Action Research Designs
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
Define the purposes and uses of action research
Describe types of action research designs
Identify key characteristics of action research
Describe the steps in conducting an action research study
List criteria for evaluating an action research study John W. Creswell
Educational Research:
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
18.2
What Is Action Research?
Action research is systematic inquiry done by teachers (or other individuals in an educational setting) to gather information about, and subsequently improve, the ways their particular educational setting operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn (Mills, 2000).
John W. Creswell
Educational Research:
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
18.3
When Do You Use Action Research?
When you have an educational problem to solve
When educators want to reflect on their own practices When you want to address schoolwide problems
When teachers want to improve their practices
When educators want to participate in a research project
John W. Creswell
Educational Research:
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.
18.4
How Action Research Developed
Teacher and school inquiries
(teacher-initiated
research studies)
2000s
1990s
1980s
School-based site councils
(school
committees)
1970s
Professional inquiry by teachers (self-study)
In-service days (teacher staff-development activities)
Movement Toward Action Research
John W. Creswell
Educational Research:
Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.