” (Guskey, 2000).
What gives action research its unique position is the set of principles
that guide the research. Richard (1989) provides a comprehensive general
overview of six key principles. These can be considered in any of the
educational settings.
1) Reflexive critique: An account of a situation, such as notes, transcripts or
official documents, will make implicit claims to be authoritative, i.e., it
implies that it is factual and true. The principle of reflective critique ensures
people reflect on issues and processes and make explicit the interpretations,
biases, assumptions and concerns upon which judgments are made. In this
way, practical accounts can give rise to theoretical considerations.
2) Dialectical critique: Reality is consensually validated, which is to say it is
shared through language. Phenomena are conceptualized in dialogue;
therefore a dialectical critique is required to understand the set of
relationships both between the phenomenon and its context, and between the
elements constituting the phenomenon. The key elements to focus attention
on are those constituent elements that are unstable, or in opposition to one

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another. These are the ones that are most likely to create changes.
3) Collaborative Resource: Participants in an action research project are co-
researchers. The principle of collaborative resource presupposes that each
person’s ideas are equally significant as potential resources for creating
interpretive categories of analysis, negotiated among the participants.
4) Risk: The change process potentially threatens all previously established
ways of doing things, thus creating fears among the practitioners. One of the
more prominent fears comes from the risk to ego stemming from open
discussion of one’s interpretations, ideas, and judgments. Initiators of action
research will use this principle to allay others’ fears and invite participation
by pointing out that they, too, will be subject to the same process, and that
whatever the outcome, learning will take place.
5) Plural Structure: The nature of the research embodies a multiplicity of
views, commentaries and critiques, leading to multiple possible actions and
interpretations. This means that there will be many accounts made explicit,
with commentaries on their contradictions, and a range of options for action
presented. A report, therefore, acts as a support for ongoing discussion
among collaborators, rather than a final conclusion of fact.
6) Theory, Practice, and Transformation: For action researchers, theory
informs practice, practice refines theory, in a continuous transformation. In
any setting, people’s actions are based on implicitly held assumptions,
theories and hypotheses, and with every observed result, theoretical
knowledge is enhanced. The ensuing practical applications that follow are
subjected to further analysis, in a transformative cycle that continuously
alternates emphasis between theory and practice.
Also action research can be organized in many ways, such as:
Individual teacher research focuses on studying a problem or issue
within a single classroom. The teacher who engages in individual teacher
research may or may not have support from colleagues and administration
to share, brainstorm, and discuss the topic of action research. Although just
one teacher may become directly involved in action research, support from
knowledgeable educators at the school or district site is still important for
successful teacher research to occur. Also, universities, educational
agencies, and districts may encourage teacher action research by providing
ongoing professional development related to the needs of the individual
teacher researcher. These resources may also provide different venues for
sharing the successes of the action research.
Collaborative action research focuses on studying a problem or
issue within one or more classrooms. Teachers may collaborate and
work together to study a particular problem in many different ways.
• co-teachers in one classroom studying a specific group of students

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• a team of teachers focusing on a grade level issue

• a teacher and district, educational agency, or university
personnel learning and studying a particular instructional
practice
• a group of teachers in the same school studying the same
instructional concern.
This collaborative action research approach fosters a joint effort
because more than one teacher is involved in a specific area of study.
Opportunities for sharing and dialogue are more likely to occur.
School-wide action research is a school reform initiative. Every
faculty member of the school is involved in studying a specific issue
identified from school data. This approach requires a great deal of support
from the administrators and lead teachers/personnel, but the results can lead
to school-wide change. Successful school-wide action research is directly
related to initiatives contained within the school improvement plan.
This collaborative action research approach fosters a joint effort
because more than one teacher is involved in a specific area of study.
Opportunities for sharing and dialogue are more likely to occur.

Benefits of action research to education

Action research is a teaching, learning, and decision-making
process that can be used in a myriad of ways to assist the learning process
of students and teachers.
• Action research is a means of improving student achievement
through more effective teaching and administration of schools
(Cohen & Manion, 1980; Elliot, 1991; Kemmis, 1981; Stenhouse,
1975).
• Educators involved in action research became more flexible in their
thinking, more open to new ideas, and more able to solve new
problems (Pine, 1981).
• Engaging in action research influenced teachers’ thinking skills,
sense of efficacy, willingness to communicate with colleagues,
and attitudes toward professional development and the process of
change (Simmons, 1985).
• Teachers engaged in action research depended more on
themselves as decision makers and gained more confidence in
what they believed about curriculum and instruction (Strickland,
1988).
• Action researchers were reading, discussing, thinking, and
assessing ideas from related research with expanded analytical
skills (Simmons, 1985).
Positive changes occur in the school environment through the action

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research process. Teachers become lifelong learners, and students experience

success in learning.

Conclusion
In summary, although some people may critique that action research
is an informal research since teachers are not academic researchers, it is
widely believed that action research is extremely suitable for education as its
main purpose is to help teachers as researchers solve their teaching problems
“in action”. It allows teachers to learn about their teaching at the same time
that they improve their teaching. They are able to do this because action
research has a cyclic process.
AR is an excellent approach to use in educational system. AR
conducted in a classroom provides an accurate insight into pattern of student
response and teaching strategies over the entire teaching session, not just a
matter of days or two. It seeks to answer questions and solve problems that
arise from the daily life of the classroom and to put findings into immediate
practice (McKay, 1992 & Twine & Martinek, 1992). It is suitable because of
its characteristics: systematic inquiry, reflexivity & focus on the practical as
identified by McCutcheon & Jurg (1990). Usually it is driven by the
practitioner’s desire to improve its own practice with respect to a specific set
of students, thus students reap immediate benefits (Williamson, 1992).
Several terms with a little variations on theme are encountered in
education literature including: teacher research, teacher-as-scholar,
interactive research, practical inquiry, classroom inquiry and practice-
centered inquiry (Downhower et al, 1990 & Williamson, 1992). Similarly
various modes with the variation in the situations have been discussed.
Among all of its modes, PAR is most appropriate for classroom as it
involves the mutual collaboration to understand problem and its immediate
solution (Holter et al, 1993). Its three primary features: collaboration, mutual
education and acting on results developed from basic questions which are
relevant to situation, as reported by (Macaulay et al, 1999) make it more
reliable. It fosters the development of knowledge by emphasizing the part
played by personal judgments in decisions to act for good. PAR is also based
on mutually respectful partnership between researcher and students. Ideally,
everyone is a co-researcher and should produce input at all levels of research
(Mash, 2001).
The PAR is a different approach from conventional research
methodologies as it is more flexible. Here the supervisor is only facilitator
not the governor. It involves every student in the process of progress. So,
every modification in the plan of study is mutually accepted and
acknowledged. The various assessment approaches like formative
assessment, group discussions, mini projects, counseling and feed back

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proforma are the tools that help AR. All these approaches only guide to
recognize the problematic area but do not offer any remedy for it. On the
other side PAR is a sequential plan that not only highlights the bottom line
error but also provide a chance to assess the effectiveness of the
modification. It can be repeated as many time as possible.

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