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Action Research

Overview
 

What is Action Research?

  • Action Research is a form of disciplined inquiry that impacts directly on a teacher's practice and empowers them to renew their classrooms and promote instructional improvement. (Glanz, 1991)
  • Action Research is a form of self-reflective inquiry (Kemmis, 1983)
  • Action Research is the systematic study of attempts to improve educational practice by groups of participants by means of their own practical actions and by means of their own reflection upon the effects of those actions. (Ebbutt, 1985)
  • Action Research is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason for Action Research is to assist the "actor" in improving and/or refining his or her actions. (Sagor, 2000)


The advancement of Action Research is credited to Kurt Lewin, who, in 1946, used it as a methodology for intervening in the post-war issues of the day. In 1953, Stephen Corey, a researcher from Columbia University's Teacher's College, published Action Research to Improve School Practice. More recently, critical theorists have used Action Research as a way to empower and emancipate participants-reinforcing the notion that teachers are in control of their own research, and are responsible for decisions that affect their students.

More recently Sirotnik (1987) and Joyce (1991) have identified Action Research as a process that develops a problem-solving ethos. Sagor (2000) identifies three purposes for Action Research: building the reflective practitioner, making progress on school wide priorities, and building a professional culture in the educational arena. Each of these outcomes helps create an environment of learning and progress toward educational goals, and as a result they have become the focus of many school-based activities.

As we seek to develop reflective practitioners who are teacher leaders and decision-makers in our teacher education programs, we include the Action Research process as a strategy for continued professional and personal development.

 

 


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