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Module 3 Handout Selecting Topics For Action Research

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Module 3 Handout Selecting Topics For Action Research

Uploaded by

Jenesis Aron Ragot
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MODULE 3

SELECTING TOPICS AND QUESTIONS


FOR ACTION RESEARCH

Desired Learning Outcomes:


At the end of the lesson, the students must have:

1. discussed the criteria for selecting good topics and questions for action research.
2. identified good topics and questions for action research
3. analyzed topics of action research done in school

Introduction

Where do research questions come from? Simply put, action research questions
originate from a teacher’s reflections. Everyday there are situations that encourages
teachers to reflect. A teacher might ask these questions ...

REFERENCES

What makes a question suitable for Action Research is its relation to concerns
about understanding and improving school practices. The following questions are
related to actual experiences of teaching and are intended to improve classroom
teaching and learning. These questions are borrowed from accounts of actual Action
Research projects undertaken by teachers who had specific concerns about their
teaching (Nugent, et. al, 2012):

❖ How can I help my students learn from their own ideas?


❖ How can I help students relate what they already know to what they are learning
in the classroom?
❖ How can I have students become more independent learners?
❖ Can small group work help my students to interact more with each other in class?
❖ Will anchor charts (wall displays) bring about more learning in my classroom?
❖ How can I come up with higher-level comprehension questions in my class?
❖ When and how do I use praise in my classroom?
In formulating the research question, describe the problem or situation on which
the question is based. The question should address observations/concerns about your
teaching and students’ learning. Why do you think something is happening? Although
you may have several concerns, limit your Action Research to one question. That
question should:
▪ be a higher-order question—not a yes/no
▪ be stated in common language, avoiding jargon
▪ be concise
▪ be meaningful
▪ not already have an answer (Ferrance, 2000)

Ensure that your question is a doable question. Most of the time, teachers start
Action Research with questions that are either too big to accomplish or out of their
control. Start with a question that is manageable and about something that is under
your control to change. Here are some examples of problems that have been
addressed through Action Research:

▪ Students can’t read.


▪ Students don’t see the purpose of practice.
▪ Teachers don’t know how to tell if their students are learning.
▪ Students do not bear a shared responsibility for learning.
▪ Student attitudes toward reading are not good.
▪ Struggling readers need a system of formative evaluation.
▪ Students are not completing their homework.
▪ Students new to the language of instruction need to increase their
knowledge of academic language.

In order for your action plan to resolve the problem, the question must be valid
and doable. To ensure that the question meets these criteria, you may ask yourself
clarifying questions such as these:

1. What are some areas of interest I want to improve?


Example: I am concerned that my students have trouble comprehending short stories.
2. Why do I want to research this problem?
Example: Students are unable to read their textbooks and comprehend the information
independently.
3. What are some potential solutions?
Example: Consult / hire a coach. Find an expert within the school to come to my class.
Explicitly teach and model how to read short stories.
4. Which of these possible solutions can I investigate over an eight-week period?
Example: Explicitly teach and model how to read short stories.
5. What kinds of evidence do I have, or can I find as a baseline?
Example: observations, tests, worksheets, informal reading assessments, journals
6. Formulate a research question.
Example: Does reading comprehension on short stories improve as a result of
providing explicit small group instruction for two 20-minute periods two
times per week. (Brozo, 2011)

In summary, to begin your Action Research you must identify a valid problem,
reflect on a possible solution, and ask a researchable question. The steps are:

1. Describe the problem or situation.


2. Make a plan to resolve the problem. (Plan something YOU can do about the problem.)
3. Turn your problem and plan into a research question.
4. State what you will expect to see if the plan works as a research question.

(Hollingsworth, 2001-2005)
The Alberta Teachers’ Association (2000) also suggested the following strategies
and ways to determine a research question.
REFERENCES

Alberta Teachers Assocaiton. (2000). Action research guide for Alberta teachers. NW,
Edmonton, Alberta.

Ferrance, E. (2000). Action Research. Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory At
Brown University: Providence, RI.

Brozo, W.G. (2011). Action Research [PowerPoint slides]. Newark, DE: International Reading
Association.

Hollingsworth, S., Khan, M. S., Khoso, N.A., Qureshi, G. M. (2005). Unpublished manuscript on
Action Research. Karachi, Pakistan: IRA/ESRA

Hollingsworth, S. (2001-2005). Unpublished manuscript on Action Research: IRA/ESRA.

Hollingsworth S. and Dar F., 2004 Module for Action Research Trainers. Karachi, Pakistan:
IRA/ESRA.

Hollingsworth, S. (Ed.). (1997). International Action Research: A Casebook for Educational


Reform. London: Falmer.

Nugent, G., Malik, S., & Hollingsworth, S. (2012). A practical guide to action research for
literacy educators. With the support from International Reading Association, Nokia
Corporation and Pearson Foundation. Washington DC.

Patterson, L., C., Minnick Santa, K.G., Short and K. Smith, 1993. Teachers are researchers:
reflection and action. Newark, Del: International Reading Association.

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