Action research: methods, applications, and theoretical foundations

Action research as related to education is a process by which a teacher, group of teachers, school, school district, or university observes a problem, creates a plan for action, implements that plan (action), observes the results (research), and plans on further action (Ferrance, 2000, 26). It is in this way that an individual teacher becomes aware of the advantages and disadvantages of her own teaching methods and improves the performance of her students (Ferrance, 2000, 3). It is also in this way that a teacher increases reliance on herself and her own teaching abilities, concurrently enhancing, over the long-term, the progress of her students.

While most of the literature for this assignment seems to focus on action research as related to K-12 education, I believe that it is also appropriate to higher education. The basic steps of action research are these: (1) observe a problem, (2) develop a plan for improvement, (3) implement the plan, and (4) "[reflect] on the effects of the plan for further planning and informed action" (Donato, 2003). These steps could adapt without a problem to classrooms in colleges and universities, as any professor or department is fully capable of going through the steps listed above. Moreover, ethical concerns that present difficulties for K-12 education, such as informed consent (Nolan and Putten, 2007, 402), may be easier to overcome, as college students may be more likely to be receptive to the application of research in their classrooms.

Ferrance states that the purpose of action research is to "chart the effect of implementation of a curriculum or strategy, to study student learning and responses, or to profile individual students" (2000, 27). As such, a specific example of a situation where action research would be appropriate in higher education is this: by mandating that in 2 years, academic standards by which it hold its students will increase, a university department has just made it easier to "flunk out" of the program by raising the minimum GPA required to maintain the major. Naturally, this puts pressure on professors, since they rely on students for their jobs, and if they lose their students, their jobs become at stake.

This example creates a number of opportunities for action research. It could be applied on the individual level. That is, individual professors have the potential to take the problem into their own hands. They already know the problem: it is now more difficult for students to complete this major. Creating a plan of action, they could decide to introduce new teaching methods and new types of learning material. After they have implemented their plan, they can observe the various effects. Once the effects have been recorded and understood, they now have a new set of information to work with. For example, new teaching method A increased students' examination scores as well as did new teaching method B. While both teaching methods were improvements on teaching methods implemented before action research began, teaching method A was more effective. Just as in the circular direction often referred to in action research literature, this new information could then be used for more research on how to maximize the effects of teaching method A, or to isolate what exactly made teaching method A work so well.