RESEARCH

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RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
Latin circa, to circle around or explore
French recerche, to search closely
Cognate words include inquiry, scholarship,
investigation (American Heritage Dictionary)
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RESEARCH
..an unusually stubborn and persisting effort to
think straight which involves the gathering and
intelligent use of data. (Hamblin, 1966).
a systematic investigation, including research
development, testing and evaluation, designed to
develop or contribute to generalizable
knowledge. (US Government, Office of Management
and Budget)
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Research

• A process of constant exploration and discovery
  (Zumann, 2002)
• Systematic and organized activity to investigate
  a specific problem that needs a solution
• Different from a simple opinion, unexamined point
  of view, or unfocused curiosity
• RE-search

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Positivist and Post-Positivist Perspectives on
Research
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How do we know?

• Epistemology the philosophy of knowing
• Methodology an approach to knowing

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Ways of Knowing (Kerlinger, 1986)

• Tenacity Weve always believed it
• Intuition Feels right
• Authority Respected source
• Science Objective, empirical

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Positivist View of Research

• Science is a way to learn the TRUTH
• Science is deterministic and mechanistic
• Science deals only with what we can see or
  measure. It is EMPIRICAL.
• Best way to learn the truth is through the
  scientific method controlled experiment.
• Science is objective.

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Mainstream Scientific Research

• quantitative measures
• an emphasis on measurement
• relatively few variables
• laboratory conditions
• precise causal hypotheses
• study derived from the literature, and the
  situation then chosen to fit

• reductionist assumptions
• interpretation of data by the researcher
• researcher as independent
• inflexibility once data collection has begun
• use of control groups
• generalization highly valued

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Post-Positivist View of Research

• Empirical Observation is theory laden and
  therefore subjective
• Multiple perspectives and triangulation of data
  are preferable
• Context should be embraced, not avoided.

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Critical Realism

• A moderating position that attempts to avoid
  scientific claims to objective truth while
  avoiding post-modernist subjectivist perspectives
• There is a reality that we should try to get
  right
• We should be critical of our ability to ever get
  it perfectly right

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Garbage In
Good research is good research, regardless of
its methodological paradigm.

• Garbage Out

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Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump,
bump, bump, on the back of his head,
behind Christopher Robin, It is, as far
as he knows, the only way of coming
downstairs, but sometimes he feels there
really is another way,if only he could stop
bumping for a moment and think of it.A.A. Milne
(1926)
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Action Research

• Term coined and meaning attributed by Kurt Lewin
  in the 1940s

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Action Research

• Pursues both action and research outcomes
• Cyclic Process, with critical reflection a
  component of each cycle
• Is a methodological paradigm YOUR school, YOUR
  teaching
• plan --gt act --gt observe --gt reflect --gt plan ...
• action --gt critical reflection --gt action --gt
  critical reflection ...

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What is Action Research?

• Action Research is a form of research that
  generates knowledge claims for the express
  purpose of taking action to promote social change
  and social action (Greenwood and Levin, 1998)
• Action researchers believe that
• Complex social systems and social situations
  cannot be reduced for meaningful study
• Action research is a process of making sense and
  understanding complex interactions and systems
• AR refers to the conjunction of three elements
• Research
• Action
• Participation

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Three Approaches to Action Research

• Individual Teacher Research
• Collaborative Action Research
• Schoolwide Action Research

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Action Research Cycle Plan-Act-Observe-Reflect
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Conditions for Action Research

• According to Grundy and Kemmis there are three
  conditions necessary for AR to exist
• A project takes as its subject matter a social
  practice, regarding it as a strategic action
  susceptible to improvement
• The project proceeds through a spiral of cycles
  of planning, acting, observing and reflecting
  with each of these activities being
  systematically and self critically implemented
  and interrelated and
• The project involves those responsible for the
  practice in each of the moments of the activity,
  widening participation in the project gradually
  to include others affected by the practice and
  maintaining collaborative control of the process

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How is Action Research Defined? Action Research
is a three-step spiral process of (1) planning
which involves reconnaissance (2) taking
actions and (3) fact-finding about the results
of the action. --Kurt Lewin (1947) Action
Research is the process by which practitioners
attempt to study their problems scientifically in
order to guide, correct, and evaluate their
decisions and actions. --Stephen Corey (1953)
Action Research in education is study conducted
by colleagues in a school setting of the results
of their activities to improve instruction.
--Carl Glickman (1992)  Action Research is a
fancy way of saying lets study whats happening
at our school and decide how to make it a better
place. --Emily Calhoun (1994)
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Limitations of Action Research

• Tendency for inexperienced researchers to focus
  entirely on planning, acting and observing phases
  and less upon theorizing
• Ethical responsibilities to other participants
• Length of projects ongoing and evolutionary
• Not generalizable to other populations and
  contexts

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Qualitativewords Quantitativenumbers
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Action Research Planning

• Research Topic What am I interested in?
• Research Question What specifically do I want
  to find out?
• Research Strategy How will I come to know this?
  What changes will I implement in my classroom?
• Data Collection What kinds of things do I need
  to collect before I begin? How will I collect the
  data? How often? How long?
• Analysis What did I find out? Did it work the
  way I thought it would? What now?
•  
•      

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The formulation of a problem is far more often
essential than its solution, which may be merely
a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to
regard old problems from a new angle requires
creative imagination and marks real advance in
science. --A. Einstein and L. Infeld, The
Evolution of Physics, 1938.
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On what do you focus action research? A problem
from your classroom A puzzle or dilemma about
the learning of a particular student or group of
students A question you have about your
teaching A situation that has arisen in your
classroom How to develop and support particular
learning qualities
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Examples of Action Research Projects
Janette Banaszak (HS Art) What happens to a
students attitude about art when lessons are
designed to allow more student voice in written
form, in collaborative critiques, and in the
process of creating artwork? Gwen Armstrong (HS
Spanish) Using Cooperative Learning and Student
Projects to Enhance Engagement in Secondary
Spanish Kristi Ramey (9th Grade Math) How can I
reinforce arithmetic skills to improve algebra
skills? Laurie Cooper (7th Language Arts) Using
Collaboration to Aid Memorization Lauuri Smith
Hilburger (2nd Grade) What happens when you
raise the technology standards of seven and eight
year olds?
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Guidelines for Action Research

• Diagnose
• Identify the questions
• Collect data to answer questions
• Analyze the data collected
• Reflect
• Take action

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Identify the Question(s)

• Choose a problem/issue important to YOU
• Make sure questions are directly related to your
  chosen problem/issue
• Make sure your questions are answerable
• Brainstorm about the larger issues to generate
  answerable questions
• Rule out yes or no questions, and use why,
  how, or what questions

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Collect Data

• Use any appropriate information that can help you
  answer your question
• Cross-sectional or longitudinal data
• Look for readily available data
• Types of data can be tallies, surveys,
  demographic information, test results,
  observations, interviews, documents

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Purpose Statement

• Clear development of the purpose statement
  provides logical structure to and a roadmap for
  your study The purpose of this study is
• Make it as specific and as de-limited as possible
• Lean and mean Avoid unrelated or ornamental
  ideas/concepts.
• Revise, Revise, Revise

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Research Questions

• Allows you to specifically define the
  problem/issue
• State as clearly and specifically/empirically as
  possible
• What are faculty attitudes toward instructional
  technology?
• What are faculty attitudes in my school towards
  instructional technology?
• What are faculty attitudes in my school towards
  instructional technology, as measured by a
  faculty attitude survey?
• Do faculty attitudes toward instructional
  technology in my school, as measured by a faculty
  attitude survey, differ among those with less
  than five years of teaching experience and those
  with more than five years of teaching experience?

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Review of Literature

• What have others discovered or undertaken that is
  related to your intended research project?
• Provides context/background to your research
  problem/issue.
• Enables you to reflect upon and dialogue with
  previous approaches as you plan and design your
  project.
• Typically constructed as an inverted pyramid
  generally related to most directly related, each
  study cited becoming increasingly more specific
  to the context and conduct of your project.