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4Leading Change Through Research

. Steve Hix/Somos Images/Corbis

Learning ObjectivesAfter reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Outline the nature, purposes, benefits, and limitations of action research and how it differs from other types of research.

2. Understand how educational practitioners can use action research to solve real-life problems of practice.

3. Identify the steps of the action research project and understand how to implement them in a systematic way.

4. Understand how collaboration with colleagues, students, and other stakeholders can strengthen the action research process.

5. Explain how the results of action research projects can contribute to knowledge on teaching and learning.

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Chapter Introduction

Chapter IntroductionA new, fourth-grade teacher was anxious to use action research in the school where she had been hired. She had conducted a successful project in her field placement, which had given her great insight into student learning and her own practice. However, in her new school, she found herself overwhelmed by state mandates in preparing students for the state assessment. She knew the value of action research but wondered how she could possibly carry it out given the new pressures she was under.

Action research is the systematic study of a real-life problem, in context, with the goal of inter-vening into that problem. As action researchers, teachers typically identify and study a problem of practice in their classroom and use the knowledge generated from the study to improve stu-dent outcomes. Action research is a cyclical process of gathering information, analyzing and drawing conclusions from the data collected, devising an action plan, and then repeating the cycle to continually enhance practice (McNiff & Whitehead, 2006; Stringer, 2004, 2007). Unlike other forms of research, action—and not simply knowledge production—is the primary goal of the research.

The term action research is often attributed to German psychologist Kurt Lewin. Although Lewin was not the first to use research to intervene into a specific problem, he was the first to organize a widely accepted theory on the action research (Herr & Anderson, 2005). Initially, action research was used to improve worker productivity, and Lewin used it to address two spe-cific workplace issues: (a) discrimination against minority workers and (b) worker productivity. Guided by organizational theory, Lewin believed that workers’ and managers’ behaviors could be changed through action research, leading to improved working conditions and increased productivity.

In the United States, action research among educational practitioners is grounded in the work of John Dewey, who stressed the importance of human experience in generating knowledge. Dewey argued that classroom research would benefit from merging educators’ everyday experi-ential sources of knowledge with formalized research practices as a way to more deeply under-stand and improve student academic performance. Teacher research, like other forms of action research, declined in popularity in the United States in the mid- to late 1950s due, in large part, to criticisms among academic scholars that it was not rigorous. However, with the recent focus on the role of teachers in school reform, action research has seen a marked resurgence in teacher preparation programs and K–12 schools.

Positivistic and “hard” scientists have considered action research to be a less valid and scientific form of research, and they have negatively critiqued its overall value. Because action research-ers seek a particular outcome—for example, improved student motivation—it is thought that they cannot be objective. In reality, no research is bias-free and the value of any research project depends on the goals of the researcher(s). From its inception, the objective of action research in education has been to improve student outcomes and to professionalize teaching. Rather than depending on university-based researchers, teachers can use their own research to “generate new ideas, knowledge and theory” (McNiff & Whitehead, 2006, p. 63) and contribute to “official” knowledge about educational practice. The rigor with which the researchers carry out the work is what determines how useful the research will be in meeting those goals.

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Section 4.1 Research in Professional and Public Life

This chapter focuses on the uses of action research for teachers and other school-based prac-titioners. It begins with a general discussion of action research and an overview of the action research process. The overview is followed by four sections that provide more in-depth exami-nations of the steps in the action research process, including choosing a topic and designing a study, collecting and analyzing data, developing an action plan, and sharing research findings. This is followed by examples of action research projects, which further explicates the roles of teachers and students. The final section describes how practitioner-researchers can disseminate their findings to broader audiences.

This chapter gives those who are new to research a sense of the purposes, processes, and possi-bilities of action research projects through descriptions of research activities, examples of proj-ects that have been implemented in schools, and critical thinking questions. However, to become a truly competent researcher, one must learn by doing and continually practice and improve one’s skills. As readers implement their own research projects, this chapter can be used as resource to guide them through the process.

Voices From the Field: Getting Started on an Action Research Project

Kathy was a high school language arts teacher. She taught “Introduction to 20th Century Litera-ture” for 11th and 12th graders. In a discussion with her students about what would help them better understand literary concepts, the group identified “not understanding the content of the texts” as a major concern. Kathy knew that students often did not fully understand; however, because they rarely asked questions in class or came after school for help, she had the impres-sion that some were uninterested in the texts. She realized that she had been mistaken and was thrilled that her students shared her concern about their lack of understanding and wanted to do something about it.

Kathy decided to conduct an action research project on “question asking” and “help seeking” and the role of the teacher and the students in supporting and encouraging help-seeking behaviors. She reflected on the question: What do I need to know in order to better understand student behav-ior, and how can I and other students better support and encourage help seeking? Kathy deter-mined that she needed to know why students were not seeking help and what would make them more comfortable in doing so. Her next step was to figure out how to get this information.

4.1 Research in Professional and Public Life, by Ernest T. Stringer

IntroductionStringer began his educational career as a K–12 classroom teacher and a school principal in Australia. He also worked with Aboriginal staff at Curtin’s Centre for Aboriginal Studies to create community development programs to improve the experiences of the native people of Australia. More recently, Stringer has been a visiting professor at universities in New Mexico and Texas, teaching graduate classes in action research and community engagement. String-er’s approach to action research is aligned with pedagogical approaches adopted by Brazilian

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educator Paulo Freire. That is, his work is aimed at empowering individuals and groups to iden-tify and accomplish useful goals, and assess their progress through the development of new skills and knowledge.

The following excerpt is from Stringer’s book, Action Research, one of many books and articles he has written on the action research process, particularly in the field of education. Although many practitioners may perceive formal research as outside their purview, Stringer points out that research is a natural extension of their everyday activities. That is, practitioners are always inquiring into problems of practice, usually in informal ways. In the excerpt, Stringer defines research and its purpose and introduces the basic steps of action research—the “‘look, think, act’ routine” (p. 8). This is an iterative cycle through which practitioner-researchers observe what is happening, devise and implement an intervention plan, and then repeat the cycle. In this way they are continually learning about and improving their practice.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Stringer, E. T. (2007). Research in public and professional life. In Action research (3rd ed., pp. 1–18). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Research: Methodical Processes of Inquiry

Research is systematic and rigorous inquiry or investigation that enables peo-ple to understand the nature of problematic events or phenomena. Research can be characterized by the following:

• A problem or issue to be investigated• A process of inquiry• Explanations that enable individuals to understand the nature of the

problem

Research can be visualized as nothing more than a natural extension of the activities in which we engage every day of our lives. Even for simple prob-lems—Where are my blue socks? Why did the cake burn?—we ask questions that enable us to analyze the situation more carefully. (I wore my blue socks yesterday; I probably put them with the laundry. Perhaps I overheated the oven, or maybe I left the cake in the oven longer than I should). Tentative anal-ysis enables us to understand the nature of the problem and to work toward a potential solution. (I looked in the laundry, and the socks were there. Next time I baked a cake, I lowered the temperature of the oven and did not burn the cake.)

Formal research is an extension of these day-to-day inquiries. The success of scientific research can be ascribed to its insistence on precise and rigor-ous formulation of description, observation, and explanation. The meticulous association of what is observed and what is explained provides explanations whose power and efficacy enable us to predict and control many facets of the physical world. The outcomes of scientific research are embodied in the tech-nical achievements that continue to transform our modern world. The mira-cles of construction, manufacture, communication, and transport that have

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now entered the daily lives of those living in wealthy nations are testament to the huge advances in knowledge that have resulted from science.

Less successful, however, have been the attempts of the social and behavioral sciences to emulate the accomplishments of the physical sciences. Despite a profusion of theory, the application of scientific method to human events has failed to provide a means for predicting and controlling individual or social behavior. Teachers, health workers, and human service practitioners often find that the theoretical knowledge of the academic world has limited rele-vance to the exacting demands of their everyday professional lives. The objec-tive and generalizable knowledge embodied in social and behavioral research often is only marginally relevant to the situations they encounter in their daily lives and has little application to the difficulties they face.

Action research, however, is based on the proposition that generalized solu-tions may not fit particular contexts or groups of people and that the purpose of inquiry is to find an appropriate solution for the particular dynamics at work in a local situation. A lesson plan, a care plan, or a self-management plan that fits the lifeworld of a middle-class suburban client group may be only tangentially relevant in poor rural or urban environments or to people whose cultural lives differ significantly from the people who serve them. Generalized solutions must be modified and adapted in order to fit the context in which they are used.

The wheel provides a good metaphor to understand the nature of this process. Wheels provide a general solution to the problem of transporting objects from one place to another though there are many different purposes to which they are put. Consider the different purposes, parameters, and processes required to use wheels for the following objects:

• A jumbo jet• A small, single-engine aircraft• A truck• A child’s tricycle• A skateboard

* * *

A Basic RoutineAction research is a collaborative approach to inquiry or investigation that provides people with the means to take systematic action to resolve specific problems. Action research is not a panacea for all ills and does not resolve all problems, but provides a means for people to “get a handle” on their situa-tions and formulate effective solutions to problems they face in their public and professional lives. The basic action research routine provides a simple yet powerful framework—look, think, act (Table 4.1)—that enables people to commence their inquiries in a straightforward manner and build greater detail into procedures as the complexity of issues increases. The terms in parentheses in Table 4.1 show how the phases of the routine relate to tradi-tional research practices.

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Table 4.1: A basic action research routine

Phase Description

Look • Gather relevant information (Gather data)• Build a picture: Describe the situation (Define and describe)

Think • Explore and analyze: What is happening here? (Analyze)• Interpret and explain: How/why are things as they are? (Theorize)

Act • Plan (report)• Implement• Evaluate

The “look, think, act” routine is but one of a number of ways in which action research is envisaged. Kemmis and McTaggart (1999), for instance, present action research as a spiral of activity: plan, act, observe, reflect. Different for-mulations of action research reflect the diverse ways in which the same set of activities may be described, although the processes they delineate are similar. There are, after all, many ways of cutting a cake.

Although the “look, think, act” routine is presented in a linear format through-out this book, is should be read as a continually recycling set of activities (see Figure 4.1). As participants work through each of the major stages, they will explore the details of their activities through a constant process of observa-tion, reflection, and action. At the completion of each set of activities, they will review (look again), reflect (reanalyze), and re-act (modify their actions). As experience will show, action research is not a neat, orderly activity that allows participants to proceed step-by-step to the end of the process. People will find themselves working backward through the routines, repeating processes, revising procedures, rethinking interpretations, leapfrogging steps or stages, and sometimes making radical changes in direction.

Figure 4.1: Action research interacting spiral

LOOK

ACT

THINK

LOOK

ACT

THINK

LOOK

ACT

THINK

LOOK

ACT

THINK

LOOK

ACT

THINK

LOOK

ACT

THINK

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In practice, therefore, action research can be a complex process. The routines presented in this book, however, can be visualized as a road map that provides guidance to those who follow this less traveled way. Although there may be many routes to a destination, and although destinations may change, travelers on the journey will be able to maintain a clear idea of their location and the direction in which they are heading.

The procedures that follow are likely to be ineffective, however, unless enacted in ways that take into account the social, cultural, interactional, and emotional factors that affect all human activity. “The medium is the message!” . . . [T]he implicit values and underlying assumptions embedded in action research pro-vide a set of guiding principles that can facilitate a democratic, participatory, liberating, and life-enhancing approach to research.

Source: Stringer, E. T. (2007). Action research, 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

SummaryStringer defines formal (scientific) research as systematic and rigorous investigation for the purpose of better understanding the nature of a particular topic or problem, and he describes this as a natural extension of everyday inquiries and problem solving. What distinguishes for-mal research is the systematic processes that investigators use to observe, explain, and provide evidence of the problem or issue under investigation. Stringer also highlights the collaborative nature of action research and urges researchers to include in a meaningful way all of those affected by the issue under study as part of the investigation. For example, rather than merely serving as research “subjects,” students might also participate in conceptualizing the problem to be investigated.

According to Stringer, formal research has produced much theoretical knowledge in the field of education. However, teachers and other practitioners often find that this knowledge is of little use or has limited applicability to their immediate contexts and everyday experiences. On the contrary, in action research, practitioners select the specific problems they wish to address, and they investigate and create interventions into these problems in their natural setting. This significantly increases the applicability of the research to the everyday experiences of teacher-researchers and their students. As Stringer points out, interventions into problems of practice must take into consideration contextual factors and the particular populations being served.

In the latter part of the excerpt, Stringer provides a model for understanding the iterative, three-step process of conducting action research. He calls this the “‘look, think, act’ routine” (p. 8). In the first “look” step, the researcher observes what is happening in the context and gathers information for the purpose of defining and describing the issue under study. Next, in the “think” step, the researcher analyzes the situation and comes up with explanations for how and why things are occurring as they are. In the third “act” step, the researcher devises, implements, and evaluates the outcomes of an intervention plan. The researcher will then repeat the process: observe the effects of intervention, explain the reasons for those effects, and devise a subsequent action plan to enhance the intervention. Researchers can cycle through these steps indefinitely, continually improving their practice.

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Section 4.2 Embarking on Action Research

Critical Thinking Questions1. In order to solve problems of practice, Stringer suggests that practitioners, at least in

some cases, conduct formal research rather than investigating and intervening into these problems informally. What are the fundamental differences between everyday informal inquiries and formal research? What are the advantages of the latter compared with the former in addressing problems of practice? Can you think of a problem you might encoun-ter in a school or classroom for which formal research might not be an effective means to understand the problem and find a solution? If yes, what is it? In what ways would formal research be ineffective, and what would be an effective approach?

2. Stringer points out that educational practitioners often do not find conventional forms of educational research helpful in finding solutions to the specific challenges they face in their schools and classrooms, because theories developed from this research tend to be general-ized and not specific to particular contexts and populations. Action research, in which those directly affected by the topic under study choose the focus, conduct the study, and assess the outcomes, can be more applicable to a practitioner’s specific needs. If this is the case, what is the value of more generalized research on educational topics? In what ways can teachers use this research to inform their own practice?

3. Stringer is a strong advocate of collaborative research and of including in the research process those affected by the topic under study. He suggests that practitioner-researchers consider action research as a community effort, which can include teachers, administrators, students, and parents. Think of a possible problem for investigation in your academic disci-pline or grade level of interest. It can be an issue that is of particular interest or concern to you or one that has gained attention at the national level. List all the constituencies that are affected by the problem and how they are affected. Next, think of ways that members of each constituency could contribute a deeper understanding of and solutions to the problem.

4.2 Embarking on Action Research, by Catherine M. Brighton

IntroductionCatherine Brighton is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership Foun-dations and Policy and the director of the Institutes on Academic Diversity at the University of Virginia. Prior to becoming a university professor, Brighton worked in K–12 education in North Carolina as an assistant principal, a curriculum coordinator, a teacher of gifted students, and a classroom teacher. Brighton’s areas of focus include teacher change and school reform, and dif-ferentiated curriculum, instruction, and assessment. She is particularly interested in the impact of practitioner action research on teacher practice.

In the following excerpt, Brighton describes how a middle-school mathematics teacher inves-tigates and intervenes into student disengagement. In doing so, Brighton outlines the action research process, which begins with identifying an issue of concern and developing a system-atic plan for learning more about that issue. Next, the teacher-researcher collects and analyzes various forms of data that will help her to better understand the issue or problem. She looks for patterns or similarities in the data and uses the information gathered from the study to draw conclusions that will guide her in changing her practice in ways that increase student

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engagement. Finally, the results of the research are shared with others at the school and dis-trict levels. This is an example of what Brighton calls “first-person” research, when the research-er’s own practice is the focus of her research. Ultimately, in this article, Brighton shows how classroom teachers can use action research, focused on their own practice, to improve student outcomes.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Brighton, C. M. (2009). Embarking on action research. Educa-tional Leadership, 66(5), 40–44.

Janice Templeton, a 6th grade math teacher at Marshall Middle School is wor-ried about her students. Marshall’s students come from a wide range of eth-nic and economic backgrounds and present highly varied academic needs. Some of Janice’s learners readily engage with math content, but others are singularly uninterested in studying math and aren’t mastering basic concepts. These disengaged students are predominantly female, black, or English lan-guage learners.

Janice worries that this pattern of disengagement fits in with the underrepre-sentation of females and minority groups in high-level math at the high school and college levels. She’s been reflecting on reasons for this problem and the steps she, as a middle-grade teacher, could take to stem the attrition of under-represented students from math classes. But she feels unclear on what steps or changes will be most productive.

It might seem that this teacher is in an unenviable position because she’s unsure what to do next. In fact, as a teacher who has identified a specific area of classroom practice that warrants additional inquiry, Janice is in an excellent position to embark on an action research study. Action research is a reflective, systematic inquiry that focuses on a relevant problem in teaching or teaming for the purpose of enacting meaningful change to address that problem.

Action research is distinct from other research designs in that it emerges from stakeholders themselves. Like other types of empirical research, action research has clear procedures that practitioners must follow, albeit more flu-idly, to arrive at sound conclusions. Let’s look at how Janice’s action research project exploring how to better serve her underachieving students used tools common to action research and progressed through the seven basic steps of the action research process.

Step 1: Identify a Focus

Action research can be done by one practitioner or in collaboration with others. . . .

• First-person action research usually involves one teacher studying his or her own classroom to better understand his or her own behaviors, attitudes, practices, or context. The goal is often personal change.

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• Second-person action research is collaborative and aims to better understand the issues or phenomena of a group. The goal of second-person action research is often to improve the dynamics of a group of interrelated individuals, such as a teacher team.

• Third-person action research studies a phenomenon or issue more globally to develop a generalization about the issue’s causes or the effect of solutions across varied settings.

With any of these models, the first step is simple: Identify an area of teach-ing or learning that you are concerned about. You should then become more familiar with this topic, focus on a specific issue that is causing problems with your practice, and specify the research question that will guide the study.

Janice’s focus emerged over several months as she watched specific groups of students disengage. She noticed many girls hesitating to answer questions aloud during discussions and avoiding exploration and risk taking in indepen-dent assignments. She noticed that many students who had attended East-side Elementary—many of whom were black, Hispanic, or from low-income families—seemed to completely tune out each day’s lesson. She watched the pattern of decreasing homework completion, increasing apathy toward class activities, and escalating off-task behaviors spread in segments of her classes.

To gain more insight into the concept of math disengagement, Janice read arti-cles from education journals, spoke with other middle school math teachers, and joined online discussion groups. She attended an institute on differentiat-ing instruction in mixed-ability classrooms, which gave her practical ideas for how to set up a classroom more focused on authentic tasks.

Through this information gathering, Janice gained a wider view of the issue and formulated two questions: Why do students from underrepresented groups frequently disengage from studying math? and What specific strate-gies increase students’ willingness to study math?

She enlisted the help of other math teachers within her district. Because she noticed that students who had come from Eastside Elementary were particu-larly disengaged, Janice contacted 5th grade teachers there for their insights. She invited teachers from the high school to join the discussion. Most col-leagues she contacted were eager to participate, and a core group agreed to meet every two weeks to investigate the issue of math disengagement and demographics, which gave Janice’s inquiry elements of second-person action research.

Step 2: Develop a Plan of Action

The teacher formulates a plan, laying out what actions and measurements to take and what data to gather at various points—and who will do which tasks. Because the lineup of specific tasks may change as any project gains traction, this plan should include both tasks tied to specific classroom practices and goals connected to examining the issue in general.

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Janice created a time line detailing when—over the course of a five-week unit on probability and statistics—she planned to collect information about stu-dents’ perceptions of math and mastery of math concepts and when she antic-ipated that students with differing readiness levels would need to have guid-ance and support embedded in lessons. She knew that some students easily transferred data from numerical to graphical representations, for example, whereas others struggled mightily. So she planned lessons for both groups.

To create differentiated lessons tied to the same overarching learning goals, Janice looked over the 13 skills and objectives for this unit listed in the state standards and extracted four generalizations to guide the unit:

• Data can be represented in multiple forms.• The functions of fractions, decimals, and percents are interrelated.• Specific sampling strategies increase how well any findings can be

generalized to a population from a smaller sample.• Researchers can make effective predictions by following systematic

procedures of probability and sampling.

Janice used these foundational principles to develop lessons that she hoped would increase student engagement and understanding of math.

The research team discussed how to begin the unit in an authentic manner, pointing out situations in which students might need to understand prob-ability and statistics, such as in reporting sports players’ achievements. Par-ticipants identified skills within the unit for which students’ readiness levels varied widely, so that some would need more support and others would need opportunities to extend their learning. Together they designed a preassess-ment that enabled Janice to gather data on her students’ attitudes, experi-ences, and familiarity with the skills she was about to teach.

To make this assessment nonthreatening, they designed it as a puzzle and gave it to students to complete well in advance of beginning the unit. Students matched puzzle pieces containing key vocabulary with pieces containing appropriate definitions and matched word problems with their correspond-ing solutions. Students also identified their favorite hobbies and interests.

The first differentiated lesson Janice developed focused on understanding, creating, and using tree diagrams to determine probability in a given situation. The lesson involved group work and offered students a choice of participating in one of three groups connected to their reported interests. One activity situ-ated the question within the context of race cars. This group designed a tree diagram for all the possibilities (and therefore the probability) of race cars with various body styles, colors, and accessories. Another posed a scenario from the fashion industry (“Calculate the probability of two models wearing the same combination of fashion accessories when each is provided the same limited options for headwear, shirts, and shoes”). A third tapped into students’ interests in pets.

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Members of the research team were committed to observing Janice teach this lesson and other newly designed lessons within the unit, and they helped her determine how to assess what students had learned through these lessons.

Step 3: Collect Data

At key points in the project, the teacher gathers the data identified in the action plan. As with other types of research, the findings will be stronger if the researcher examines multiple types of data.

Janice collected student artifacts from all her learners, including preassess-ments of students’ math skills, interest inventories, and work samples. Other artifacts included exit cards (containing each student’s answer to an ungraded question used to check for understanding) and student products created as part of an end-of-unit performance assessment. As the unit progressed, she discussed these artifacts with her research team. Her colleagues helped her use insights she gained from examining student work to shape how she embedded students’ interests within subsequent lessons.

Janice also used her personal reflections as data. While she planned and taught the new lessons, she kept a reflective journal noting which students showed increasing engagement and skill (and which strategies fed such improvement) and which learners still languished. After the tree diagram lesson, she wrote,

It was invigorating to have students work actively in teams of their choosing. The noise in the room was productive but lively, and stu-dents seemed much more invested in the study of math than they have been in recent days! The topics seemed to align well with their inter-ests, and they all got involved. However, I have the nagging sense that some students aren’t as challenged as they could be, so I need to go back to the team and get new ideas to extend the learning for those who are ready to go.

Janice noticed patterns in content and activities that students preferred. She found herself brainstorming additional ways she could tap into these prefer-ences throughout the year.

Peer observations and student interviews rounded out the data gathering. Janice’s team members visited her classroom, observed her guiding the newly developed lessons, noted students’ responses, and shared their observations, which Janice recorded. These alternative perspectives to her recollections of how lessons transpired strengthened the validity of her findings.

Through informal focus group sessions, she also collected and acted on stu-dent feedback about the new instructional approaches. Feedback revealed that although many students liked working in groups (and she noted which ones those were), others yearned for the opportunity to work on tasks by themselves.

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Step 4: Organize the Data

Only a highly systemized method of organizing the volume of data gathered during an action research project will reap the project’s full benefits, This organizational system must be efficient, practical, and protective of sensitive or confidential information about specific students. Janice used only the stu-dents’ initials and school identification number when she shared test scores during her team’s sessions. She created a spreadsheet with cells such as pre-test score, interest areas, proficiency level, exit card score, and post-test score to reveal patterns across students and class sections. She calculated average scores for classroom tasks and plotted them on a chart, noting where clusters of students formed to inform her flexible grouping configurations.

Step 5: Analyze the Data and Draw Conclusions

This step of the process is ongoing as the teacher researcher continues to collect data. Use whatever analytic methods are appropriate to the research question(s)—both qualitative and quantitative—to interpret data. This step may require additional collaboration with guidance counselors, assessment specialists, or others within the school district who have expertise.

Janice and her team put their heads together to analyze the individual data components and discern a pattern across data sources. They laid out student work samples and discussed what these artifacts brought to light in combina-tion with Janice’s self-reflections and peer observers’ notes. This closer look at the data indicated that tapping into students’ interests increased their will-ingness to engage in math activities and consequently their achievement on the probability and statistics unit’s post-test.

Engaging students was the first step: Once a tie-in to their interests got learn-ers actually attending to what Janice was teaching, they followed a series of steps that led to the end result of more solid learning. Students who were more actively involved in lessons during the unit were more willing to ask questions of one another and the teacher when they encountered difficulty, and those who asked such questions and posed alternative answers or ways to solve whole-group questions subsequently showed greater understanding of content as measured by exit cards, performance assessments, and pencil-and-paper tests. Also, students who had the chance to work in small groups on a shared task were more willing to discuss their mathematical thinking.

The team concluded that designing new lessons and strategies to tap into students’ interests increased all students’ understanding of the math topics under investigation, including formerly resistant or struggling learners. They believed the project supported the hypothesis that students must first be engaged before they are willing to persist and achieve.

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Step 6: Disseminate Findings

Janice and her team first shared their preliminary findings with the adminis-trators at Marshall Middle School. They discussed the overarching principles of tapping into students’ interests to boost their zeal for math and punctuated these insights with anecdotes from Janice’s journal and her peers’ observa-tions of these principles in action.

To put a human face on how the project threaded math skills into students’ life pursuits in a way that ignited learning passion, they described José, a quiet young man, largely uninterested in math in September. When Janice created probability lessons formulated around his passion for race cars, José opened up and shared with his classmates in math. For one marketing project, stu-dents collected survey data on classmates’ perceptions and displayed their findings in an appropriate format. José selected the topic of students’ interest in competitive racing. When faced with the challenge of skewed results, he successfully tackled the sophisticated technique of purposeful sampling.

School leaders were intrigued and suggested that the team share its findings at a professional learning community meeting that was investigating curricu-lum reform within the district.

Step 7: Develop a New Plan of Action

Ideally, the action research process results in the discovery of new infor-mation about improving learning conditions. Once this new information is acquired, the action researcher makes decisions about how to change prac-tices to include this new learning—or whether to launch additional investiga-tion. Janice and her team elected to revise additional math units to incorpo-rate more avenues for students’ interests.

Action Research and Teacher GrowthThe action research process facilitates meaningful teacher change. The first two steps Janice Templeton took—identifying a problem and developing a plan of action to investigate it—were necessary precursors to deep changes in her approach and effectiveness with learners like José.

Janice moved beyond harboring an intuition that something needed to shift to capture tuned-out learners to reaching data-supported conclusions that ultimately changed her conceptual frameworks about teaching. She not only helped students in one school district cultivate a taste for math but also grew in her understanding of how to confront achievement gaps.

All names in this article are pseudonyms.

Source: Brighton, C. M. (2009). Embarking on action research. Educational Leadership, 66(5): 40–44. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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SummaryAccording to Brighton, action research, which has clear steps, is prompted and conducted by stakeholders who are directly affected by the issue under study. Its purpose is to improve the practices of educators or other practitioners. In this article, Brighton provided a concrete exam-ple of the classroom-based action research process, which often begins with a teacher’s concern about her or his students as related to academics or social interactions. The next step in the process is to learn more about the issue of concern, which includes paying closer attention to and documenting the phenomenon (e.g., disengagement) in the school or classroom context and understanding it more deeply through literature, Internet resources, discussions with col-leagues, and professional conferences.

As Brighton describes, after gaining a broader and more complex understanding of the problem, the teacher then develops an intervention. During implementation, the teacher collects data, which will provide insight into how changes in instructional practice can effectively address the problem. In the case described, the teacher specifically incorporates students’ interests and choices into her mathematics instruction. The teacher enlists her colleagues to observe and doc-ument her teaching and student responses and to help analyze the data. Multiple forms of data, including classroom observations, student work and feedback, and a reflective journal, helped the teacher-researcher gain a complex understanding of engagement among her students. She found that incorporating students’ interests into her math lessons increased their classroom engagement and, in turn, their understanding of mathematical concepts. As a result, she and her colleagues incorporated this strategy into their teaching. Ultimately, action research provided a means for improving instructional practice and student outcomes and enhancing the teacher’s professional growth.

Critical Thinking Questions1. Much research on teaching and learning has been conducted by outside researchers—often

university researchers—who use K–12 classrooms as “research sites.” As Brighton points out, what distinguishes action research is that it is prompted and conducted by stakeholders who are directly affected by the problem or issue under study. In what ways might educa-tional practitioners be better positioned than university researchers to study problems in their own setting? What challenges related to conducting research in your own school or classroom might arise, and how can they be addressed?

2. Teachers often make changes to their practice and try out new ideas, informally, in order to address academic or social challenges they see among their students. According to the article, how and why would it be advantageous for teachers to engage in a more formal and systematic process of addressing instructional and learning problems in the classroom?

3. Identify a specific problem related to student learning that you have experienced in your own classroom or that is common in your discipline or grade level. For example, many students experience challenges in the transition from concrete to abstract thinking in mathematics in elementary school. Drawing from the example in the article, develop a plan for learning more about the nature of the problem in classroom context. What would you want to examine more closely in a classroom? How might you document your observations? What other types of data could you collect to give you additional insight into the problem?

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Section 4.3 The Process Begins

4.3 The Process Begins, by Dorothy Valcarcel Craig

IntroductionDorothy Craig is a full professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Middle Ten-nessee State University. Before becoming a university instructor, Craig was a K–12 classroom teacher, teaching kindergarten through sixth grade. She worked with migrant students in rural and urban schools, teaching English as a second language. Craig also served as a curriculum writer for a K–12 school district. Her current research interests include literacy learning, the use of educational technology and online learning, and action research.

In the following excerpt, Craig provides two helpful rubrics to identify a suitable problem or topic for an action research project. The first helps practitioner-researchers to determine whether a potential topic is worthy of immediate action, should be pursued at a later date, or should be abandoned altogether. The second outlines potential sources, both inside and outside of schools and classrooms, from which to identify research problems and topics. Finally, Craig addresses how to narrow and refine a research topic. Overall, this excerpt helps practitioner-researchers to determine the value and enhance the feasibility of an action research topic.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Craig, D. V. (2009). The Process Begins. In Action research essentials (pp. 29–54 ). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Identifying Problems Suitable for Action Research

People who are already working in the classroom or other environment are aware of abundant problems and critical issues that might be considered as a focus for action research. Graduate students—who are not already in the classroom—find it a bit more difficult to determine which problem or criti-cal issue is worth pursuing. In both cases, the interests of the research typi-cally drive problem selection. Because the classroom is also an environment where naturally occurring events take place, numerous problems arise that might be suitable for action research. Also present in the classroom environ-ment are outside influences—such as school improvement goals, the need to improve test scores, new program implementation, and systemwide goals—that may require research. Researchers must remember, however, that not all problems will demand that an action plan be put in place to achieve improved conditions.

When deliberating on problems for research, be sure to consider the follow-ing points.

• Is the topic of interest to the researcher, and if so, will pursuing the problem via action research enhance knowledge, build research skills, and contribute to improvement? It is very important that

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graduate students consider this question first and foremost. The degree of interest must be considered first. If the problem exists but is of little or no interest to the researcher, it should not be pursued. Lack of interest will have a negative impact on critically evaluating the data, keeping the research on track, and completing the study. The same holds true to some degree for teachers and practitioners. However, the nature of teaching and the structure of schooling may in some cases demand that a teacher or practitioner pursue a study that is not of great interest but is critical to improving practice and effecting change.

• Can the researcher provide a convincing explanation for the choice of problem? If not, a different problem should be selected.

• What impact will the findings have on the teaching and learning pro-cess, and will the findings lead to change and improvement? There is no point in pursuing action research if the findings will have little effect on improving the environment.

• Are there adequate resources in place to support the action research, and are there others who deem the problem important enough to pursue? For example, if the research requires resources that are beyond the scope of the researcher, it will become burdensome and may not be effective. The action research process promotes collabo-ration, so if resources are scarce, consider teaming up with another researcher, administrator, or colleague.

• Is the problem integrated and related to existing goals or objectives? Although pursuing a problem related to schoolwide or departmen-tal goals is always a good idea, there may be times when a problem specific to one particular learning environment is so consistent that it demands a solution. In cases such as this, action research is a natural process, as a solution is within the realm of possibility for the practitioner.

For teachers, more often than not, it is difficult to determine which of many problems is worth pursuing through the research process. Full-time graduate students have an equally difficult quandary because they may not be oper-ating in the practicing environment on a regular basis. Table 4.2 provides a simple rubric that may help with problem identification and determining if the problem should be pursued immediately, be placed on hold for the time being, or discarded as a potential action research project.

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Table 4.2: Problem identification rubric

Criterion Take immediate action Place on hold Discard

Interest High degree of interest Excellent potential to enhance knowledgeInterest sparks the develop-ment of skillsInquiry will contribute to improvement

Some interestGood potential to enhance knowledgeMay help with developing research skillsMay assist in promoting improvement

Little interest

Explanation Problem choice can easily be explained and supportedResearcher feels comfort-able explaining problem selection to colleagues and administratorsResearcher is passionate about the problem

Problem choice can be explainedResearcher is somewhat comfortable providing an explanation

Researcher has trouble explaining why this problem should be selected

Impact Findings have great potential for contributing to the exist-ing body of knowledgeFindings have potential to effect change and improve practiceFindings have potential to inform those in decision-making positions

Findings have some potential for adding to the existing body of knowledge and effect-ing change.

Finding may have some potential for adding to the existing body of knowledge

Resources The research does not require resources that are beyond the researcher’s environment

The research may require resources outside the researcher’s environment

Pursing this problem will require more resources than are available

Existing goals The problem is related to existing goals and objectivesFindings may be beneficial to specific environments and may be applied to other situa-tions to improve practice

The problem is somewhat related to existing goals and objectivesFindings may be ben-eficial to others in the same environment

The problem has little relationship to specific classroom goals or schoolwide or systematic goals

Sources for Problems or Research Topics

* * *Even if the problem is easily identifiable, there are several excellent sources of help in refining research topics. Consider the teacher or practitioner who is in the process of identifying a problem. Several problems have the potential to develop into an action research project. To help narrow the problem, consider a brief literature review. Conducting a preliminary review of literature via an Internet search can help by prioritizing a list of topics. New ideas may be gathered in addition to a variety of sources that may be consulted later when developing the action research plan. Discussions with colleagues—and in the case of graduate students, with peers, professors, and administrators—may

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reveal information and opinions that aid problem identification and deter-mining the potential for the research to improve practice. Observations in the classroom or work environment lead to additional insights and may prompt pursuing a specific problem whose findings may affect universal change among similar environments. Considering other researcher projects is also a way to view a problem from multiple perspectives. The process in itself pro-vides the researcher with another practitioner’s viewpoint on a similar prob-lem or situation.

One of the greatest resources for help with problem identification and selec-tion is professional conference sessions that focus on practitioner research. Formal research presentations conducted by other researchers may spark interest in a particular problem or topic. For graduate students, professional conference sessions provide a wealth of ideas and research possibilities that may be adapted to a more specific situation. National trends and critical issues noted by professional organizations may also be present in local classrooms. The need to address the trends and issues at the individual or systemic level may prompt the need for an action research study in order to improve the situation at hand. Examining existing problems or revisiting old problems is always worthwhile, for a more specific focus for action research may emerge. Finally, examining test scores, classroom grades, student products, writing samples, and other classroom artifacts may help in prioritizing and determin-ing which problem or issue to pursue for action research.

Whether you are just beginning the research process or a seasoned researcher, look to the environment first; however, keep in mind that there are other sources to assist with problem identification, topic selection, and refining focus. Table 4.3 provides an overview of the sources discussed.

Table 4.3: Sources for selecting problems and research topics

In the classroom or work environment Outside the classroom or work environment

School or system goals Brief review of literature

School improvement plans Professional literature

Specific problems related to teaching and learning Conference presentations

Curriculum development or content Professor or peer research

Professional development initiatives Professional organizations

Specific methods or materials Websites and blogs related to practice

Programs implementation Professional workshops

Testing and student achievement National trends and critical issues

Student products and artifacts National initiatives

Observations National data related to practice

(continued)

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In the classroom or work environment Outside the classroom or work environment

Discussions and dialogue with colleagues Discussions with professors and peers

Existing or revisited problems Informal interviews with colleagues

Researcher interests Researcher interests

Team or school interests Previous studies completed that relate to a specific problem or issue

Observations

* * *

Narrowing the Focus

In typical research studies, once a problem, issue, or concern has been identi-fied, the researcher faces the task of narrowing the focus of the inquiry. The process of refining a broad problem into a specific focus flows naturally in action research because the researcher draws on expertise and observations while working in the classroom environment. The events of the classroom occur on a continuum such that the practitioner researcher is generally aware of the events that led to the current situation, the events or activities that contributed to the problem, and behaviors that preceded the problem. Even if the problem or concern is identified at the beginning of the school year, the researcher has resources in the form of conversations with colleagues, cumulative records, previous school improvement plans, and results from standardized tests that may be reviewed and examined. The data-rich envi-ronment provides the means to construct a timeline or continuum of events that led to or contributed to the identified problem, which in turn guides the researcher in refining and narrowing the focus of any action research study.

* * *The disconnection between home and school and lack of parental communi-cation is too broad a topic in that it does not lead the researcher to a specific research question. However, after examining the available sources of data, the researcher may see a pattern emerge that will help narrow the focus. For exam-ple, the student contact information may reveal that every parent or guardian who has a student enrolled in the fifth grade also has e-mail either at home or at work. In addition, discussions and informal conversations with fourth- and sixth-grade teachers may reveal that parents respond a little better to e-mail than to other contacts. Finally, the researcher may discover, after attending one or two PTA meetings, that attendance records indicate that most parents provide an e-mail address instead of a phone number. Based on available data sources, the researcher may draw the conclusion that communicating with parents electronically, via e-mail and an electronic newsletter, may help build a stronger connection between home and school. The problem now has a good, strong focus from which specific research questions could be designed.

Source: Craig, D. V. (2009). Action research essentials. Reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Table 4.3: Sources for selecting problems and research topics (continued)

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SummaryCraig points out that as an environment in which “naturally occurring events take place” (p. 31), the classroom is a context in which multiple problems that are suitable for action research can arise. However, action research, as an intervention, is not appropriate for all classroom-based problems. Thus, Craig outlines a series of criteria for determining the value and feasibility of research topics. As she describes, suitable topics must be of interest to the researcher, be relevant to existing instructional or learning goals, and have potential to lead to the improvement of the teaching and learning environment. Practitioner-researchers must also be sure that there are adequate resources to support the investigation of the topic. For example, although it may affect student learning, family poverty is likely outside the purview of classroom teachers.

Once identified, the next step is to refine the issue or problem to arrive at a researchable topic. For example, Craig points out that “The disconnection between home and school and lack of parental communication is too broad a topic” (p. 37), because this problem has multiple dimen-sions. She offers multiple suggestions for narrowing the focus of a broad research focus, includ-ing: (a) conducting a literature review and Internet search that includes prior research on the topic, (b) discussing the issue with colleagues, (c) conducting classroom observations, (d) examining student products and records, (e) attending conferences on practitioner action research, and (f) considering topics identified as significant at the national level. For example, increasing the representation of racial or ethnic minorities and females in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology is a national priority, which teachers in these disciplines may want to address. As Craig describes, assessing the value and refining focus of problems of practice is essential to identifying an appropriate and feasible topic for an action research project.

Critical Thinking Questions1. Craig asserts that any topic pursued for an action research project should be of high inter-

est to the teacher researcher. She contends that interest promotes the development of skills. Drawing on what you know about K–12 student learning, in what ways do you believe that interest and skill development are related? According to the article, what types of skills do teachers learn through the action research process, and how are they valuable to the work of teachers?

2. Craig points out that educational trends and issues that are of concern at the national level can be valuable topics for action research projects. Identify such a trend or issue within your academic discipline or grade level. What do you currently know about this topic (e.g., the nature of related problems and their implications for learners and for society), and from what sources can you learn more?

3. It is important to refine and narrow a broad or general topic so that it is feasible for an action research project. Consider the topic you identified for Question #2. Using Craig’s example of narrowing the topic of disconnection between home and school, think of ways to refine your topic so that it is feasible for an action research project at the school or classroom level. Once you have a more focused topic, identify sources of data that a teacher could collect in her or his classroom or school to learn more about the topic.

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Section 4.4 Phase 2: Collecting Data

4.4 Phase 2: Collecting Data, by Emily F. Calhoun

IntroductionEmily F. Calhoun is the director of the Phoenix Alliance in Saint Simons Island, Georgia, which supports school districts and state and regional agencies in improving student achievement through staff development. Prior to joining the Phoenix Alliance, Calhoun was a elementary- and secondary-level classroom teacher, a curriculum consultant, a district language arts coordina-tor, and coordinator of the Georgia League of Professional Schools. Calhoun focuses on helping educational practitioners to study the effects of curriculum and instruction on student learning. As a longtime advocate of action research, she has conducted extensive studies on the school-based action research process, particularly in the area of literacy learning.

The following excerpt is taken from Calhoun’s book, which is intended for educational practi-tioners who want to learn more about students’ academic and social experiences in order to improve their schooling outcomes. It explains how to conduct action research at both the class-room and schoolwide levels. The excerpt focuses on identifying data that will help the researcher learn more about his or her chosen topic. She discusses the use of three specific types of data—existing archival data, conventional sources, and inventive data—to understand student perfor-mance and its relationship to the school environment. This approach enables researchers to gain a multifaceted understanding of the problem under study.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Calhoun, E. F. (Ed.). (2002). Phase 2: Collecting Data. In How to use action research in the self-renewing school (pp. 50–70). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Your selection of a focus area and a clear, shared statement of it are important first steps in action research. Next, if it has not begun already, is the data-gathering phase. Somebody (task force, facilitation team, or entire school staff) decides what data will be collected in the area under investigation and how the data will be collected, from whom, and how often. Collection of base-line data is only the beginning—action research is a formative study of prog-ress, requiring regular and frequent data collection so that changes and trends can be seen. For vital areas of interest, such as the effect of the new math-ematics curriculum on students’ achievement and attitude in mathematics or grades being made by at-risk students, data collection may occur as often as biweekly for a year or more.

What Data Do We Collect?

The first task in the data-collection phase is to decide what data will be col-lected. This decision has two substantive aspects: (1) What data do we collect about the learner? and (2) What data do we collect about the learning envi-ronment provided by the school? First, let’s consider data about the student as learner.

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The big question is, What sources will provide the faculty with information about student learning? How are students doing in the academic, social, and personal domains of our focus area?

In the academic domain, we need to find out how well students are learning how to learn. For example, are they learning how to explore the world of math-ematics and use the concepts of the discipline to solve new problems, and are they learning how to teach themselves mathematics? In terms of productiv-ity in mathematics, what do grades indicate about student performance, and what do standardized test scores indicate?

In the social domain, we need to know whether students know how to use the social system for support as learners. In the personal domain, we need information on how students feel about mathematics, and how they feel about themselves as students of mathematics. What is their academic self-esteem in relation to mathematics?

As the faculty inquires into student learning in their area of interest and gath-ers information in response to these questions, they will use student data from a variety of sources.

Once the faculty has identified data sources that provide a picture of how students are performing, then faculty members need to develop a picture of how their school influences student learning in their focus area. The big data-collection question here is, What sources will provide information about the learning environment of the school? Here are a few questions a faculty can ask as they generate possible sources of information.

• How do schools affect learning?• What experiences are sanctioned and provided by our school as an

organization to enhance student learning?• What is happening in curriculum and instruction—or, more specifi-

cally, what are we teaching and how are we teaching it?• What do our actions look like?• What are we doing as a learning community?

Again, keeping the collective attention firmly on what the faculty can control and on what has been shown to pay off in terms of student learning, the fac-ulty and facilitation team will need to select multiple data sources as they inquire into the experiences they are providing for students.

During the first action research cycle, the question of what data we collect to inform us about student learning is primary. In fact, a complete cycle can be conducted to answer this question, followed immediately by a second cycle, during which the faculty looks at the experiences the school provides for students in the focus area. When student learning and the experience of schooling are investigated separately, the first two cycles function as needs assessment: the first cycle assesses student learning in the focus area, and the second cycle assesses the learning environment in the focus area. However,

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if the faculty spends too much time studying on-site data without taking any action to improve student learning, the energy of the faculty can dissipate. My recommendation is to gather information on some aspects of both these questions during the first action research cycle: What is the status of student learning? and What is the status of schooling in our focus area? During recur-ring cycles of Phases 2–4, the faculty can collect additional information in response to each question.

Identifying Sources of Data for Action Research

What sources of information will help us develop a schoolwide response to the two major data-collection questions—how are students performing in our area of interest and what experiences of schooling might affect that performance?

The facilitation team and faculty seek data sources that will provide an accu-rate picture of the student behavior they wish to influence. Where do they start? To get action research and collective study going, it’s a good idea to use existing archival data sources immediately, conventional data sources next, and then more inventive and elaborate data sources (see Table 4.4). These three categories of data sources provide a useful framework to school faculties as they develop their data-collection schedule. The categories serve as a bank of ideas; they can stimulate reflections about why we collect information from a particular source; and they can serve as a filter to prevent a data-collection overload that overwhelms the faculty, thus preventing collective action.

Table 4.4: Sources of data for action research

Existing archival sources Conventional sources Inventive sources

Student grades Surveys Exhibits

Attendance Simple interviews Portfolios

Referrals Number of books read Expositions

Retentions Writing samples Videotapes

Number/percentage of students in special programs

Variety of materials used

Standardized test results Observations

Journals

Think about these three sources on a continuum, with existing sources at one end and inventive sources at the other. The depth of information increases as one moves across the continuum from existing sources to inventive sources. Generally, in data collection, organization, and analysis, the time investment increases as one moves from existing to conventional and from conventional to inventive.

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1. Existing Archival Sources. Existing sources of data are those items currently available in the files or archives of the school or of individual staff members. Data about the school population can be gathered and organized directly from these records. Some examples are student grades, discipline referrals, stan-dardized test results, and demographics. The collection of data from these sources requires little effort and time from the faculty, but information from them provides the faculty with an immediate picture of the educational cli-mate of the school.

Within the category of existing, archival sources are several indicators of stu-dent behavior that we call fate-control variables. These indicators of student behavior are so critical to student learning that each member of the school faculty needs to have a clear, schoolwide picture of them, because they pro-vide a rough map of the academic and social climate of the school. Variables such as attendance, referrals, grades, and courses taken indicate how many students are present or absent for instruction, how many students are moving successfully or unsuccessfully through school, and how many students are mak-ing use of the educational opportunities being offered. We call them fate-control variables because they have so much influence on the fate of each student who enters our school.

* * *

2. Conventional Sources. Conventional sources of data are items that require communication, observation, or follow-up with members of the population and that often require instrumentation to standardize the information col-lected. Therefore, the collection of data from these sources requires the selec-tion or development of data-collection instruments. Examples of conventional data sources are surveys, interviews, observations, samples of student work, journals, and logs of performance. Information from these sources can be eas-ily acquired and organized in a brief span of time.

With existing data sources, we gather information from school archives and staff records; with conventional data sources, we gather information directly from individuals, from samples of their work, and from documents that require study. We seek information from these sources when we want to know more about the behaviors and attitudes of students in our area of interest.

* * *

Avoid overreliance on perceptual data sources. I am addressing the overuse of surveys and attitudinal measures specifically because it is so common. I have seen faculties select excellent student learning goals, then (1) identify as their primary data source a survey of themselves with student achievement and attitude about school as the content or (2) develop and administer three long surveys to parents, students, and staff. The goals focused on student learning, yet no behavioral data on student learning were collected. Part of the faculty’s picture of student learning was missing in both cases because the data did not include any direct indicators of student performance, such as grades, quality of writing, skill in problem-solving, or standardized test results. Using surveys or

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questionnaires to collect perceptions about what is and beliefs about how one-self or others operate provides useful information to pour into our decision-making funnel; however, what individuals and groups are actually doing (the behavioral part of the picture) provides even more useful information.

* * *

3. Inventive Data Sources. Inventive data sources are usually examples of products or performance. We use these sources when we want even more in-depth information about performance than we can gain from existing and conventional sources. For student products and performances, these items are directly linked to the learning goals of the school; their purpose is to pro-vide the student and the larger school community with an accurate and more direct measure of what students know and how they think, as individuals. These items require the development of criteria for analyzing the products and performances and a greater investment of faculty time in the collection, organization, and analysis phases. Examples of inventive data sources related to student products and performances include portfolios, exhibits, and video-tapes. Many of us associate these data sources with “authentic assessment.”

For collecting data about faculty products and performances, the sources used are directly linked to the goals of the schoolwide initiative; their purpose is to provide the individual and the faculty with an accurate and more direct (than surveys and perceptual data) measure of staff performance in terms of the actions or innovations being implemented. Examples of inventive data sources related to staff products and performances include units and materials devel-oped to support an instructional strategy and videotapes of instruction.

Source: Calhoun, E. F. (2002). How to use action research in the self-renewing school. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

SummaryIn this excerpt, Calhoun discusses the process of identifying appropriate data sources for inves-tigating and enhancing student learning through action research. At the outset of an action research project on student learning, Calhoun suggests two small studies (e.g., each cycling once through the “look, think, act” routine, as described by Stringer): one on the status of student learning and one on how the school contributes (or does not contribute) to learning. These ini-tial investigations serve as needs assessments, providing baseline data on these two phenom-ena and the relationship between them.

To understand student learning as it pertains to the research topic and the factors that have an impact on learning, Calhoun suggests that practitioners collect data in the academic, social, and personal domains. The academic domain pertains to how well students are learning how to learn, which includes their ability to apply disciplinary concepts to solve new problems. The social domain pertains to students’ use of social support systems, including help seeking. Finally, the personal domain refers to how students feel about and identify with academics. Within the three domains, researchers can collect three types of data. The first is existing archival data, which includes test scores, grades, discipline and attendance records, and demographic informa-tion. Within this data, Calhoun asserts that school staff members should “have a clear, school-wide picture” (p. 53) of what she calls “fate-control variables” (p. 53). These variables, such as

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Section 4.5 Combining Rigor and Respect

data on attendance, grades, and disciplinary infractions, provide a broad picture of the school’s academic and social climate.

Practitioner-researchers should also collect data from conventional sources, such as observa-tions, interviews, student work, journals, and performance logs. Unlike archival data, research-ers must develop data collection instruments (lists of questions to be asked and topics to be investigated) to collect these data. Calhoun also suggests using inventive data sources, which include student products and performances related to curricular innovations linked to specific learning goals. It is vital that practitioner-researchers develop specific criteria to guide the analysis of these data. For example, what counts as evidence of student understanding and the effectiveness of the curriculum or instruction? Finally, data should capture both behaviors and perceptions. In collecting various forms of data on different aspects of learning, the practitioner-researcher will get a more complex understanding of the problem under study and how it can it can be addressed.

Critical Thinking Questions1. In the field of K–12 education, significant emphasis is currently placed on archival academic

data, particularly standardized test scores, in efforts to reform schools and improve student outcomes. Calhoun suggests that practitioner-researchers also use data from the personal domain in order to understand students’ learning challenges and how to intervene into them. In what ways are emotions and identity related to academic outcomes? In conducting research on a topic pertinent to your academic discipline or grade level, what types of data within the personal domain could you collect to better understand student performance? What insights might you gain from this data?

2. Calhoun believes that all staff should be familiar with their school’s archival data on what she calls “fate-control variables,” which pertain to student attendance, course taking, test scores, grades, and behavior. She asserts that these factors have a great deal of influence on students’ success and failure. How could these factors, both individually and in combination, affect the fate of a student both in and beyond school? Can you think of any other factors—inside or outside of school—that have a similarly important influence?

3. Calhoun points out the importance of collecting data from both behavioral and perceptional sources. Identify a specific problem of practice or student learning within an academic disci-pline or grade level that is of interest to you. What types of data could you collect from both sources that would give further insight into the problem? From whom would you collect the data, and how?

4.5 Combining Rigor and Respect, by Viviane Robinson and Mei Kuin Lai

IntroductionViviane Robinson is a professor in the School of Education at the University of Auckland. She is also the director of master’s program in educational management and the academic leader of the induction program for school principals in New Zealand. Her interests include educational leadership, policy, management, organizational learning, and using research to improve educa-tional practice. Mei Kuin Lai is also a professor in the School of Education at the University of

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Auckland as well as an educational consultant, helping teachers, administrators, and officials to improve school practice. She currently focuses on school–university partnerships that help school practitioners integrate research into their everyday practices.

The following excerpt is taken from Robinson and Lai’s book, designed to guide educational practitioners through each stage of the action research process. The authors believe that ongo-ing and sustainable school change requires that practitioners inquire into their practice and use what they learn to improve instruction. They use “problem-based methodology (PBM)” (p. 53), in which researchers focus on solving a particular problem of practice through research.

The excerpt focuses on the interrelated issues of reliability and validity in research. The for-mer refers to the accuracy of the information (e.g., data) within a research project, and the latter refers to logic and plausibility of claims made by researchers. Robinson and Lai offer a framework for understanding validity at different stages of the research process, beginning with the reliability of the data. As they explain, although practitioners may be reluctant explore such abstract, theoretical concepts, validity is essential to producing research that can lead to improvements in practice. Further, educational practitioners confront issues of reliability and validity when making everyday decisions about their practice; however, it is usually in informal ways. Through the action research process, Robinson and Lai help practitioners formalize and think more deeply about the trustworthiness of the information and ideas on which they base instructional approaches.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Robinson, V., & Lia, M. K. (2006). Combining rigor and respect. In Practitioner research for educators: A guide to improving classrooms and schools (pp. 53–72). Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin Press.

The Concept of Validity

There are many types of claim to know something, and questions of validity are relevant to all of them. In Chapter 3 we discussed some of these different types of claim as we went up the ladder of inference. The bottom rungs have the more straightforward claims, such as descriptions of what is happening in a classroom. The validity of such claims depends on their accuracy. For exam-ple, if a teacher claims that he talks to male students as much as his female students, the validity of the claim depends on whether relevant evidence, such as observations of his classroom, shows this to be true.

Further up the ladder we have interpretations of what is happening. The valid-ity of an interpretation is established by showing how it is more plausible than other possible interpretations. For example, a teacher might interpret a stu-dent’s refusal to participate in a group activity as rebelliousness. The validity of the teacher’s interpretation (rebelliousness) is established by showing that this particular interpretation is more plausible than other possible interpretations (for example, student objection to the peer culture in this particular group).

Near the top of the ladder are theories of action. In professional discussion, people seldom express all the claims that make up their theories of action.

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They may talk, for example, about what works in their classroom or make a claim about the fact that one curriculum is preferable to another. The valid-ity of these claims depends on the validity of the implicit theory from which they are derived. This becomes clear if you think about how you would debate a colleague’s claim that one curriculum was better than another. You would probably ask your colleague for the basis of his comparison. If he said he thought one curriculum was more up to date, or more interesting for students, or provided better explanations of key concepts, you would probably want to ask further questions about what led your colleague to make these par-ticular claims. If the validity of these supporting claims proves to be doubtful, then the validity of the conclusion about which curriculum is better is also in doubt. In summary, the validity of the claim that one curriculum is preferable to another depends on the validity of a network of interrelated claims. That is why checking the validity of such claims involves uncovering and evaluating the whole theory.

Busy practitioners can be impatient with abstract theoretical discussion about concepts such as validity. Yet, in our experience, even though teachers may not use the term “validity;” they often have strong and divergent views about the idea. In addition, teachers’ views have powerful consequences for the way they react to research findings and professional opinions. It is essen-tial, therefore, that we tackle the issue of validity in PBM. In order to avoid abstract discussion, we begin with the story of a hypothetical high school sci-ence department, whose members have decided to work together to improve their teaching of science.

* * *

Procedures for Increasing Validity

As a teacher-researcher, your primary job is to make theories of action explicit and to involve others in their evaluation and revision. We turn now to the approaches that you can use throughout your study to increase the validity of your account of the theory of action you are investigating. The better your research design, methods, and analysis, the stronger the argument you can make for the validity of your description of the relevant theory of action.

The key to improving validity is being skilled in noticing when you are wrong—when assumptions, hunches, and initial understandings turn out to be mistakes. Therefore, it is important to design your study in ways that increase the chances that you will avoid error and detect those that you may have made. This does not mean that your work will be error free. Research findings should always be expressed with tentativeness and open-minded-ness, since there is always the possibility of error. The best you can do in the face of inevitable fallibility is to describe the steps you took to increase the validity of your research.

In Chapter 3, we introduced the ladder of inference—a tool for representing how people make claims about the world. We discussed how people can leap to conclusions that may not be warranted by the information at the bottom of

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the ladder. The adequacy of such conclusions is established by examining how people reasoned their way up the ladder, from the information at the bottom to the conclusions at the top. Exactly the same principle applies to demon-strating the validity of your own research. The four key strategies for increas-ing validity are portrayed diagrammatically in Figure 4.2. Procedures are needed to (1) reduce bias in how you select information, (2) increase the accuracy of your description of what you have selected, (3) increase the plau-sibility of your interpretations through audit trials and triangulation, and (4) establish the reasonableness of your conclusions through seeking partici-pant feedback. The validity of your research findings will depend on how well you complete each of these procedures.

Figure 4.2: Using the ladder of inference to increase validity

Drawconclusions Seek feedback on draft

conclusions and considerobjections to them

Establish audit trails,use triangulation

Keep accurate recordsand check descriptions

Reduce selection bias

Evaluateinformation

Interpretinformation

Select information

Pool of viable information

Name and describeselected information

Theorize

Reducing Selection BiasAt every stage of your research, you select from the available pool of informa-tion—you select who to talk to or observe, and what questions to ask or obser-vations to make. Selection is an inevitable part of doing research and does not, in itself, threaten its validity. After all, you must select what is relevant to your research question and set aside what is not. It is wrong to believe that the mere selection of a question, research approach, and theoretical frame-work produces bias. Bias is produced when the manner in which you select favors answers to your research questions that fit your existing political or

Drawconclusions Seek feedback on draft

conclusions and considerobjections to them

Establish audit trails,use triangulation

Keep accurate recordsand check descriptions

Reduce selection bias

Evaluateinformation

Interpretinformation

Select information

Pool of viable information

Name and describeselected information

Theorize

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practical commitments (Hammersley, 2000). This means that you pay insuf-ficient attention to evidence that challenges or questions your existing views.

* * *

Improving Accuracy of DescriptionThe validity of research findings can be compromised by inaccurate descrip-tion. Accuracy requires careful record keeping and attention to detail. For example, if you are interviewing, you will increase accuracy if you use a tape recorder as you will not have to rely on notes or your memory.

If you are not able to make audio or video recordings, you can ensure your field or interview notes are accurate by checking them with the colleagues you observed or interviewed. The purpose of the check is to establish that you are working with data that are reliable; that is, all the relevant parties agree the records accurately capture what occurred or was said. An additional strat-egy for increasing accuracy of description is through use of a second observer or interviewer.

* * *

TriangulationAn important procedure for the validation of interpretations is that of trian-gulation. This refers to a navigational and survey technique where the precise location of a point is established by the convergence of observations taken from different angles. When applied to educational research, it means that a conclusion reached on the basis of one set of methods or sources of evidence is confirmed by the use of at least one additional method or source of evidence. In the example given, triangulation could be used to check the interpretation that the principal is “democratic” by interviewing teachers about how they experience him as leading the meetings in a democratic fashion, then the con-clusion that the principal has a democratic style is strengthened. Triangula-tion has increased the validity of this conclusion by showing how two different methods (observation of staff meetings and teacher interviews) have indepen-dently produced the same conclusion. The point of triangulation is not simply to employ different methods, but to check whether each of these diverse meth-ods leads to a similar conclusion (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995).

Seeking Participant Feedback

Finally, an important way of increasing the validity of your research is to check whether the participants recognize the validity of your accounts. This type of validity check is called “member checks” (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) or “respondent validation” (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995). These latter authors describe the purpose of respondent validation as follows:

The value of respondent validation lies in the fact that the participants involved in the events documented in the data may have access to additional knowledge of the context—of other relevant events, of tem-poral framework, of others’ ulterior motives for example—that is not

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available to the [researcher]. . . . In addition, they have access to their own experience of events, which may be of considerable importance. Such additional evidence may materially alter the plausibility of dif-ferent possible interpretations of the data. (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995, p. 228)

It is important to note that the purpose of such checking is to increase validity and not simply to gain agreement. As Denis Phillips, the philosopher of social science, has noted, it is possible to find people who agree with a claim regard-less of its validity (Phillips, 1987). For example, a principal may claim that bullying in the playground is decreasing, and his teachers may agree with him. However, both principal and teachers may be wrong. Gaining agreement will only increase validity if it is the result of careful consideration of the grounds on which the claims are made.

In gaining participant feedback, you must be clear about what is being checked, because different procedures are required for different types of evidence and analysis. A draft research report in PBM will often include both a description and an evaluation of teachers’ theories of action. Teachers are unlikely to find an evaluation of a theory of action credible if they believe your account of the theory is wrong. The first step, therefore, is to check the accuracy of the description of the relevant theory or theories of action. This involves check-ing that you have accurately understood the constraints and how they explain the actions you are studying. The links you are claiming between actions and intended and unintended consequences should also be checked.

ReferencesHammersley, M. (2000). Taking sides in social research: Essays on partnership and bias. New

York: Routledge.

Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (1995). Ethnography. London: Routledge.

Lincoln, Y. & Gupta, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Phillips, D. (1987). Quality in child care: What does research tell us? (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Source: Robinson, V., & Lia, M. K. (2006). Practitioner research for educators: A guide to improving classrooms and schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

SummaryThis excerpt examines the issue of validity in practitioner-led action research—or the degree to which the researchers’ ideas and theories that develop from the research are logical and plau-sible. The authors propose three levels of validity corresponding to what they call the “ladder of inference” (p. 54). The first level pertains to the accuracy of descriptions of the phenomena under study, otherwise known as data reliability. The next level pertains to interpretations of what is happening: Validity is based on the plausibility of one explanation, as compared with others. For example, one teacher might interpret a mother’s failure to attend parents’ night as evidence that she does not care about her child’s education. Another teacher, however, might know that the parent works in the evening and cannot afford to miss work. Given this informa-tion, which explanation for the parent’s absence is most plausible?

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The third level of validity pertains to theories of action or the ideas behind why a practitioner believes a particular approach is better than others. For example, proponents of phonics and proponents of whole-language approaches to literacy each have theories or claims to support their approach. As the authors point out, if the validity of one’s claims are doubtful, instructional approach based on those claims will also be in doubt. If a curriculum is based on a theory of student learning that is supported by little or no evidence, practitioners are likely to be skeptical of it or to reject it outright.

Robinson and Lai discuss several ways that practitioner-researchers can strengthen the valid-ity or trustworthiness of their research. First and foremost, the research design and methods of data collection and analysis must be sound. As discussed in the previous section, it is important to keep accurate records, pay attention to details, and keep data organized. The authors also point out that preconceived ideas can shape how researchers go about their research and inter-pret the information they gather. For example, a researcher who assumes that English learners’ academic difficulties occur solely because of language barriers might not consider the impact of students’ prior education in the subject area. Although researchers cannot completely eliminate all preconceived ideas, they should reduce the impact of bias and actively look for ways in which they might be wrong. Ultimately, in this excerpt, Robinson and Lai argue that validity is vital to ensuring that action research leads to applicable and effective improvements in school practice.

Critical Thinking Questions1. As discussed by Robinson and Lai, it is vital that researchers are aware of their assumptions

and biases and employ strategies to reduce their influence on the research. In what specific ways can researcher bias threaten the validity of research at different stages of the research project (use Figure 4.2 as a guide)? Name at least one strategy not mentioned in the excerpt that practitioner-researchers can use to identify or reduce the effect of bias.

2. Practitioners’ theories of action are beliefs about the efficacy of their practice—why they think a particular strategy is more effective than others—that are based on supporting claims. For example, a teacher may use games in which students compete against each other based on the claim that competition motivates the students to learn. Robinson and Lai point out that the validity of the theory of action depends on the validity of the supporting claim(s). Write down a theory of action pertaining to student learning that you feel is effec-tive in your classroom, your academic discipline, or the age group you serve. List all of the claims or beliefs that you can think of that support that theory of action. Describe evidence that establishes the validity of each claim. Which claims are easier or more difficult to establish as valid? Why?

3. At the data collection stage, accurately describing and recording information is imperative. If the data is not accurate, then subsequent interpretations, evaluations, and conclusions made about the phenomenon under study will be invalid. Imagine that you are conducting an action research project on some aspect of student learning in an academic discipline or grade level that is of interest to you. One form of data collection in the project is an observa-tion of your teaching and the students’ responses. Given that you will be engaged in teaching the lesson, what are some strategies you can use to ensure that what is happening during the lesson is recorded accurately?

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Section 4.6 Giving Voice: Interpretive and Qualitative Data Analysis

4.6 Giving Voice: Interpretive and Qualitative Data Analysis, by Ernest Stringer

IntroductionThe following excerpt is taken from Ernest Stringer’s book, Action Research in Education. Unlike Action Research, previously excerpted, this book is designed specifically for educational practi-tioners. Stringer explains that although many educators may initially believe that it is outside the scope of their work, research is a useful tool for improving schools as learning and working environments. Unlike other forms of research, action research is particularly well suited to the work of educators who are concerned with practical outcomes. As Stringer explains, in addi-tion to solving problems, educational practitioners also improve their knowledge and skills and enhance their professionalism.

In the following excerpt, Stringer discusses the data analysis process, which he describes as reflecting on and making judgments about the information gathered and distilling it into a set of ideas that can be applied to the problem(s) under study. Researchers must evaluate their data and determine which are most pertinent to the study. That is, which data will help them to better understand the issue they are examining, and how. To do this, Stringer explains the use of “epiphanic moments (Denzin, 1989b)—illuminative or significant experiences” (p. 97) to guide analysis. Unlike analysis intended to develop generalized theories of human behavior, the form of interpretive data analysis described by Stringer focuses on individuals’ and groups’ subjectivities and meaning-making processes in context, otherwise known as an emic perspec-tive. This approach is effective in understanding how to intervene into problems of practice in particular settings and with particular individuals and groups. Because it is focused on mean-ing making, interpretive analysis is suited to qualitative data such as interviews, observations, and work products, rather than grades, attendance records, test scores, and other forms of quantitative data.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Stringer, E. T. (2004). Giving Voice: Interpretive and Quali-tative Data Analysis. In Action research in education (pp. 96–122). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

The diagram shown in Figure 4.3 signals the move from data gathering to data analysis. In terms of the simple Look-Think-Act of action research, the Think component indicates the need for participants to reflect on the information they have gathered, and transform the sometimes large and unwieldy body of information into a relatively compact system of ideas and concepts that can be applied to solutions to the problem at hand.

The process or data analysis requires participants to sift through the accu-mulated data to identify that information most pertinent to the problem they are investigating. This process of distillation provides the material for

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an organized set of concepts and ideas that enable them to achieve greater insight, understanding, or clarity about events of interest. The intent is to accomplish common-sense solutions to problems by finding concepts and ideas that make sense to the stakeholders involved. One of the essential fea-tures of action research is the move to directly engage the experience and perspective of all participants to ensure that the sense made of the data is common to all.

This differs from common research practice in which researchers analyze data in isolation from the research context and subjects and formulate cat-egories and schema that appear to make sense when applied to a particular theory. In much research, therefore, theoretical formulations often domi-nate proceedings by inscribing academic perspectives into the process and silencing the voices and perspectives of other participants. Though there is still a need for objective research that engages these types of practice, action research tends to focus on a more phenomenological approach to analysis.

This chapter, therefore, first presents an approach to data analysis that seeks to preserve participant perspec-tives by using epiphanic moments (Denzin, 1989b)—illuminative or significant experiences—as primary units of analysis. The ultimate intent is to give voice to those participants and provide a body of ideas and con-cepts that clearly mesh with impor-tant elements of their experience and provide the basis for action. The second process presented is a more traditional form of qualitative analy-sis categorizing and coding data that distills large amounts of data into a more manageable body of ideas. The purpose of this process is to reveal patterns and themes within the data that expose the key features of events and settings.

Teachers rarely have time during the busy and demanding routines of everyday life in their classrooms to stand back and reflect on their work. Having the luxury to sit back, talk about, and reflect on their classroom practices often provides them with opportunities to gain significant

Figure 4.3: Reflection in action

research

LOOK(INFORMATION)

ACT(ACTION)

THINKDATA

ANALYSIS

(REFLECTION)

LOOK(INFORMATION)

ACT(ACTION)

THINKDATA

ANALYSIS

(REFLECTION)

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insights into their professional life. I’ve frequently seen teachers’ eyes light up in the course of interviews or focus group dialogues as they see themselves or aspects of their work in new ways. Merely having time to focus their attention in a systematic way is illuminative.

This does not always happen immediately, however. The students in the sexual harassment study, . . . for instance, required an extended period of reflection and analysis to identify the nature and key fea-tures of their experience of harassment. The Barrios Juntos group . . . also needed to work through a systematic process of data analysis to reveal the key features of parent experiences in parent-teacher con-ferences. In each case, however, the process of data analysis enabled participants to extend their understanding of the issue investigated—providing concepts and ideas that enabled them to devise effective actions related to the problems they investigated. Data analysis, for them, was not just a technical research routine, but the means to inform their actions.

Data Analysis (1): Analyzing Epiphanies

The processes of inquiry described in this book largely emerge from the his-tory of research in the academic disciplines. While action research has much in common with the general methodologies of naturalistic inquiry/qualitative research, its purposes are distinctly different. Traditionally, research has sought to provide scientific, objective theories of human conduct and concep-tual schemes to explain how and why people act as they do. Action research, however, uses these types of theory as background information—choosing to focus instead on the ways people purposefully construct their own social worlds. The intent is to understand the ongoing, experienced reality of people’s lives rather than seeking an objective truth that explains observed events. We, therefore, employ modes of inquiry that make the world of lived experience directly accessible to an audience, capturing the voices, emotions, and actions of those studied and focusing on those life experiences that shape the meanings persons give to themselves and their own experiences.

The intent of action research is to provide an approach to data analysis more clearly focused on processes and outcomes resonating with people’s own meaningfulness and supplying the basis for effecting positive change in their lives. Action research, therefore, employs processes that engage the concepts and ideas people naturally use to observe, describe, and interpret their own experiences (Spradley, 1979a; Spradley and McCurdy, 1972). This represents an approach to research having the clear intention to learn from and with peo-ple, rather than studying them. Denzin (1989b) has suggested that the focus of interpretive research on meanings persons give to themselves and their life experiences requires researchers to capture the voices, emotions, and actions of those studied. The following analytic procedures enable participants to

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enter each other’s worlds and to understand the events, actions, activities, behavior, and deeply fell emotions that represent the ongoing reality of human experience (Denzin, 1996).

The intent of these procedures is to enable researchers lo accurately and authentically represent people’s lives in non-authoritative, non-colonizing, and non-exploitive ways. They employ processes that not only maintain peo-ple’s voices, but also capture the concepts, meanings, emotions, and agendas that can be applied to problems affecting their personal, institutional, and professional lives. Recent research experience (Genat, 2002) suggests the need for voices of the participants, their structures of meaning, their interpre-tive processes, and their conceptual frameworks to dominate the process of data analysis. The procedures are based on a process of interpretive analysis suggested by Denzin (1989b) and focus on epiphanies—illuminative moments that mark people’s lives. By exploring and unpacking these epiphanies, we seek to reveal features and elements of experience, often not apprehended in the normal course of events that provide significant insight into people’s lives.

Epiphanies and Illuminative ExperiencesAs noted previously, epiphanies are illuminative moments of crisis, or trans-formational, turning point experiences, which result in significant changes to people’s perceptions of their lives (Denzin, 1989b). Epiphanies take a vari-ety of forms—from the devastating experience that enters a person’s life but once, through cumulative epiphanies that emerge over time, to minor epipha-nies that are significant but not highly momentous. Epiphanies can be either positive or negative. They may include the experience of exhilaration at pass-ing (or failing) a particularly significant examination, the sense of wonder-ment (or frustration) emerging from a difficult learning process, or a sense of injustice emerging from an unfair or distressing comment from a teacher, colleague, or administrator.

Epiphanies may vary in intensity, from the life-changing experience of com-plete failure or triumphant success, to less calamitous events that have signifi-cant, but not dire, effects on people’s lives. They emerge as moments of human warmth or hurt, or they can be moments of clarity that add new dimensions to a person’s life experience and invest them with new ways of interpreting or understanding their lives. An epiphany may emerge instantaneously—the “ah-ha” experience, or the “light bulb” that enables a person to say, “so that’s what is going on”—or it may emerge gradually through a cumulative sense of awareness after an ongoing process of experience and reflection.

Rhonda Petty reveals how she came to understand the concept “epiphany.” She writes (Petty, 1997) “When I first read Denzin’s (1989b) definition and description of epiphanies, I associated them with psychotic behavior or life-threatening diseases. My interpretation was too narrow. As Denzin wrote, epiphanies are turning-point experiences, interactional moments that mark people’s lives and can be transformational. My own experience demonstrates, however, that epiphanies can stem from the unlikeliest of sources—a book, a

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conversation, or the click of a telephone.” Epiphanies can emerge from seem-ingly minor events and may be best thought of as significant experiences that are set aside from the hum-drum, routine events that have little impact. They are experiences that are in some way distinct and are cause for particular comment or response from those involved.

Interpreting Epiphanies and Illuminative ExperiencesInterpretive data analysis first identifies epiphanic or illuminative experi-ences in the lives or research participants, then deconstructs or unpacks those events to reveal the elements of experience of which they are built. We decon-struct those events using terminology, concepts, and structures of meaning derived from participant accounts. By starting with events significant from the participants’ perspectives, and building understanding of events in their terms, we seek not only to give voice to the participants, but to create under-standings that emerge from, resonate with, and are consistent with the world as they know and understand it. We seek emic (insider) constructions that are true to their worlds and their purposes.

We seek not only accounts of individual experience, but to understand the experience of different groups since individuals will interpret events accord-ing to their membership in a particular group. Teachers, parents, and stu-dents, for instance, are likely to see an issue from quite different viewpoints. We seek to formulate joint accounts providing insight into the perspective and experience of each stakeholding group.

Figure 4.4 shows how data related to the perspectives of teachers, students, and parents is analyzed and used as the basis of a report on a school issue. Researchers:

• Review information acquired from stakeholders in the data-gathering phase.

• Identify epiphanies, or illuminative moments, within individual par-ticipants’ experience.

• Deconstruct or “unpack” those events to reveal the detailed features and elements of which epiphanies are constructed.

• Use those features and elements to construct individual accounts describing how selected individuals experience and interpret the issue investigated.

• Use the features and elements within individual accounts to con-struct joint accounts revealing the perspectives and experiences of each stakeholding group.

Finally, joint accounts provide the material for a collective account—an overall version chronicling events by comparing and contrasting the perspectives of the different stakeholding groups within the setting. Analysis identifies points of commonality of perspective and experience and points of discrepancy, diversity, or conflict. Points of commonality provide the basis for concerted action, while discrepant perspectives, viewpoints, or experiences signal the need to negotiate agendas and actions around unresolved issues.

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Source: Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. N. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd Edition), © 1994 SAGE Publications, Inc, p. 305.

ReferencesDenzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive biography: Qualitative research methods series 17. Newbury

Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Denzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive interactionism (Vol. 16). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Denzin, N. K. (1996). Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Genta,W. (2002). Indigenous content in master of public health programs. Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, v. 28, p. 19–19.

Petty, R. (1997). Everything is different now: Surviving ethnographic research. In, Stringer, E., Agnello, M., Baldwin, S., McFayden, L., Christensen and D. Henry (Eds.), Community-based ethnography: Breaking traditional boundaries of research, teaching, and learn-ing, (p. 68–84). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview (pp. vii–247). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Spradley, J. P., & McCurdy, D. W. (1972). The cultural experience: Ethnography in complex soci-ety (p. 18). Chicago: Science Research Associates.

Source: Stringer, E., Action Research in Education, 1st. ed. ©2004. Printed and Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Figure 4.4: Analyzing epiphanies

ISSUE INVESTIGATED

School Report

Students Parents

STAKEHOLDERDATA SETS

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EPIPHANIES ORILLUMINATIVEEXPERIENCES

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ISSUE INVESTIGATED

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STAKEHOLDERDATA SETS

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EPIPHANIES ORILLUMINATIVEEXPERIENCES

FEATURES ANDELEMENTS OFEXPERIENCE

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SummaryAs previously discussed, action researchers often collect many different forms of data, both qual-itative and quantitative. The next step is to review and make judgments about the data and to distill it into relatively succinct ideas that can be used to explain and effectively intervene into the problem under study. This is data analysis. In this excerpt, Stringer discusses how to analyze qualitative data using an interpretive approach in which epiphanic moments are the unit of analysis. That is, in analyzing the data, the researcher considers the perceptions, experiences, and events that are significant to participants as primary phenomena to identify and examine. Stringer offers several reasons researchers should pay attention to epiphanies. First, acknowl-edging the feelings, understandings, and actions that are significant to participants gives them a voice in the research. Second, researchers can build understanding and make decisions that are authentic to the participants’ experiences and understandings.

Once epiphanies in the data are identified, the researcher then “deconstructs or unpacks those events to reveal the elements of experience on which they are built.” That is, the next step is to identify how and why previous events have shaped an epiphanic moment. For example, a con-tentious interaction might mark a turning point in how a teacher thinks about and approaches her relationships with parents. The researcher would want to understand the factors that led to and shaped the interaction. These factors might include the teacher’s and parents’ expectations of each other or the parents’ wariness of the teacher. Those explanatory factors are then used to create individual accounts of participants’ experiences and how they understand them. Next, the researcher looks across individual accounts to identify similar perceptions and experiences from which he or she will create joint accounts or explanations that apply to multiple individu-als. Finally, joint accounts are used to guide decisions about how to intervene into the prob-lem under study. For example, if in a study on vocabulary learning, researchers discover that most students do little reading outside of school, they may want to design a strategy to increase out-of-school reading. Overall, the interpretive data analysis that Stringer describes is aimed at understanding and intervening in problems in ways that are authentic to individuals within the context under study.

Critical Thinking Questions1. Stringer highlights the importance of examining the experiences of groups—not only

individuals—and how they understand those experiences, because meaning making is a social activity. That is, how individuals interpret and make sense of the world around them is influenced by others with whom they interact. For example, Stringer points out that as distinct groups, teachers, parents, and students may have different perspectives on a single issue. A group’s perspective, of course, is influenced by its members’ particular vantage points, their past and present experiences, and their interests and desires. Suppose a group of practitioners is conducting an action research project on the lack of parent involvement in a school. How might parents and teachers differ in how they understand the issue? What factors might contribute to those understandings?

2. The aim of interpretive data analysis is to understand how research participants make meaning of their own experiences rather than imposing an outside explanation. For exam-ple, many researchers have concluded that K–12 students drop out of school because they do not care about or understand the value of education. However, interpretive research shows that many youth themselves attribute their dropping out to lack of support from school staff. For what reasons and in what ways is it important for practitioner-researchers to account for the ways that their participants understand their own experiences?

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Section 4.7 Using Research Data to Improve Student Achievement

3. Interpretive data analysis focuses on participants’ epiphanies, described as events, experi-ences, interactions, and realizations that are significant to individuals and groups. According to Stringer, in order to capture their epiphanies, researchers must collect data on partici-pants’ perceptions, emotions, and actions. What is the value for action researchers, in iden-tifying epiphanies? Suppose you are conducting interviews with new teachers to understand how well prepared they are to work with students from different racial or ethnic, class, and linguistic backgrounds. What kinds of questions might you ask to uncover the kinds of epiphanies Stringer describes?

4.7 Using Research Data to Improve Student Achievement, by Karen Zantop

IntroductionKaren Zantop is a sixth-grade language arts teacher in Pasco County schools in Florida who is also involved in dropout prevention in the school district. Zantop, who has over 20 years’ experi-ence as a teacher, is particularly focused on students at risk for academic failure. In describing a schoolwide effort to improve middle-school students’ writing skills, Zantop gives voice to a class-room teacher’s experience of action research. In the following excerpt, Zantop describes how she and other teachers worked collaboratively to identify and address students’ writing challenges. She explains that their action-research–based approach differed from more conventional strate-gies for improving instructional practice and student learning. Rather than assessing students’ needs through a “routine of committees and meetings” (p. 84), school staff set about gather-ing and evaluating information about students’ writing abilities, from multiple sources. As a result, they were able to devise interventions that were successful in meeting the particular needs of their students. Subsequently, their students’ scores on the statewide writing assessment improved.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Zantop, K. (2010). Using research data to improve stu-dent achievement. In R. Brindley and C. Crocco (Eds.), Empowering the voice of the teacher researcher (pp. 84–89). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Facing a decline in students’ state assessed writing performance, Karen Zantop leads a team that uses standardized test data as a start-ing point for overall improvement in student writing. The results of their action research informed the practices of the entire faculty.

Most school years begin with a routine of committees and meetings to assess what is best for our students and our school as a whole. Not this year! While the goals were the same, this year the talk was all action research. Having been introduced to this new approach, the question on most of our minds was “What now?” Was this just another gimmick thought up by some company to make a lot of money and a name for themselves? Let’s face it, teachers have seen fads come and go. Does action research work? Has it been effective in helping students excel?

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We didn’t know but ventured as requested further into this unknown terri-tory. Managing a school from a model using teacher research to promote stu-dent success was an interesting idea. After a visit from two colleagues at the University of South Florida (USF), we were off and running.

A Different Approach

When using action research, teachers don’t form a committee in the tradi-tional sense and decide what type of research to explore. Rather, they discern what the particular needs are for the student population and proceed with the action research process. In our case the language arts teachers quickly identified an area of student need. Our school’s writing scores on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) had begun to fall over several years and from a 3.8 to a 3.7 (on a 1.0 to 6.0 scale) in the previous year. As a result, we lost our “A” school rating.

If this score truly reflected a decline in our students’ ability to write effec-tively, then someone needed to take a look at the situation and take action to promote better writing practices schoolwide. Several brave language arts teachers decided to take on this formidable task. Action research as we would come to know it had begun. This is a story of how our school went from an average school score of 3.7 to 4.4 on the FCAT Writes in just three years.

* * *

Planning Our Work TogetherDuring the first year we created a scope and sequence for our middle school that teachers could use vertically across the grade levels so that there was a sys-tematic development of writing skills. This was a new direction for us and led to some earnest conversations among the eight language arts teachers, each of whom had strong opinions. Fortunately we received invaluable support as the school district implemented curriculum mapping for all subject areas.

Armed with these materials, the group created posters to foster good writ-ing. The sixth grade teachers took responsibility and designed “Topic, Audi-ence, Purpose, Plan” (TAPP) posters. These were created to focus the students on important aspects of the writing process and were made available to each classroom in the school.

To assist our action research, our group believed a visit to another school would help us research successful techniques for the writing process. Our neighboring middle school’s students had scored the highest in the county for several years, and we wanted to see if any of their strategies could be used to improve our students’ writing abilities. After the visit, we decided to adopt some new strategies.

Firstly, it seemed imperative that we have a schoolwide writing practice day so that students in every grade would get some early feedback on their own achievement level. The practice writing day went well, so we proceeded to add a practice writing for all sixth and seventh grades while the eighth grades

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sat for the FCAT writing test. We hoped that this experience would serve the younger students well, and within three years our school writing score was an average 4.3.

Several factors could have influenced these scores, but we continue to use and build on the practices we discovered through our action research. Dividing up this work was easy as every teacher volunteered to do their share. One teacher was responsible for creating the practice test for the sixth and seventh graders. This was a complex job, but the teacher was willing to take it on. All teachers were given the test and answer key so they could work with their assigned students.

We did confront some problems with this type of planning and these types of activities. There was some irregularity in the grading as teachers responded to the writing in different ways, and some students did not get a final score. Sadly, those students felt left out. We wondered whether for some teachers grading represented too much extra work, so we knew that the next time we would need to plan to enlist the help of other colleagues such as assistant principals and the reading specialist.

Reaching Individual Students through ConferencingThe action research committee also recommended the school obtain substi-tutes for the eighth grade teachers prior to the FCAT Writing test. This allowed the teachers to work one-on-one with each student, who now received per-sonalized tutoring on his or her writing. I had the opportunity to observe and conference with students, and they greatly appreciated the effort and were motivated in their writing endeavors. They listened intently and appreciated each suggestion and saw how their scores were improving.

We relied upon ourselves to make this task manageable for all students. We came up with a list of “must dos” to augment the scheduled writing classes. We required each student to write a minimum of 350 words so that their sto-ries had sufficient interest and detail. Using the state scoring rubric to guide students, they were then coached to go back and use more descriptive vocab-ulary. Techniques such as projecting into the future to create the best conclu-sion proved extremely effective.

Of all the strategies we tried, the action research committee found the days given to individual conferencing to be a powerful strategy. We believe there is nothing better than giving students personal positive and corrective feed-back on their writing samples. As a result of our observations of the process, a best practices list was compiled and distributed to all our colleagues, and the entire staff have responded by including these ideas in their lessons.

We were pleased at how many teachers stepped in to grade practice essays. Our principal, assistant principals, reading specialist, and others took on this job with enthusiasm! Attention to writing had reached an all-time high, and all that was left was to wait “impatiently” for the results.

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The Results of the Writing Emphasis

At long last and after a school year of action research, the scores were in, and we met our goal of improving student writing. Originally, we had planned that the principal would shadow anyone who earned a top score of six on the test. To our delight, SSMS students received so many perfect scores that this was impossible. Instead our principal agreed to sit on the roof all day to celebrate the success of our eighth graders, to the delight of all our students.

After the students received their scores, the committee agreed to survey them on how they were able to improve the overall quality of their writing. We real-ized that our students had made great strides in their ability to write, and we would only have this short window of opportunity at the end of the year to pick their brains about how they perceived the writing process and instruc-tion. We asked them three simple questions:

• What writing technique did you use while taking the FCAT Writing test that you feel helped your score?

• Had you ever used this technique before?• What did you learn in your class this year that helped you to become

a better writer?

Students responded that the individual conferences, the “No Dead Verbs” les-son, the formal essay training, and Caught ‘ya! Grammar with a Giggle (by Jane Keister, 2003) were their favorites. They also noted critical techniques such as planning tools, enhancing vocabulary, and focusing on topic. They reported that they felt intelligent, capable, and empowered to become better writers and felt prepared to respond on the state’s formal writing assessment. We summarized the results and sent them to the faculty. The state writing scores that followed our research and implementation were indeed impressive, and we felt our time spent on research was beneficial. The writing scores are shown in Table 4.5.

Table 4.5: Student writing scores

Academic year Percent of students testing at the passing score of 3.5 or above

2005 71% (The year we lost our “A” rating.) We began our action research in fall 2005.

2006 86% (The next school year a new middle school opened and took a significant amount of our lower socioeconomic population.)

2007 91%

2008 93%

Our writing action research group continued to serve as a resource during the next school year (2006–2007). We didn’t want to lose the gains from the teachers’ and students’ hard work. Staff members continued to be aware of and use our strategies. The school score continued to increase as we contin-ued to implement the great practices that resulted from our action research.

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We understand that any one action research initiative doesn’t last forever, and as we respond to student needs, there may come a time for a commonsense conclusion, but for now we continue to research and implement effective practices.

The reader can be left with two important thoughts. With focused preparation and instruction students have the ability to write in an organized and creative manner. Action research helped us to create some basic guidelines and lesson plans to achieve the desired results of boosting the writing skills and scores of our eighth grade student body. Our research on writing strategies is ongo-ing. We have moved from our original research to include new techniques. In the end we had a dedicated group of motivated educators who believed in our students and their ability to rise to our writing expectations.

ReferencesKeister, J. B. (2003). Caught ‘ya! Grammar with a giggle for middle school. Gainesville, FL:

Maupin House.Source: Zantop, K. (2010). Write-On: Using research data to improve student achievement. R. Brindley and C. Crocco (Eds.), Empowering the Voice of the Teacher Researcher. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

SummaryIn the article, Zantop describes how a team of middle-school language arts teachers engaged in a collaborative, action research project to improve students’ writing skills, schoolwide. Their efforts were prompted by a decline in scores on a statewide writing assessment. By gathering and analyzing information about the students’ writing challenges, the team was able to identify their students’ particular learning needs and to design specific interventions aimed at those needs.

Several key factors led to the success of the project. The first factor was cooperation between the teachers. In collaboration with all of the language arts teachers in the building, the team identi-fied the needed content and sequencing of learning goals, which applied across classrooms. As Zantop describes, multiple teachers volunteered to participate in this work with the support of the school district. Teachers also agreed to engage in “conferences” with each student to give them individualized feedback on writing samples, which Zantop describes as one of the most effective aspects of the intervention. Second, the research team visited a school whose students were more successful in the state writing assessment to understand the strategies that fostered that success. Finally, after students completed the state assessment, the research team sought feedback about their experiences. Specifically, they asked what the students had learned in class and which techniques were used to improve writing skills. This information helped the school further improve its intervention strategies.

Few books or articles on school-based action research are written by current classroom teachers. Further, the emphasis on standardized testing is often framed as a deterrent to action research as a means for enhancing teaching and learning. Thus, this excerpt provides an important per-spective. It shows how action research can be used to improve standardized test scores from the viewpoint of a practicing classroom teacher. In Zantop’s experience, action research can be a powerful tool for understanding and successfully addressing students’ learning needs.

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Section 4.8 School Climate Through Students’ Eyes

Critical Thinking Questions1. In the action research project in which Zantop is engaged, she describes considerable buy-in

and cooperation among the eight language arts teachers, across the school. For example, they volunteered to take on planning tasks and to meet with each student in order to provide them with specific feedback on their writing samples. Although she described some inconsistencies in the teachers’ efforts, Zantop portrays a relatively high level of teacher participation and cooperation. Consider a similar action research project focused on your particular discipline or grade level of interest. What barriers might arise in fostering teacher buy-in and collaboration, and how might those barriers be addressed?

2. Conducting action research is an iterative process, and one vital aspect of improving the research is gathering and analyzing data regarding the outcomes of action. One way Zan-top’s team gathered and analyzed data was by asking students directly about what helped them improve their writing skills and their scores on the state assessment. What types of information can students provide about teaching and learning that cannot be fully cap-tured by teachers’ accounts and evaluative forms of assessment? In what ways can student assessments of their own learning be helpful in enhancing teacher practice?

3. In gathering information on how to improve writing instruction, Zantop describes how the research team visited another school in which students had been more successful on the state writing assessment. The importance of teachers observing successful strategies and best practices in other schools and classrooms is highlighted in other chapters in this book. Although important, this strategy can to lead to feelings of inadequacy among teachers who are deemed less successful. If a school were to implement a formal process for teachers to learn from each other, how might they do this in a way that does not make teachers feel bad? How could such a process be incorporated into an action research project aimed at improv-ing standardized test scores?

4.8 School Climate Through Students’ Eyes, by William Preble and Larry Taylor

IntroductionWilliam Preble is a professor of education at New England College in New Hampshire where he teaches courses in educational psychology, school climate and leadership, and educational research. He is also the founder of the Center for School Climate and Learning, which conducts action research with schools and other organizations. Preble has worked with many schools throughout the country to help school leaders, teachers, and students improve school climate, safety, respect, student leadership, and teaching and learning. Before teaching at the univer-sity, Preble was an elementary- and middle-school classroom teacher and the principal of an elementary school. Larry Taylor is a professor of psychology, also at New England College. His work focuses on advocacy and combining research, theory, and practice. Taylor has developed multiple university partnerships with nonprofit organizations that serve at-risk populations, providing opportunities for students to develop real-world competencies in the area of human services.

In the following excerpt, Preble and Taylor describe a districtwide action research project on school climate in Tennessee. The project was prompted by a racist incident in one of the high

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schools that prompted several students and their families to successfully sue the school district with the support of the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the ruling and settlement, the dis-trict worked with Preble and Taylor to assess, monitor, and improve the climate in 30 schools in the district. To do this, they, along with university students, conducted action research in collaboration with K–12 staff and students. They found that compared with students, admin-istrators and teachers had very different perceptions of the aspects of school climate, such as relationships and safety. By allowing students to be actively involved in the research, by educat-ing school staff about how students were experiencing school, and by having both groups work together to identify and devise solutions to problems, many of the schools were able to signifi-cantly improve the school climate and, as a result, student performance. Preble and Taylor argue and demonstrate that action research, in which students and teachers are actively involved, can be a powerful tool for enhancing both academic outcomes and social environments in schools.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Preble, W., & Taylor, L. (2008). School climate through students’ eyes. Educational Leadership, 66(4), 35–40.

By involving students in collaborative action research, school leaders gain vital information to guide school improvement.

What would you think if your own children—or students in your school—made the following comments?

Students in this school drop out because they’re pushed off to the side. They are not seen as the kids who will succeed, and because of that, no one even tries to help them succeed. —12th grade student

ESL students get picked on at this school more than other kids. It depends on your religion and your culture, too. After 9-11, Muslim kids started to get picked on a lot. My friend who is Muslim came here and got smacked around because she was wearing the scarf.—10th grade student

I get picked on because I walk funny . . . one kid calls me “duck” and “waddle” and he quacks at me. My mom called the school and they told him not to do it any more, but he still does when teachers aren’t watching. He bullies everybody when teachers aren’t looking.—6th grade student

Students’ stories can offer profound insights into school climate issues that affect the quality of education. When we couple these stories with simple descriptive statistics from school climate surveys, such as the percent-age of students and teachers who agree with statements like “I feel safe at this school,” we have a valuable source of information to shape school improvement.

With our colleagues at Main Street Academix (http://www.msanh.com) and our students at New England College, we have been conducting research on

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http://www.msanh.com


school climate and helping educators develop respectful schools for nearly 10 years. We have worked with hundreds of schools and thousands of teach-ers and student leaders across the United States to understand the positive and negative effects of school climate and its links to bullying, harassment, discipline systems, dropout rates, teaching practices, and teacher and student success. Here’s what we learned from our work in one school district that used our student-led action research process to guide school improvement.

The Need for Change in Sullivan County

In 2002, several students and their families sued Sullivan County School Dis-trict, a Tennessee district whose student population is more than 96 percent white. The primary lawsuit resulted from the mock lynching of a black stu-dent by white students in the hallway of one high school. Because of the seri-ousness of these problems, the U.S. Department of Justice joined concerned students and their families in their complaints against the district. The courts ruled in their favor, finding that the district had been deliberately indifferent to pervasive racial harassment and violations of civil rights in its schools.

In response to the court decision, Sullivan County’s leaders took action. As director of schools John O’Dell said,

At first we were a little defensive, but then we tried to put ourselves in the shoes of these students. I thought, what if I were one of only a handful of white students in a school of more than 1,000 African American students? How would I feel, especially if someone tried to choke me?

“We decided that we needed to face up to the fact that we had some prob-lems in these schools and that we needed to address them head-on,” said Janie Barnes, the district’s compliance coordinator. “We saw it as a chance to do what was right and to ensure that every student was safe and free from harassment of any kind.”

As part of the final legal settlement of the court cases, the school board asked Main Street Academix to develop a plan to assess the current racial, social, and academic climate in each of the 30 Sullivan County schools and to use these baseline data to monitor and guide a four-year improvement plan. District leaders embraced the idea of collecting and using new kinds of data to better understand what was happening in their schools and committed themselves to doing whatever was needed to change the attitudes and behavior that were hurting students in these schools.

Revealing Blind Spots

Our work collecting and using qualitative and quantitative school climate data to improve schools is based on our belief in the power of perception to shape attitudes and behavior. When teachers or principals perceive their schools to be safe and respectful places, they may be blind to problems going on right

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under their noses—and therefore be unresponsive. Students repeatedly tell us, “School climate is what happens when grown-ups are not around.” Data that reveal and compare adult and student perceptions of school climate are often a real eye-opener.

One morning we went to one of Sullivan County’s four high schools to share the school’s initial school climate data with the principal. The data consisted of simple descriptive statistics—the percentage of students and teachers who agreed or disagreed with specific statements related to peer respect and belonging; student-adult relationships; the presence of racist language, graf-fiti, or behavior; the use of certain pedagogical practices; and so on.

The principal invited us into his office. We sat down, opened the report, and began to review his school’s climate data. After 10 minutes, we thought the man was about to explode. “This is not my school!” he exclaimed angrily.

We turned to the next page of graphs and asked, “Is this your school?” He paused, looking carefully at the data, and said slowly, “Yeah, this looks more like my school.” We pointed out that those data showed the perceptions of his college-bound students, whereas the first graphs had shown the climate perceptions of all his students. We then showed him some data that revealed equally dramatic gaps between the perceptions of his school’s teachers and students. He was shocked, but he became more interested in understanding the data. We spent the next hour discussing the very different perceptions of school climate among the various stakeholder groups in his school.

This principal loves his students and his school. After he calmed down, we could see that he was thinking deeply about the story of school climate that was unfolding before him. Since that morning, he has been engaged and excited about using data and working with student leaders to improve his school. He joined and helped lead our district leadership team as a key advocate of the student-led action research process in Sullivan County.

The journey of this school administrator illustrates what can happen when educators work with colleagues to interpret data collected as part of col-laborative, student-led action research. Often, an examination of the data engenders cognitive dissonance—the feeling of uncomfortable tension that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time. For example, a teacher looking at the data in Table 4.6 may think, “I feel that our students treat one another with respect, but I see that only 48 percent of all students and 34 percent of non-collegebound students agree. What’s that all about?” Reviewing such comparisons often results in heated discussions about the meaning of the data and ultimately leads to new ideas about what the school needs to do to improve.

Cognitive dissonance is a powerful motivator. Over and over again, we have seen dissonance lead to tension, discussion, and reflection and then jump-start a process of energized leadership and action by teachers, administra-tors, and students.

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Table 4.6: Comparisons of student and teacher perceptions

Percentage for “agreed” or “strongly agreed”

Non-college-bound students All students Faculty

I feel physically safe being who I am at my school (free from threats, harassment, or violence).

46% 58% 80%

Students are willing to step forward and help when they see others getting picked on or harassed.

45% 42% 55%

Girls are treated with respect by boys at this school. 41% 45% 32%

Boys are treated with respect by girls at this school. 32% 50% 40%

I think students mostly treat one another with respect at this school.

34% 48% 68%

When teachers act to help sutdents who are harrassed, it really works.

40% 45% 81%

When principals and other administrators act to help kids who are harrassed, it really works.

51% 57% 75%

Students’ work is displayed publically and celebrated by teachers.

29% 47% 82%

Teachers make it clear to all students what is expected to be successful.

70% 83% 94%

Adults in my school invite students to help make deci-sions about school rules and discipline procedures.

24% 31% 25%

It Starts With Students

The data that laid the foundation for change in Sullivan County came from student-led action research. Why start with students? The growing literature on “youth-led, participatory research” (Ozer et al., 2008) shows that it is a developmentally appropriate strategy for increasing youth voice and student engagement in improving schools (Cargo, Grams, Ottoson, Ward, & Green, 2003). Inviting young people to serve their schools and communities as part-ners in action research creates an exciting sense of student ownership and control. As students help ameliorate the problems identified in the research, they learn a great deal—and they teach adults a good deal as well.

Beginning in 2003, we have helped Sullivan County implement a collabora-tive, student-led action research process developed by Main Street Academix. The process involves the following three stages:

Stage OneWe begin by creating a district-level adult leadership team to guide the pro-cess. We work with principals and teachers from each school to recruit and select diverse teams of student leaders to serve as the subjects of interviews and focus groups. Selecting truly diverse students for these roles—athletes,

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Goths, academically successful students, those who struggle academically, and so on—is a crucial part of the process.

Undergraduate and graduate students (in the case of Sullivan County, students from New England College) conduct student interviews and focus groups with students in grades 3–12. We use college students because young people speak more freely and frankly about their school experiences to other young people. We then invite the students who were the subjects of the interviews and focus groups to take on new roles as researchers. We train these students to help administer schoolwide adult and student school climate surveys.

Students explain the purpose of the surveys to their peers and describe how the results will be used to better understand and compare student and teacher perceptions of school climate and respect in their school. When peers lead the data-collection process in this way, students take the surveys seriously, and we get great data.

Stage TwoMain Street Academix compiles the results of the surveys, interviews, and focus groups, and we schedule a time to work with the principal and a school level adult design team to share these results with the student leaders. Stu-dents review their school’s data and select the areas that they believe repre-sent the most serious problems.

Student leaders then help the adult design team present the school’s results to their teachers. One especially powerful role the student researchers play is to select the most potent student and teacher quotes from the qualitative data and to read these words aloud to teachers. These stories and quotes are often provocative and grab the teachers’ attention, making them more interested and more willing to look deeply into their survey results. For example, one student commented,

School isn’t taken seriously here because teachers don’t care at all on a personal or even one-on-one helpful level. Doing well academically is not encouraged here at all, and coming to school on a daily basis is a joke for some students.

In each school, the teachers use the qualitative and quantitative data to sort out the most powerful issues. They prioritize problem areas and set goals for improvement. When students and teachers compare their respective goals, they almost always find a lot of agreement on what needs to change. It becomes natural for them to come together and work toward these common goals.

Stage ThreeThis is the most important stage. Teachers and students develop meaning-ful action steps to address needs indicated by the data. Students, teachers, and administrators divide into teams to work on one particular goal. They brainstorm ideas as a team and then review a menu of research-based best

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practices provided by Main Street Academix. They select a final set of strate-gies that make the most sense to them and develop action projects and plans to address the problems revealed by their school’s data. Teachers and stu-dents work together to implement these action projects, with student leaders playing meaningful leadership roles.

As people become involved in analyzing their data, identifying their own needs, and offering their own solutions to these problems, the levels of defen-siveness and resistance lessen, and engagement in the process grows. In hun-dreds of schools in which we have implemented this process, educators and students have come together, looked at data, identified common problems, and developed solutions that they were willing to work on together.

Widening the Focus

The most exciting thing about Sullivan County’s journey is the way the issues of school climate have quickly melded with issues of students’ overall per-sonal development and academic success. Sullivan County schools have done remarkable things to reduce harassment in their schools. They have adopted new harassment policies and disciplinary processes to fight hate speech, racial and sexual harassment, and bullying of all kinds; provided antibias training for all teachers, administrators, bus drivers, substitute teachers, and teachers’ aides; and established student unity teams to fight intolerance, bul-lying, and bigotry in high schools and middle schools. But the initiative in Sul-livan County soon grew beyond bullying and harassment to become a much more comprehensive discussion about effective schools, respectful teaching, and student learning. School instructional initiatives that resulted from the process included

• Learning how to meet the different needs of all learners through dif-ferentiated instruction.

• Using hands-on, manipulative-based mathematics instruction for learners who struggled with abstract concepts in mathematics.

• Establishing positive expectations for respectful behavior in every classroom.

• Showcasing and celebrating students’ academic work in the hallways and at parent-teacher meetings.

• Catching students being good and acknowledging positive behavior rather than focusing solely on punishing misbehavior.

• Developing peer-tutoring and reading-buddies programs between younger and older students.

• Initiating community-based learning and service learning programs.

At first, some educators struggled with the concept of building respectful schools through empowering students. After all, weren’t the kids the problem? But after some initial challenges, and after looking carefully at their school cli-mate data, Sullivan County principals and teachers began to routinely bring students into their discussions. Teachers saw how genuinely moved and moti-vated students were when asked to serve on student leadership teams. They

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saw students building closer bonds of friendship as they worked together to solve school climate problems. As the work went forward, many teachers and principals concluded that collaborative action research was an empowering approach to school improvement. Buy-in across the district grew.

The Student Achievement Connection

After four years, about two-thirds of the schools in Sullivan County had made significant, measurable improvements in school climate. In spring 2006, we analyzed the relationship between school climate and student academic per-formance on Tennessee’s state achievement tests in the district’s schools. We found a greater increase in academic achievement in the schools that had made significant improvement in school climate than in those that had not improved school climate (Preble & Newman, 2006).

Our findings in Sullivan County are consistent with other recent research on the connections between school climate and learning reported by the Collab-orative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Its review of more than 700 studies indicates that when school climate measures go up, students’ performance on statewide tests in reading, mathematics, and writ-ing also goes up (CASEL, 2008; Viadero, 2007).

Although the Justice Department ended its mandate that Sullivan County address the problem of harassment and improve school climate in 2007, the school board voted to continue to conduct collaborative action research and keep working to improve school climate and respect. In the past year, we have trained 28 school climate leadership teams made up of more than 125 Sul-livan County principals, teachers, and support staff to facilitate this student-led, collaborative action research process in the future. More than 300 student leaders have been engaged in powerful leadership roles.

In 2007–08, these school-based leadership teams of students and teachers collected a third round of school climate data to check the sustainability of their efforts. All schools are now setting new goals for continued improve-ment and have designed a new set of improvement projects to keep moving forward and to sustain the gains made in years past.

Deeper Than Test Scores

Sullivan County’s experience demonstrates that involving students and teach-ers in using school climate data can be a powerful strategy for changing atti-tudes and behavior. One district superintendent attending a recent statewide conference expressed the need for this kind of data:

We have tried everything we can think of academically to raise our test scores over the past five or six years. Yet, while we have made some improvement, we seem to be stuck. Until we address the school climate issues that we know are going on in our schools, I don’t think we will ever reach our full potential as a school system.

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We believe that he’s right. Because students learn best when they are physi-cally and emotionally safe, school climate is an essential component of school success. When it comes to data, educators need to think about a broader spec-trum of evidence than test scores. They also need data that enable them to see deep into the heart and soul of their schools and the lives of their students.

ReferencesCollaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2008). Social and emotional

learning and student benefits: Research implications for the safe schools/healthy stu-dents core elements. Chicago: Author. Available at http://www.casel.org/downloads/EDC_CASELSELResearchBrief.pdf

Cargo, M., Grams, G., Ottoson, J., Ward, P., & Green, L. (2003). Empowerment as fostering posi-tive youth development and citizenship. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27 (Suppl. 1), S66–S79.

Ozer, E. J., Cantor, J. P., Cruz, G.W., Fox, B., Hubbard, E., & Moret, L. (2008). The diffusion of youth-led participatory research in urban schools. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41(3–4), 278–289.

Preble, W., & Newman, A. (2006). School climate improvement means higher academic perfor-mance in Sullivan County schools. Unpublished report.

Viadero, D. (2007). Social-skills programs found to yield gains in academic subjects. Education Week, 27(16), 1, 15.

Source: Preble, W., & Taylor, L. (2008). School climate through students’ eyes. Educational Leadership, 66(4), 35–40. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

SummaryIn the article, Preble and Taylor show how collaborative action research can be used to under-stand and improve school conditions, describing a districtwide project on school climate. In this project, Preble and Taylor and some of their university students worked with K–12 school staff and students to evaluate and improve school climate in 30 schools in a district in Tennessee.

The authors carried out the project in three stages. The first stage focused on choosing research design, selecting a participant sample, and collecting data. Preble and Taylor created a leader-ship team to guide the research process at the district level, and they worked with school staff to identify student interviewees. Student interviewees were then trained to administer surveys among their peers and teachers. The authors point out how students are more likely to take the survey seriously when their peers are leading the data-collection process, leading to more accu-rate and reliable data.

Stage two of the process focused on analyzing and reporting the data. The university-based researchers compiled and analyzed the data and brought their findings to administrators, teach-ers, and students. As Preble and Taylor describe, there are often discrepancies between how the administrators and teachers and the students view the school climate, and the school staff can, initially, be resistant to accepting findings that conflict with their own views. For example, teach-ers who see students as responsible for a poor school climate may resist students’ views that teachers are disrespectful. However, Preble and Taylor found that as students and school staff work together to make sense of the findings and identify pressing problems, “they almost always find a lot of agreement on what needs to change” (p. 38). Finally, in the third stage of the project, students and teachers worked together to devise and implement strategies to improve school climate, guided by the research findings.

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http://www.casel.org/downloads/EDC_CASELSELResearchBrief.pdf

http://www.casel.org/downloads/EDC_CASELSELResearchBrief.pdf

Section 4.9 Reporting Classroom Research

Active involvement of students and teachers, not simply as subjects but as partners in the research process, helped students and teachers take ownership of the project and to be truly invested in transforming school climate. As Preble and Taylor describe, in many of the schools in which they worked active involvement led to a broader focus on improving school effectiveness and to the development of instructional initiatives. In conclusion, the authors state the impor-tance of school climate in fostering high academic achievement. In seeking to improve schools, they urge educators to think beyond standardized test scores and to consider using data that will help them better understand and improve social aspects of the school environment.

Critical Thinking Questions1. Preble and Taylor highlight the importance of not merely involving students in action

research as subjects but engaging them in data collection and analysis and problem identi-fication. Through such participation, they can build vital knowledge and skills and enhance their engagement in schooling. It is relatively easy to see how older students might partici-pate in research related to a topic such as school climate. However, involving young children or engaging students in a project on an academic topic might prove more difficult. Consider a common problem related to teaching and learning in your discipline or that pertains to pre-K or elementary-school children. How could you involve students in investigating this problem?

2. In the excerpt, Preble and Taylor discuss an incident in which a school principal initially refuses to accept research findings as valid because they conflict with what he believes is happening at his school. When people encounter information that is not aligned with their previous beliefs, rather than considering they might be wrong, they often dismiss or invali-date the new information. How might you present teachers with information that conflicts with their beliefs in such a way that they do not become defensive or reject the information?

3. Preble and Taylor believe that action research aimed at improving student outcomes should first and foremost consider students’ experiences and perceptions. They open their article with powerful quotes from three students in their study on school climate. Identify as many specific problems or issues that might be reflected in the quotes. What additional informa-tion would you need in order to know if those issues or problems are significant in the school context, and how might you go about getting that information?

4.9 Reporting Classroom Research, by David Hopkins

IntroductionDavid Hopkins is a professor of policy and society and chair of international leadership at the Institute of Education at the University of London. Hopkins was previously a professor and dean of the faculty of education at the University of Nottingham and has served as the chief advisor on school standards in the Department of Education and Skills under the secretary of state. Hop-kins has been involved in school improvement efforts through research, policy, and practice at the local and national levels for the last four decades. He is an advocate of personalized learning and holistic approaches to school reform that address the academic, social, and emotional well-being of all members of the school community.

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In the following excerpt, Hopkins discusses different ways that teacher-researchers can dissem-inate their findings and the elements of effective reports and presentations of research. The excerpt focuses primarily on written reports, discussing the nature and purposes of, and the audiences for, research reports. It also covers the conventional sections of a research report and the information that should be included. Finally, other presentation forms and venues are dis-cussed, including video, images, poetry, and websites. Hopkins asserts that classroom research “is incomplete until it is in the public domain” (p. 152). He believes that it is important for teach-ers to share the processes and results of their research in order to contribute to educational improvement on a broader scale, to promote a culture of inquiry in schools, and to enhance professionalism among practitioners in the field.

ExcerptThe following is an excerpt from Hopkins, D. (2008). Reporting classroom research. In A teach-er’s guide to classroom research (4th ed., pp. 144–155). Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.

The link between research and action has been an implicit theme throughout this book. To teacher-researchers, research alone is a necessary but not suf-ficient condition: research has to feed action and development. The classroom research process described in previous chapters has as its goal professional development and the enhancement of classroom performance. The fourth stage in the analytical framework discussed in this chapter is action, which itself is monitored and researched using classroom research procedures. This is the crowning achievement of the research process. In this concluding sec-tion, I want to look at some of the ways in which the action and information generated by the research process can be reported.

A classroom research report can in itself have significant impact. Technology in particular has provided the opportunity to teachers from all over the world to come closer together. This has opened up the prospect for substantive and sustained professional dialogues and the global exchange of ideas and good practice. These activities, in my opinion, are invaluable, as I believe that class-room researchers should not only feel responsible for improving their own classrooms but be concerned about the improvement of all classrooms and all schools in their own country and, yes, in the world. Hence, when class-room research reports are shared across a school, across a system and across systems they hold the potential to transform classroom practices around the globe and for the better.

In this chapter I will illustrate the various ways in which classroom research can be reported: first, by exploring literature on report writing; second, by discussing how one could write a report; third, by outlining other formats for reporting research; fourth, by identifying appropriate questions for evaluat-ing your research report; fifth, by setting out criteria on how research can inform action; and sixth, by considering different approaches to the dissemi-nation of results, before suggesting further reading for this chapter.

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Reporting Research

Producing accounts of research could never be a literal representation of events. Denscombe (2007: 285) provides us with a useful list of why envision-ing a literal depiction is impossible:

• There are always limitations to the space available to provide the account of what happened, which means the researcher needs to provide an edited version of the totality. Decisions need to be made about what can be missed out of the account.

• The editorial decisions taken by the researcher are likely to be shaped by the researcher’s need to present the methods in their best possible light. Quite rationally, the researcher will wish to put a posi-tive spin on events and to bring out the best in the process. Without resorting to deceit or untruths, the account of research will almost certainly entail some upbeat positive filtering. The point, after all, is to justify the procedures as ‘good’ research.

• Although research notes will be used to anchor the description of what happened during the course of the research, the writing up of the research is inevitably a retrospective vision. Situations and data are likely to have a different meaning when viewed from the end of the research process from that at the time they occurred. They will be interpreted with the vision of hindsight.

• The impact of social norms and personal values on the way we inter-pret events pretty well guarantees that, to a greater or lesser extent, any account of research should be regarded as a version of the truth rather than a literal depiction of what happened. Within the social sciences, the idea of a purely objective position is controversial and a researcher would be naive to presume that her/his account can stand, without careful considerations, as an ‘objective’ description of what actually occurred.

The end product, therefore, no matter how scrupulous it attempts to be, must always be recognized for what it is—an account of the research.

* * *

To avoid ‘self-indulgent’ descriptions and capitalize on the power of a research report, teacher-researchers need to put their data together in such a way that:

• the research could be replicated on another occasion;• the evidence used to generate hypotheses and consequent action is

clearly documented;• action taken as a result of the research is monitored;• the reader finds the research accessible and that it resonates with his

or her own experience.

The process of setting a clear purpose, of using a methodology which provides valid results, and then using these as a basis for action, can be assisted if the researcher keeps a loose-leaf log or diary as the research progresses. An ongo-ing research diary like this also provides an invaluable basis for reflection and

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is great fun to look at with the wisdom of hindsight. It provides an excellent record of how one’s views and attitudes evolve over time. The diary can also reveal the researcher’s biases and how these impacted on decisions taken during the research and on the interpretation of events. Such information is invaluable when writing a report where personal biases should be high-lighted and attempts to address them indicated, and their possible impact on the research results accounted for.

Writing a Report

One of the first things one has to consider when preparing a research report is the intended audience. Teacher-researchers have to decide in advance who they are writing for and choose the most effective format and style to address their audience. The British Educational Research Association’s (2000) Good Practice in Educational Research, identifies three major audiences for research writing: researchers, policymakers and practitioners, and asserts that ‘it is good practice in all research writing to aim for lucid prose which communi-cates effectively to the intended audience and avoids what that audience may perceive as jargon or obscurantism’ (p. 2).

The length of the report is also something that needs to be taken into account. Most people that read reports say that they are either too long to read or so short that there is insufficient evidence to be believable. The best bet is a report as short and condensed as you can make it (with detailed justification tucked away in appendices). The biggest temptation is to display your produc-tivity in too many pages.

Formulating the report comes next. There are a number of guidelines and cri-teria available that are helpful at this stage. To begin with, there is the some-what traditional approach that uses as a guide, points similar to the following:

1. Statement of intent• clarify purpose• rationale

2. Procedures and process• research design• techniques of data collection• verification of concepts• what actually occurred

3. Results and implementation• outcomes of research• theoretical implications• action taken as a result• evaluation of action

4. Meta-analysis• review whole process• conclusions as to the usefulness of the research• what would you do differently next time?

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* * *

Other Formats for Reporting Research

Classroom researchers should not feel constrained by the traditional research report format when sharing the product of their research, as there are any numbers of approaches that can be used for reporting research. As Giroux (1992: 21) suggests, we need a ‘politics and pedagogy developed around new languages capable of acknowledging the multiple, contradictory and complex subject positionings people occupy within different social, cultural and eco-nomic locations’. The important thing is for the information to be valid and to have been carefully analyzed and the fundamental point is that action should result from the research. Researchers in education have become increasingly interested in different forms of interpreting and representing data (Percelli 2004a, 2004b; Schratz 2001). Here are a few examples:

• Cartoons or photography: often classroom researchers use the car-toon format or photographs to get a key finding from their research across in a powerful and accessible way.

• Video or film: a visual representation using video or digital camera provides concrete images that an audience can relate to their own situation.

• Dance or theatre: once again a visual representation, a performance using students or professional dancers or actors has the potential to have a profound impact on the audience.

• Fiction: using data or constructs from the research to tell a story often encourages reflection and discussion more effectively than the traditional report. As long as the quotations or events are ‘real’, then a fictional setting may enhance the message.

• Diaries: using extracts from one’s diary to present insights from the research is valuable data.

• Poetry: this is another form of highlighting the learnings of one’s research.

• Data reduction and display: displaying reduced data is often a pow-erful way of stimulating discussion. This approach allows large amounts of data to be displayed economically and it could be accom-panied by another page of questions, commentary or explanation that highlighted the main issues.

• A ‘patchwork’ approach: Winter (see for example Winter et al. 1999) has pioneered what is known as the patchwork approach. Here researchers are encouraged to use a combination of approaches to present the different stages of the research process. So, research-ers could use film, poetry, reports and any other way they choose to communicate their findings.

Finishing a research report could feel like sitting an exam without being quite sure what the question is, but in the knowledge that the world will read and mark your paper according to an unpredictable whim. The mental blocks, the mad desire to postpone writing for more research or for another coffee is nor-mal. But, one thing is certain. It is worth it.

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Dissemination of Results

At the beginning of this chapter I briefly discussed how powerful a classroom research report can be. I even claimed that reporting classroom research results has the potential to transform classroom practices around the world. This implies that the research will be disseminated. Classroom researchers should be aware that research is incomplete until it is in the public domain. Thus, decisions about who is going to disseminate the results, and coming back to our discussion earlier about the report’s audience, to whom it will be disseminated and for what use, have to be made.

There are a variety of ways in which you can disseminate the results of your research. The most immediate way of course is sharing the research within your own school. Teachers have the opportunity through staff meetings, pre-sentations in the school’s professional development days and informal discus-sions with colleagues not only to change practices across the school, but also to engage in professional dialogue about classroom research and promote a culture of inquiry within the school. Currently, many schools encourage their teachers to undertake small research projects and some of them require newly qualified teachers to conduct a classroom research project in their first term.

Another way of communicating research is through school networks. In Eng-land there is an increasing number of informal and formal school networks which allow the quick exchange of information between schools, which of course is a smart school improvement strategy. Formal networks such as those of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) and the erstwhile National College of School Leaders (NCSL) networked learning communities project bring together practitioners at a local level and then connect local net-works to the regional and national. Hence, the dissemination of such results is one on a bigger scale.

Publications can also make your work accessible to wider audiences and could include:

• chapters in books: there is an increasing number of books published by universities and organizations such as the GTCE, the SSAT and the NCSL, presenting classroom research examples. There is also an increasing number of schools that publish research conducted by their own staff within the school but also externally;

• papers in academic journals;• articles in teacher magazines.

However, the quickest, most powerful and nowadays possibly the most accessible approach to dissemination is the Internet—this is certainly true for developed countries and is becoming true for many developing ones. As mentioned earlier, technology has opened up opportunities for people to connect with others across the world and share information instantly. Class-room researchers are now publishing their results in their schools’, network’s and their own personal websites. Imagine a colleague in China reading your

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research, identifying similarities between your school and theirs and deciding to adopt the practice suggested by your research in order to improve teaching and learning in their school!

Before concluding this section, it is worth reflecting more imaginatively on how classroom researchers can support their dissemination efforts. One par-ticular example involves a re-think of the audience for classroom research and its intended purpose. Miles and Huberman’s (1994: 305) ‘Matrix for Objec-tives of Dissemination Strategy Planning’ could effectively support classroom researchers’ dissemination efforts. This is because it requires researchers to consider their audiences and sub-audiences and the effects it provides, which range from the simple awareness that the message exists to implementation and routinization. This matrix is seen in Figure 4.5.

ReferencesBritish Educational Research Association. (2002). Good Practice in Educational Research.

http://www.bera.ac.uk/

Denscombe, M. (2007). The Good Research Guide. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Giroux, H. (1992). Border Crossings: Cultural Workers and the Politics of Education. New York: Peter Lang.

Percelli, V. (2005) Re-imagining research, re-presenting the self: putting arts media to work in the analysis and synthesis of data on ‘difference’ and ‘disability’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 18(1): 63–83.

Schwandt, T. and Halpern, E. (1988). Linking Auditing and MetaEvaluation. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Winter, R., Buck, A. and Sobiechowska, P. (1999). Professional Experience and the Creative Imagination. London: Routledge.

Source: Hopkins, D. (2008). A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Research, 4th edition. © 2008. Reproduced with the kind permission of Open University Press. All rights reserved.

Figure 4.5: Matrix for objectives of dissemination strategy planning

Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 305.

Awareness

Reception of basic message

Understanding

Acceptance

Adoption decision

Utilization/implementation

Integration

Routinization

Innovators:those few withspecial interest,skill, motivation

Level of Diffusion and Use

Majority ofpotentialaudience

Size of audiences

Everyonewho mightbe affected

Key persons:gatekeepers,

leaders ofopinion

Awareness

Reception of basic message

Understanding

Acceptance

Adoption decision

Utilization/implementation

Integration

Routinization

Innovators:those few withspecial interest,skill, motivation

Level of Diffusion and Use

Majority ofpotentialaudience

Size of audiences

Everyonewho mightbe affected

Key persons:gatekeepers,

leaders ofopinion

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http://www.bera.ac.uk


SummaryIn this excerpt, Hopkins advocates for teacher-researchers to share their research processes and findings both within in and beyond their schools, to contribute to a broader body of knowledge on which teachers across the world can draw. The most conventional form of sharing is through research reports. Quoting Brooker and MacPherson (1999), Hopkins concurs that because of the poor quality of many teacher action research reports, they are not useful beyond the immediate context in which the research was conducted. First and foremost, high-quality research reports are based on high-quality research. If a project is unorganized, if data collection is spotty, and if data is inaccurate, it will be impossible to produce an excellent report.

Effective research reports describe the project such that it can be replicated. They present suf-ficient evidence so that the reader finds claims and conclusions logical and plausible. They are also written in a way that is accessible to the chosen audience and is likely to resonate with their experiences. To do this effectively, teacher researchers must be intentional about identifying and writing in a way that will appeal to a target audience, such as educational practitioners, educational researchers, or policy makers. A researcher can write multiple reports about single research project, in various styles, for different audiences. For example, one report may be writ-ten for school staff and another for a practitioner magazine, academic journal, or book chapter.

As described, research reports should have four major elements: (a) the statement of intent, (b) an explanation of the research procedures and processes, (c) a description of the findings and action steps, and (d) a discussion of the implications of the research. Although researchers want to present their work in the best possible light, reflections about challenges and things that could have been done better can help readers implement their own projects. Hopkins advises that research reports should be as succinct as possible, while providing enough information to show how the project was carried out and explain the logic of how and why the researcher arrived at particular conclusions and took certain actions.

Research findings can also be disseminated in more unconventional forms, such as images, video, fiction, poetry, performances, and websites. As Hopkins points out, the Internet and other new technologies provide opportunities for teachers to share their research with others across the globe. Regardless of format, practitioner-researchers should ensure that presentations of their projects are appropriate for and informative to their target audiences.

Critical Thinking Questions1. Hopkins points out that many research reports written by practitioners are not useful

to others in the field because they are not of high quality. He also states that in order to produce an effective research report, the project on which it is based must be rigorous. Why is this so? Considering the excerpts by Craig, Calhoun, Robinson and Lai, and Stringer, what can researchers do, at each stage of the process—problem identification, data collec-tion, and data analysis—to ensure that the project will be of high quality? For example, if a research team is conducting classroom observations to gather information about student engagement, what will be important to ensure that the data they collect are accurate?

2. In addition to written reports, Hopkins mentions other forms and venues through which to report the processes and findings of action research projects. He also points out the impor-tance of ensuring that the mode of presentation is appropriate for the target audience. Con-sider, for example, Preble and Taylor’s study on school climate. Creating a comic strip that

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Summary and Resources

depicts major findings from the study might be appropriate for students but not for policy makers. Although other teachers might be very interested in the everyday details of how the research project was carried out, district officials may be much more interested in synopses of the findings. Considering your own school or district or the context in which you hope to work, identify several potential audiences with whom teachers might share their research. What particular aspects of the research might be most interesting to them? What presenta-tion formats might appeal to them?

3. Hopkins outlines the sections of a conventional research report, which include descriptions of the study purpose and rationale, the procedures and processes of the research, the findings and action steps, and the broader implications and next steps. There is a distinct logic to the order of these sections. That is, they begin with an introduction to the topic and the project, and each section provides information that contextualizes and helps the reader understand the following sections. Review Hopkins’ outline of a research paper and describe how each section is related to the following section, in terms of helping the reader understand the research project and the claims made by the researcher. For example, why would the reader need to understand the concepts used in the study in order to understand the outcomes of the research?


Chapter Summary

• The goal of teacher action research is not merely producing knowledge but solving real-life problems. Action is an explicit component of action research. Teachers and other educational practitioners use action research as a strategy for improving teach-ing practice, student academic outcomes, and school climate. Rather than seeking generalizable knowledge, action researchers seek to understand and to solve prob-lems as they apply to the particular people and contexts they are studying.

• To be most useful, action research must be carried out in a systematic and rigorous way. Planning an investigation into a topic with intent, then gathering, organizing, and evaluating information systematically distinguishes research from informal inquiries that teachers conduct daily. This more formal approach increases the likelihood that the problem under study will be well defined and the information collected is accurate. This, in turn, helps practitioner-researchers develop effective strategies for addressing the problem.

• In sharing their research with others, educational practitioners can enhance profes-sionalism and advance knowledge in the field. Engaging in action research is a form of professional development through which school staff can deepen their knowledge about the learning processes and gain research, problem-solving, and analytic skills. Collaborating with colleagues on research projects, they can promote a culture of inquiry and build professional learning communities focused improving instructional practice.

• It is important for action researchers to be aware of their preconceived notions and how they affect the research process. One factor that can compromise the trustworthi-ness of an action research project is researcher bias. If the researcher makes assump-tions about the nature of the problem based on incorrect or incomplete information, the research is likely to be based on a false premise. Preconceived notions may cause a researcher to overlook information that is important. Although it is impossible (and,

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often, not advantageous) to completely eliminate one’s biases, it is important for researchers to be aware of their assumptions and their impact on the research.

• Including students as co-researchers in action research can help them learn valuable skills and take ownership of their schooling experiences. Preble and Taylor, in particu-lar, discuss the value of including students as co-researchers in the action research process. In including them in research efforts, students can become invested in solving school-based problems and learn skills related to research, problem solving, analytic thinking, and collaboration. Working together towards a shared goal can also strengthen relationships between student and school staff.

Tying It All TogetherThis chapter described the utility of action research for teachers and other school practitioners, as compared with other forms of research. It also examined the research process, giving exam-ples of the process in action within several school contexts and as related to different research topics. Although practitioner-researchers implement a variety of strategies for action research, they all draw from core principles. First, their research is aimed at improving a particular prob-lem of practice in the context in which they work. Second, they engage in the “ ‘look, think, act’ routine” (Stringer, 2007, p. 8). That is, they look more deeply at the problem they seek to study; they gather information that helps them to think about the problem in a more complex way; and they use what they have learned to intervene into the problem. They re-engage in this process multiple times in order to continually improve their understandings and interventions.

With the current focus on the role of teachers in student achievement, practitioner action research is seen as one way to improve classroom instruction and teacher professionalism. In tying their understandings to previous chapters, it is important for readers to consider how action research might be used to address equity issues in schools and to meet the needs of stu-dents, particularly those at risk for academic failure. Looking forward, readers should consider the potential of action research in schools as a means for fostering self-reflection and collabora-tion among teachers and developing teacher leadership.

End of Chapter Critical Thinking Questions

1. As the excerpts suggest, action research can require considerable time and energy. Although more pre- and in-service teachers are being encouraged to conduct class-room-based action research, there is also growing emphasis on preparing students for standardized tests, which can draw teachers’ time and attention away from more innovative classroom practices. Particularly in low-performing schools, where there is intense focus on raising student state test scores, what argument(s) would you make to administrators and teachers in favor of conducting action research? How can action research augment rather than take away from teachers’ efforts to increase student test scores? What supports would teachers need to do this?

2. Stringer and Brighton point out that educational practitioners often do not find con-ventional research useful, because it focuses on the production of generalized knowl-edge rather than context-specific information and action. On the other hand, some university researchers feel that practitioners do not take advantage of the plethora of research available, which could provide them with valuable insights into their everyday classroom practices. This dichotomy is known as the “theory–practice divide” in which

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theoretical knowledge developed by researchers does not affect on-the-ground prac-tices. Do you believe that the perception that practitioners are unjustifiably dismissive of academic research has any merit? Why or why not? How can action research help bridge the theory–practice divide?

3. Validity—an extremely important concept in research—refers to the degree to which claims made by the researcher(s) are logical and plausible. Validity, in turn, depends on the authenticity of the researcher’s understanding of the nature of the problem under study and the accuracy of the data collected. As Robinson and Lai point out, researcher bias can threaten the validity of a research project. In reviewing the article by Preble and Taylor, what evidence of bias do you see on the part of school staff pertaining to the issue of school climate? If staff members with those biases had planned the study, rather than Preble and Taylor, how might it have been different? How might they have defined the problem? What data might they have collected? Who might they have enlisted to collect data, and from whom? Whom might they have charged with evaluat-ing the data and devising strategies for intervention?

4. Stringer states that action research projects should “take into account the social, cul-tural, interactional, and emotional factors that affect all human activity” (p. 9). Simi-larly, Calhoun advises educational action researchers to collect data in the academic, social, and personal domains. Suppose a fourth-grade teacher is conducting an action research project in her classroom, guided by the question “How can I help my students improve their reading comprehension?” Explain how factors related to culture, social interactions, and emotions might be related to reading comprehension skills and how the teacher might go about learning more about those relationships through the research.

Further ReadingBlair, E. (2010). How does telling the truth help educational action research? Educational

Action Research, 18(3), 349–358.Brown, T. M., & Galeas, K. (2009). Confronting “limit situations” in a youth/adult educational

research collaborative. The Sophist’s Bane (Spring), 7–13.Brown, T. M., & Rodriguez, L. F. (Eds.). (2009). Youth in participatory action research. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Bryant, J., & Bates, A. (2010). The power of student resistance in action research: Teacher

educators respond to classroom challenges. Educational Action Research, 18(3), 305–318.Capobianco, B. M., & Feldman, A. (2006). Promoting quality for teacher action research: Les-

sons learned from science teachers’ action research. Educational Action Research, 14(4), 497–512.

Cammarota, J., & Fine, M. (2008). Youth participatory action research: A pedagogy for trans-formational resistance. In J. Cammarota & M. Fine (Eds.), Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion (pp. 1–11). New York: Routledge.

Cook-Sather, A. (2006). Sound, presence, and power: “Student voice” in educational research and reform. Curriculum Inquiry, 36(4), 359–390.

Feldman, A. (2007). Teachers, responsibility and action research. Educational Action Research, 15(2), 239–252.

Glassman, M., Erdem, G., & Bartholomew, M. (2013). Action research and its history as an adult education movement for social change. Adult Education Quarterly, 63(3), 272–288.

Goble, G. A. (2007). Ethics, research, and reflection. In S. E. Israel & C. Lassonde (Eds.), The ethical educator: Integrating ethics within the context of teaching and teacher research (pp. 101–108). New York: Peter Lang.

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Goodnough, K. (2011). Examining the long-term impact of collaborative action research on teacher identity and practice: The perceptions of K–12 teachers. Educational Action Research, 19(1), 73–86.

Herr, K., & Anderson, G. L. (2005). The action research dissertation: A guide for students and faculty. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Honigsfeld, A., Connolly, M., & Kelly, S. (2012). Demystifying teacher action research: Lessons learned from a graduate education capstone experience. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 79(2), 15–21.

Hoppey, D. (2013). Linking action research to response to intervention (RtI): The strategy implementation project. Networks: An On-line Journal for Teacher Research, 15(1).

Lytle, S. L., Portnoy, D., Waff, D., & Buckley, M. (2009). Teacher research in urban Philadel-phia: Twenty years working within, against, and beyond the system. Educational Action Research, 17(1), 23–42.

Marquez-Zenkov, K., Harmon, J., van Lier, P., & Marquez-Zenkov, M. (2007). If they’ll listen to us about life, we’ll listen to them about school: Seeing city students’ ideas about ‘quality’ teachers. Educational Action Research, 15(3), 403–415.

Mills, G. E. (2014). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

McIntyre, A. (2000). Inner-city kids: Adolescents confront life and violence in an urban com-munity. New York: New York University Press.

McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2006). All you need to know about action research. London: Sage.Morrell, E. (2008). Six summers of YPAR: Learning, action, and change in urban education.

In J. Cammarota & M. Fine (Eds.), Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion (pp. 155–184). New York: Routledge.

Preble, B., & Taylor, L. (2008). School climate through students’ eyes. Educational Leadership, 66(4), 35–40.

Razfar, A. (2011). Action research in urban schools: Empowerment, transformation, and challenges. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(4), 25–44.

O’Brien, R. (2001). Um exame da abordagem metodológica da pesquisa ação [An overview of the methodological approach of action research]. In Roberto Richardson (Ed.), Teoria e prática da pesquisa ação [Theory and practice of action research]. João Pessoa, Brazil: Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Available: http://www.web.ca/~robrien/papers/ arfinal.html

Souto-Manning, M., & Mitchell, C. (2010). The role of action research in fostering culturally-responsive practices in a preschool classroom. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(4), 269–277.

Spaulding, D. T., & Falco, J. (2013). Action research for school leaders. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Key Termsaction plan Strategy for intervening into the problem under study.

action research Research conducted by stakeholder(s) directly affected by the issue or problem under study for the purpose of improving practices and outcomes.

baseline data Data collected in the initial stages of research to gain a basic under-standing of and document the nature of the phenomenon under study.

bias Any influence that alters or distorts the results of a research study.

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http://www.web.ca/~robrien/papers/arfinal.html


data Information that will aid in answering the research questions. Data can take many different forms (e.g., observation notes, jour-nal entries, student records).

data analysis The process of reviewing and making judgments about the data in order to draw conclusions about the topic under study and to answer the research questions.

data collection The process of gathering data that will aid in answering the research questions.

emic A term used to refer to participant’s own view of his or her world.

fate-control variables Indicators of stu-dent behavior that are critical to their learning, such as attendance, courses taken, grades, and discipline referrals.

findings Final conclusions drawn from research.

first-person research Research that involves one person studying his or her own practice or experiences.

generalizable Can be universally applied or extended to large populations or a wide variety of contexts.

instruments Tools used to collect and record data, including interview and obser-vation protocols, questionnaires, forms, and logs.

interviews A form of data collection in which the researcher asks questions of research participants to gather information about the topic under study.

literature review Review of sources (e.g., articles, books, prior studies) on a particular topic. The purpose is to learn more about what is known and not known about the topic in order to inform a proposed research project.

observations A form of data collection in which the researcher observes a research setting to gather information about the topic under study.

patterns Evidence that is found in the data findings, over and over, through the analysis process.

phenomenon An observed or observable fact, occurrence, or circumstance.

qualitative research Systematic inquiry into phenomena that govern human behav-ior. It investigates the why and how of meaning making, not just what, where, and when. Qualitative data can take many forms, including words, images, and sounds.

quantitative data Systematic inquiry of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. Quantitative data is in the form of numbers.

reliability As pertaining to research, reli-ability refers to degree to which information (e.g., data) in a study is accurate.

validity As pertaining to research, validity refers to the degree to which claims made by the researchers are plausible. It is, in part, contingent on the reliability of the data collected.

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