Proceedings of the Redesigning Pedagogy: Culture, Knowledge and Understanding

Conference, Singapore, May 2007

Action Research For Teachers: A Balanced Model

Patrick T.H. Lim

Anderson Junior College

ABSTRACT

Action research is being actively promoted in schools and teachers are strongly encouraged to

take up action research projects as an avenue for professional development. This paper

identifies action research as a distinct form of educational research with a very specific

purpose. Action research is different from other academic educational research as its aim is

to understand and solve educational problems in schools and classrooms. Teachers’ action

research has been criticised for lacking in quality as compared to academic educational

research. There are several factors attributing to the lack of quality in teachers’ action

research. This paper explores one such factor – methodological constraint. Methodological

constraint in current action research designs and action research models threatens the quality

of action research. This paper provides reasons to adopt a mixed methods research design in

action research and proposes a new research model that aims to improve the quality of

teachers’ action research.

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INTRODUCTION

The primary focus of action research studies in education, which are usually undertaken by

teachers, is to understand and solve problems related to teaching and learning located in

classrooms or schools. The benefits of action research with regard to enhancing teacher

professional development have been widely reported (Sagor, 2000; Mills, 2003; Johnson,

2005; Tomal, 2005).

There has been an ongoing debate on the quality of teachers’ action research. The issues of

the legitimacy of action research as a form of educational inquiry and the value of the

knowledge generated from action research studies have been raised (Cochran-Smith & Lytle,

1999). There is also a concern on the lack of knowledge in methodological issues in teachers

when conducting educational research. According to Bartlett and Burton (2005), these

criticisms arose due to comparisons being made between academic research and action

research. Proponents of action research have argued that action research is a form of inquiry

that should be judged by its own standards and should not be compared with academic

research (Zeichner, 2001). This paper looks at the definitions of educational research and

action research, and points out that action research is a form of educational research with a

very specific purpose. The lack of quality in teachers’ action research could be due to

inadequacies in current action research designs and action research models.

There is a need to examine how to strengthen the rigour and quality of teachers’ action

research in view of its benefits. Hairon (2006) has examined the impact of structural

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constraints on the quality of teachers’ action research. This paper highlights one other

constraint that affects the quality of action research – methodological constraint.

Methodological constraint arises from two factors, namely, action research designs and action

research models. These two factors are discussed in greater depth in this paper. A more

balanced action research model is needed. A model is important as it provides a conceptual

framework for the research. In this paper, a balanced model is proposed.

ACTION RESEARCH AS A DISTINCT FORM OF EDUCATION ENQUIRY

Gall, Gall and Borg (1999, p.3) has regarded educational research as “the systematic

collection and analysis of information in order to develop valid, generalizable descriptions,

predictions, interventions, and explanations relating to various aspects of education”.

Johnson (2005, p.21) has defined action research as the “process of studying a real school or

classroom situation to understand and improve the quality of actions or instruction”. By

looking at the definitions, action research can be regarded as a distinct form of educational

research with a very specific aim which is to understand and solve problems related to

teaching and learning in schools and classrooms. An action research design cannot and

should not be used to generate educational theories or test educational theories.

Teachers’ action research has been criticised for lacking in quality especially where

methodological issues are concerned. This could be due to the inadequacies of current action

research designs and action research models. There is a need to re-examine current action

research designs and action research models.

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ACTION RESEARCH DESIGNS

Two approaches are usually adopted in educational research – qualitative or quantitative. A

researcher can also adopt a mixed methods approach which combined both qualitative and

quantitative research design. There have been different views regarding the design of action

research. The quantitative experimental research design and strategy is advocated by Soh

(2006) as he believes that this is the most rigorous way of doing action research. Such a

design involves the setting up of a control group and experimental group to compare an

outcome. Data analysis usually involves inferential statistical treatment. The qualitative

approach is advocated by Freebody (2003), Miles (2003), Stringer (2004) and Johnson (2005).

It is also mentioned by Roulston and co-workers (2005) that teachers uses qualitative data in

action research. According to Freebody (2003), action research usually incorporates a

qualitative approach involving ethnography and case study research designs. Johnson (2005,

p.24) has further remarked that

“In an action research project you are not trying to prove anything. You

are not comparing one thing to another to determine the best possible

thing. Also, there are no experimental or control groups, independent or

dependent variables, or hypotheses to be supported. The goal is simply to

understand. As an action researcher you are creating a series of snapshots

in various forms and in various places to help us understand exactly what

is going on”.

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Sagor (2000) has also commented that it is not necessary to have a control group to conduct a

meaningful action research. Qualitative research usually involves the studying of qualitative

data such as interview transcripts, observation notes, artefacts, and journals to reveal

meanings.

An action research that follows a strict quantitative or qualitative design may not be strong in

its validity. One serious weakness in teacher’s action research, as observed by Foster (1999),

is the lack of sufficient evidence to support findings. This threatens the quality of the

research. This issue of insufficient evidence can be addressed through the triangulation of

both quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, the primary focus of an action research is

to solve educational problems in classrooms or schools. To be able to generate an action plan

to solve problems, both quantitative and qualitative data must be collected and analysed so

that different perspectives are examined. This provides the sensitisation the researcher needs

in developing the action plan. Hence a mixed methods research design is most applicable in

action research. Mixed methods research design involves the collection and analysis of both

quantitative and qualitative data (Creswell, 2005). The collection and analysis are done

separately and the findings are then combined (Punch, 2005). This allows meaningful and

practical actions to be developed to solve the problem being researched on, which is the

essence of action research (Tomal, 2005).

ACTION RESEARCH MODELS

Sagor (2000) has presented a seven-step action research process:

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• Selecting a focus;

• Clarifying theories;

• Identifying research questions;

• Collecting data;

• Analysing data;

• Reporting results; and

• Taking informed action.

Stringer (2004) has presented an action research sequence which is shown in Figure 1.

Stringer’s model (2004) follows the qualitative interpretive research design he has advocated.

Research Data Data Communication Action –

Design – Gathering – Analysis – – Writing Creating
Initiating Capturing Capturing reports solutions
a study stakeholder identifying
experiences key
and features of
perspectives experience

Figure 1. An Action Research Sequence. Source: Stringer (2004).

Mills (2003, pp.18-19) has presented a four-step action research process which he termed

“dialectic action research spiral” which is shown in Figure 2.

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 Identify an area of focus

Develop an action plan Collect data

Analyse and interpret data

Figure 2. Dialectic Action Research Spiral. Source: Mills (2003, pp.18-19).

The different models given above have one common purpose which is to develop an action

plan to solve a problem existing in classrooms or schools. The action plan is developed

through a systematic process of data collection and analysis. The research phase precedes the

action phase in such models.

There are two inadequacies with regard to the above action research models. First, there

seems to be a lack of emphasis in validating the action plan developed. In order to enhance

the quality of action research studies, the validation of the action plan is important. Second,

these models are not able to cover the wide spectrum of action research studies conducted.

There has been a proliferation of action research studies undertaken to investigate the

implementation of new teaching strategies to address certain issues pertaining to teaching and

learning (see Chew, 2006). In such studies, the action phase precedes the research phase as

the action research is about investigating the effects of the new learning strategies. This type

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of action research studies does not really follow the models mentioned earlier. A model is

important as it provides a conceptual framework for the study.

A BALANCED MODEL

There should be two research phases in action research – the pre-action phase and the post-

action phase. The proposed model of action research is shown in Figure 3.

Identifying

At this stage, the researcher identifies a problem and translates the problem into a research

question or research questions. It is important that the question or questions are researchable.

Sensitising

At this stage, the researcher investigates what causes the problem. Both quantitative data and

qualitative data are collected and analysed. The researcher can also consult related literature

concerning the research problem for sensitisation. This paper will not discuss the methods of

data collection and data analysis as these have been discussed in depth by other authors such

as Mertens (1998), Sagor (2000), Mills (2003), Johnson (2005), Creswell (2005) and Punch

(2005).

As mentioned earlier, some teachers conduct an action research to investigate the effects of a

new teaching strategy. The reasons for adopting this new teaching strategy must be

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explained in detail. It will strengthen the quality of the research if there is some sort of

empirical research conducted to suggest such a new teaching strategy.

Identifying
- Identifying a research problem

Sensitising
- Understanding the problem through
literature review and/or analysis of
collected data (both quantitative &
qualitative)

Strategising
- Developing an action plan

Implementing
- Carrying out the action plan

Validating
- Investigating if the action plan has
been successful in solving the
research problem through analysis of
collected data (both quantitative &
qualitative)

Reporting
- Writing the action research report

Figure 3. A Balanced Model

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Strategising

At this stage, an action plan is generated after the stage of sensitising. The action plan

describes what the researcher plans to do to in order to answer the research question or

questions. It is really not necessary to set up an experimental and control group to study the

effects of the action plan. A test is usually administered to study the performance of the

experimental and control group, after which some statistical tests are performed to analyse

the statistical difference. It is important to note that statistically different data do not

represent causality. Furthermore it is very difficult to control the variables concerning an

experimental research design which can arise due to institutional factors. Instead, the

researcher can study the effect of the action on the same group over a period of time.

Implementing

At this stage, the researcher carries out the action plan. It is important that the researcher

describes how the action plan is being carried out.

Validating

At this stage, the researcher collects data again. The data are then analysed to examine if the

research question or questions are answered. The use of both quantitative and qualitative

data enhances the trustworthiness of the validation.

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Reporting

At this stage, the researcher reports the action research. A rich description of the whole

research process is important as it strengthens the trustworthiness of the study (Mertens,

1998).

The proposed model provides a balance in doing action research. It aims to improve the

quality of teacher’s action research and at the same time take into consideration the

institutional constraints faced by teachers when doing research.

CONCLUSION

This paper identifies action research as a form of educational inquiry with a very specific

purpose. The methodological constraint existing in current action research designs and action

research models threatens the quality of the research. A mixed methods research design will

be able to provide more evidence for action researchers to develop a more relevant action

plan. Likewise the use of both quantitative and qualitative data enables action researchers to

validate the success of the action plan with a higher degree of trustworthiness. The proposed

balance model will be able to strengthen the quality of the action research and provides a

conceptual framework with action research can be carried out.

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