27 Oct 96.a
Tom Reeves

[quoting Hart, 27 Oct 96] Action Research is no more than trying out an idea and seeing what happens ("suck it and see" is a good Aussie expression which describes it well) then modifying what you do in the light of your observations. It's what good teachers are doing all the time--the total antithesis to laboratory research. Kemmis also sees collaboration as being an essential element.

I disagree with Ian's casual characterization of action research. (I suspect you meant well, Ian, but I'd like to try to clarify the approach a bit.) Action research, done well, is certainly not the social science equivalent of the tabletop physics that led to the cold fusion fiasco a few years ago in Utah and Texas. Action research, done poorly, can be just as pseudoscientific as any other methodology done poorly. "A casual approach to evidence" is one of Casti's signs of pseudoscience and that "sin" can be committed regardless of whether is using quantitative, qualitative, critical analysis, literature review, or some sort of mixed methods approach to educational research.

Issac and Michael (1971) described action research this way:

Purpose: To develop new skills or new approaches and to solve problems with direct application to the classroom or working world setting.

Examples: An inservice program to help train counselors to work more effectively with minority group children; to develop an exploratory program in accident prevention in a driver's education course; to solve the problem of apathy in a required high school "orientation" class; to test a fresh approach to interesting more students in taking vocational education courses.

Steps:

  1. Define a problem or set the goal. What is it that needs improvement of that might be developed as a new skill or solution?
  2. Review the literature to learn whether others have met similar problems or achieved related objectives.
  3. Formulate testable hypotheses or strategies of approach, stating them in clear, specific pragmatic language.
  4. Arrange the research setting and spell out the procedures and conditions. What are the particular things you will do in an attempt to meet your objectives?
  5. Establish evaluation criteria, measurement techniques, and other means of acquiring useful feedback.
  6. Analyze the data and evaluate the outcomes.

In addition to the collaboration that Ian mentioned, another aspect of action research is that it is "flexible and adaptive, allowing changes in during the trial period and sacrificing control in favor of responsiveness and on-the-spot experimentation and innovation" (Issac & Newman, p. 55).

For a contemporary perspective on an approach to action research in the context of instructional technology, see Newman's (1990) description of what he calls "formative experimentation."

Also, Falmer Press has two new books by Zuber-Skerritt (1996) and Hollingsworth (1997) on action research, but I do not have these books myself.

Casti, J.L. (1989). Paradigms lost: Images of man in the mirror of science. New York: William Morrow.

Hollingsworth, S. (Ed.). (1997). International action research: Education reform. Bristol, PA: Falmer Press.

Isaac, S., & Michael, W.B. (1971). Handbook in research and evaluation. San Diego: EdITS Publishers.

Newman, D. (1990). Opportunities for research on the organizational impact of school computers. Educational Researcher, 19(3), 8-13.

Zuber-Skerritt, O. (Ed.). (1997). New directions in action research. Bristol, PA: Falmer Press.