Classroom Action Research Overview

Classroom Action Research is research designed to help a teacher find out what is happening in his or her classroom, and to use that information to make wise decisions for the future. Methods can be qualitative or quantitative, descriptive or experimental.

Contents:

• Differences between Action Research and Formal Research
• Steps in completing an Action Research Project
• Resources for Teacher Researchers
• Local initiatives to support Teacher Researchers

Differences between

Action Research and Formal Research:

TOPIC	FORMAL RESEARCH	ACTION RESEARCH
Training needed by researcher	Extensive	On own or with consultation
Goals of research	Knowledge that is generalizable	Knowledge to apply to the local situation
Method of identifying the problem to be studied	Review of previous research	Problems or goals currently faced
Procedure for literature review	Extensive, using primary sources	More cursory, using secondary sources
Sampling approach	Random or representative sampling	Students or clients with whom they work
Research design	Rigorous control, long time frame	Looser procedures, change during study; quick time frame; control through triangulation
Measurement procedures	Evaluate and pretest measures	Convenient measures or standardized tests
Data analysis	Statistical tests; qualitative techniques	Focus on practical, not statistical significance; present raw data
Application of results	Emphasis on theoretical significance	Emphasis on practical significance

Steps for Classroom Action Research

• Decide on a question--Meaningful and important to you.
• Read literature on your topic (the ERIC database is an excellent source)
• Plan your overall research strategy and data collection strategies
• Collect data (refine methods as needed)
• Make sense of the data (qualitative and/or quantitative)
• Reach conclusions about your question. What is the practical significance of your findings?
• Take action based on your conclusions
• Share your findings with others

Note: these steps are not always completed in this sequence and you may loop back through some steps several times.

Resources for Teacher Researchers:

• Bibliography for beginning teacher researchers
• Links to Web Sites
  • Action Research on Web
  • Cornell's Participatory Action Research Network
  • Action Research in Education
• How to report statistics, a quick guide
• APA reference style, a quick guide
• Submitting your research report to ERIC

Local Initiatives that provide support to Teacher Researchers

	STAR	TARGET	FRATL
Name	Supporting Teachers As Researchers	Teachers As Researchers: Gaining Excellence Together	Faculty Research About Teaching and Learning
Level	K-12 school district	K-12 school district	University
Location	Elkhart Community Schools, Elkhart Indiana	Goshen Community Schools, Goshen Indiana	Indiana University South Bend, South Bend Indiana
Year begun	1994	1997	1998
Participants (to date)	186	60
Support through:	Graduate level course; mentors; stipend	One day Academy; mentors; stipend	Workshops; consultant; discussion groups
Contact:	Jim Bennett, Elkhart Community Schools, 219/262-5534	Connie Ruff, Goshen Community Schools 219/533-8631	Gwynn Mettetal, Division of Education, IUSB
	Abstracts	Abstracts	Abstracts