Action Research and Educational Research
Action Research (ETEC 543)Action research is any systematic inquiry which can help researchers to gather information for solving the problems on their works in particular places. (Mertler, 2014) For example, a teacher can conducts an action research to investigate how students learn in his/her class or improve his/her teaching in the class.
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Educational Research (ETEC 643)The purpose of educational research is to use scientific methods to analysis and “obtain credible answers for educational questions by designing, conducting, and reporting data that others will view as trustworthy” (McMillan, 2016). Typically, traditional research is often conducted by researchers who are removed from the environment they are studying.
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Two Broad Types of Research Design
Qualitative Research |
Quantitative Research |
Qualitative research is a exploratory research which collects narrative data and uses inductive approach to reasoning insights or comprehensions for the research problem (Mertler, 2014). The narrative data is such as word description. It is usually collected through interview or observation and analyzed by coding scheme.
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Quantitative research is to collect numerical data and use deductive process to proof the answer of the research question (Mertler, 2014). The numerical data is defined as measurable number which can be used for statistical calculation, and the collection method usually go through survey, rating-scale,checklist or test.
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The Process of Action Research
According to Mertler (2014), the processes can be organized in four stages which are Planning, Acting, Developing, and Reflecting. In these four stages, action research is conducted in a cyclical process rather than a linear pattern. Namely, the process will start at planning stage, and keep going to acting stage and developing stage; yet, in reflecting stage, researchers will use information that they obtain in previous stages to reflect and revise their original plan. Further, the researchers can utilize these four stages in new plan which is revised from original plan until the answer that they are seeking is determined.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/411094272206444290/
In Mertler's book (2014), the four stages can be explained in nine steps.
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Acting
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5. Collecting data
Based on the type of the research, the researchers will need to collect qualitative or quantitative data. Qualitative data are narrative, which means the data are word description; typically, qualitative data are collected through interview, observation. In contrast, quantitative data are numerical, which means the data can be quantified and done statistics; usually, quantitative data are collected through survey, checklist, or rating-scale. 6. Analyzing data After the data are collected, the researchers must define the meaning and sort out the results of the collected data. For qualitative data, the analysis method is coding scheme which is to organized the patterns of narrative data. In contrast, quantitative data is analyzed by descriptive statistics which calculates the mean, median, mode, and standard deviation of the collected data. |
Developing
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7. Developing an action plan
While conducting an action research, new problem may be discovered. Therefore, the new action research can be planned from the new problem. Also, if there is any improvement in the previous research, the improvement can be used to plan a new action research. In brief, this step is to make some changes from the previous research for planning a future research. |
Reflecting
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8. Sharing and communicating results
Every result of action research is considered as an important resource in the practical application of education, so sharing and communicating the result with other teachers or administrators can not only assist their teaching but also obtain additional insight regarding the research from them. 9. Reflecting on the process After the researchers receive and collect the feedback and critique, they can be used as the improvement for the further research. In other words, to fix the obstacle of the prior research for planning a new research, then keep following the same process, which is planning, acting, developing, reflecting, and that's how the action research be conducted in cyclical process. |
What I learned in ETEC 543?
Since we did not conduct data collection in 543, we did a proposal as a group for practicing how to conduct action research. Our topic was about using social media to improve parent involvement. During the processes, there were three things that I consider as importance in this class:
1. Research question: The question should be narrow down, instead of a broad question. Otherwise, the question will include too much variables.
2. Quantitative/Qualitative method: Think about what kind of method will be used in research in order to use right method to collect right data.
3. Literature review: Keep reading related articles for supporting your research topic.
1. Research question: The question should be narrow down, instead of a broad question. Otherwise, the question will include too much variables.
2. Quantitative/Qualitative method: Think about what kind of method will be used in research in order to use right method to collect right data.
3. Literature review: Keep reading related articles for supporting your research topic.
Sample work in ETEC 543
proposal.pdf |
The Process of Educational Research
"Educational research is systematic, disciplined inquiry applied to gathering, analyzing, and reporting information that addresses educational problems" (McMillan, 2016). Thus, an educational research usually starts with a research question, and collects data for the question; further, uses the findings of the data to interpret the research question. The processes of conducting educational research are organized in four steps:
Question→Method→Result→Conclusion
Question→Method→Result→Conclusion
Question
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1. Initial question
Researchers will start from an educational problem or issue. 2. Literature Review Read articles or researches which were accomplished by experts and related to your topic. This is a very important step for gaining information to your research. Although literature review is put in first step, it should be conducted from the beginning to the end. 3. Specific question In this step, researchers have to narrow down their research questions which are specific for the research purpose, target, and variables (independent and dependent variables). |
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Result |
I would like call this step "Discussion" which is a quick summary for the whole research has to include:
1. Summarize and interpret the findings of data. 2. Interpret each section and limitation of the research. 3. Interpret the related researches or articles. 4. "Indicate recommendations for further study" (McMillan, 2016). |
Conclusion |
Use the findings to answer and report the research question. Remember, conclusion is a nontechnical summary, so write it in easy words, instead of technical words in order to make it easier to read.
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What I learned in ETEC 643?
In ETEC 643, I developed the topic which was promoting parent involvement by social media. I was investigating the perspectives of using LINE app on parent involvement from parents. Also, I went through all the steps of educational research which included data collection and analysis. During the program, I concluded six importance for educational research:
1. Do literature review until the research is accomplished in order to gain different ideas for each section of the research.
2. Collect data by sensitive questions. Do not ask questions which will confuse participants.
3. Do not forget to mention validity and reliability of measurement in the research.
4. Remember to mention about the limitations in discussion.
5. Connect the topic to the previous studies.
6. Recommend the studies that can be conducted in the future.
1. Do literature review until the research is accomplished in order to gain different ideas for each section of the research.
2. Collect data by sensitive questions. Do not ask questions which will confuse participants.
3. Do not forget to mention validity and reliability of measurement in the research.
4. Remember to mention about the limitations in discussion.
5. Connect the topic to the previous studies.
6. Recommend the studies that can be conducted in the future.
Sample work in ETEC 643
643_final_project.docx |
References
McMillan, J. H. (2016). Fundamentals of educational research (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. ISBN-13: 978-013357916
Mertler, C. (2014). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (4th ed., pp. 1-324). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.
Mertler, C. (2014). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (4th ed., pp. 1-324). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.