1. Action Research :
Overview
UCC504 RESEARCH METHODS
by
Stephen Ong
Visiting Professor, Shenzhen University
Visiting Fellow, Birmingham City
University Business School, UK

2. • Introduction to Action
Research1
• Action Research Process2
• Action Research Thesis
3
Today‘s Overview

3. ―No action without research;
no research without
action.‖
—K. Lewin, cited in Adelman, 1993, p. 8

4. 1.
INTRODUCTION TO
ACTION RESEARCH
1 - 4

5. (WHYTE, 1991)
“It is important, both for the
advancement of science and for
the improvement of human
welfare, to devise strategies in
which research and action are
closely linked”

6. Brief History
 Kurt Lewin (1934) coined ―action research‖
 America: Dewey & progressive education
movement
 United Kingdom: Curriculum reform
 Australia: Collaborative curriculum
planning

7. Figure 5.1 The research onion
Source: © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill (2008), reproduced with permission
Action Research as Research Strategy

8. What Is Action Research*?
 A family of research methodologies which
pursue action (or change) and research (or
understanding) at the same time. It uses a
cyclic process alternating between action
and critical reflection
 In later cycles, methods, data, and
interpretations are continuously refined in
light of understanding developed in earlier
cycles
*Dick, Bob (1999) What is action research?
Available on line at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/whatisar.html

9. Figure 5.2 The action research spiral
Source: © Saunders et al. (2009), reproducedwith permission
The Action Research Spiral
Cycle Process

10. Credo for Reflective Practice
 Everyone needs opportunities for
professional growth.
 All professionals want to improve.
 All professionals can learn.
 All professionals assume responsibility
for professional growth and development.
 People need and want information about
their performance.
 Collaboration enriches professional
development.

11. What Is Action Research?
 It is emergent, taking shape as
understanding increases
 It is iterative, converging towards a
better understanding of what
happens
 In most of its forms Action Research
is participative (change is usually
easier to achieve when those affected
by the change are involved) and
qualitative

12. Types of Action Research
Participatory Action
 Participants in a
programme or
institutions
together design
and implement a
research project in
order to make
recommendations
for changing
practice.
Political Action
 Citizens do research to
work for social change
with regards to issues
of power.
 Always concerned with
questions of
importance, and
encourages progress
toward particular
social goals.

13. Overview of Action Research
 Action research is deliberate,
solution-oriented investigation that
is group or personally owned and
conducted.
 It is characterized by spiraling
cycles of problem identification,
systematic data collection,
reflection, analysis, data-driven
action taken, and, finally, problem
redefinition. (Johnson, B. 1993)

14. The Action Research Cycle
 As a research method, action research
is cyclical. It assumes that
understandings and actions emerge in
a constant cycle.
 ―Action research involves the
improvement of practice, of the
understanding of practice, and of the
situations in which practice occurs‖.

15. The Action Research Cycle

16. Stages in Action Research 1-3
 Stage One: Problem Identification:
 Acknowledge an inequity and the need for
change. Can be an existing problem, or a
newly emerged issue.
 Stage Two: Evaluation:
 Develop and carry out methods for
evaluating the breadth and depth of the
inequity
 Stage Three: Recommendations:
 Based on the Evaluation, provide specific
recommendations for change and/or
continued evaluation.

17. Stages in Action Research 4-6
 Stage Four: Application/Practice:
 Work with the powers that be to take action and
institutionalize the recommendations.
 Stage Five: Reflection:
 With changes in place, reflect on ways in which new
practices affect the organization or the issue.
Concurrently, reflect on what you, as an individual
researcher, and/or the team learned from the process
of the research.
 Stage Six: Consideration of New Questions:
 Acknowledge and dialogue about new questions that
have emerged from the changes. Have the changes
worked? Are there any shortcomings? Did the team
uncover additional issues or inequities in the process
of the AR?

18. Methods
 You can collect qualitative or
quantitative data
 Quantitative makes comparisons
between variables
 Qualitative tries to describe a
phenomenon
 Action Research is most often
qualitative

19. How to Study the Problem
 Describe your plan, including the
materials and methods you will use
 Describe learning theories or
perspectives embedded in your plan
 Justify how your plan is consistent
with a specific issue perspective

20. The Participants
 Include the numbers and
characteristics of participants in your
project
 Explain how the makeup of your
sample compares to the population
 Include special characteristics of
population / variables or issue that
might be of interest

21. The Setting
 Describe the environment where you
will conduct your project
 Include the location, size, and any
information that might of interest to
the reader

22. Your Methods
 Describe details of how your plan will
unfold and who will be responsible for the
various parts of the plan
 Be specific enough to give a good idea of
how you envision your plan happening

23. Reflection/Analysis
 Reflect on ways in which new practices
affect the issue
 Reflect on what you learned from the
process of the research

24. Consideration of New Questions
 Acknowledge and dialogue
about new questions that have
emerged from the changes
 Have the changes worked?
 Are there any shortcomings?
 Did you uncover additional
issues or inequities in the
process

25. Issues & Recommendations
 Be explicit about the research method.
 Action Researchers must be clear about
their framework of ideas, the method,
techniques that they are developing, and
provide rich and clear evidence from their
reflections
 Proper documentation is important
 Explicit criteria should be defined
before performing the research in order
to later judge its outcomes.

26. 2.
THE
ACTION RESEARCH
PROCESS
1 - 26

27. Action Research Steps
1. Identify a problem or
research topic
2. Set the problem or research
topic in a theoretical context
3. Make a plan for data
collection
4. Begin to collect and analyze
data
5. If necessary, allow the
question or problem to
change as you collect data
6. Analyze and
organize the data
7. Report the data
8. Make your
conclusions and
recommendations
9. Create a plan of
action
10. Put your plan into
action and evaluate

28. 1. Finding the Problem
1. Problems must first be identified
2. Define the problem – seek to
understand the nature of the
situation and understand causal
factors
3. A problem is a difference between
present state and desired state

29. Problem Definer
Present state:
Desired state:
Objective Facts Consequences Relevant or Related Facts
The problem:
Restate the problem:

30. 2. Review Literature / Theoretical
Context
1.Find a good
library or journal
database
2.Locate possible
sources
3.Peruse your
sources
4.Read and take
careful notes
6.Organise notes and
look for emerging
themes
7.Express emerging
themes with
declarative sentences
8.Create an extremely
rough first draft
9.Start the revision
process

31. 3. TYPES OF DATA
COLLECTION
1. Log or research
journal
2. Field notes
3. Checklists
4. Rating checklists
5. Rubrics
6. Conferences and
interviews
7. Video and audio
recordings
8. Data retrieval charts
9. Maps
10.The arts
11. Archival data
12.Surveys
13. Attitude and rating
scales
14.Online platforms
and class journals

32. Qualitative Data Collection Techniques

33. 4. DATA ANALYSIS : ACCURACY
AND CREDIBILITY
1. Record your observations carefully and precisely
2. Describe all phases of data collection and analysis
3. Make sure you record and report everything that is
of importance
4. Be as objective as possible in describing and
interpreting what you see
5. Use enough data sources
6. Use the right kinds of data sources
7. Look long enough and deep enough

34. 4. DATA ANALYSIS : Validity,
Reliability, and Triangulation
 Validity = the degree to which a thing
measures what it reports to measure
 Triangulation = looking at something
from more than one perspective
 Reliability = the degree to which a study
or experiment can be repeated with similar
results

35. 4. DATA ANALYSIS :
Generalizability
 Degree to which behaviour of one
group can be used to explain the
behaviour of a wider group
 Generalizability is not the goal of
action research. Instead, it is to:
 understand what is happening in
your organisation or team
 determine how to improve things in
that context

36. 5. Inductive Analysis
 Inductive analysis = to look at a field or
group of data and try to induce or create
order by organizing what is observed into
groups
 Look for repeating patterns and themes
to help them understand it the bit of reality
that you are observing
 In using inductive analysis, initial categories
should be flexible as later data may change
their nature and composition.

37. Correlational :
 Seeks to determine whether
and to what degree a
statistical relationship exists
between 2 or more variables .
 Used to describe an existing
condition or event in the past.
Quasi-experimental:
 Like true experiment; but
no random assignment of
subjects to groups
 Pre-tests and matching
used to ensure
comparison groups are
relatively similar
6. Quantitative Research Designs
3 Quantitative research designs fit the AR paradigm:
Causal-comparative:
 Used to find reason for
existing differences
between 2 or more groups
 Used when random
assignment of participants
for groups cannot be met
 Like correlational research,
used to describe an existing
situation
 Compares groups to find a
cause for differences in
measures or scores

38. Quantitative
Data Collection Techniques
1. Researcher-made tests
2. Standardized tests
3. Institution-generated reports
4. Attitude scales
5. Likert scales
6. Semantic differential

39. 7. Action Research Report
Reporting Qualitative Data
 Create a picture
 Transform data into
a digestible whole
 Describe
meaningful trends,
patterns, and
categories
Reporting Quantitative Data
 Use numerals to report
dates, time, counts,
quantities, scales, money …
 Arithmetic data are reported
in descending order.
 Tell what you are observing
first; the total number
before you report
categories; be consistent
with the order of gender or
other categories

40. Outline of Action Research Report
1. Area-of-focus
statement
2. Related literature
3. Definition of
variables
4. Research
questions
5. Description of
intervention or
innovation
6. Data collection
7. Data
considerations
8. Data analysis
and
interpretation
9. Action plan

41. 8. CONCLUSIONS &
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conclusion = reasoned
deduction
2. Based on data you have
collected and reported
3. Synthesizes and explains
important data
4. Recommendation =
general suggestion for
choice or action based
on findings
5. Conclusion and
recommendations often
similar
Implications for Future Research
 Good research often results
in many new questions
 Describe possible future
related research projects
Evaluation of the Study
 No such thing as a perfect
result
 Evaluate the effectiveness
of the current study
 Describe how it might be
done differently
 Strengths, weaknesses,
limitations

42. 9. DESIGNING A NEW PLAN OR
PROGRAMME
Five possible outcomes of an Action
Research project:
1. Greater understanding of the situation,
employees or persons in general
2. The discovery of a problem
3. A plan, programme, or method is found to be
effective
4. A plan, programme, or method is found to
need modification
5. A plan, programme, or method is found to be
ineffective

43. 10. Developing Action Plans
Reflect: “Based on what I
have learned from this
investigation, what should I
do now?”

44. Steps to Action
1. Summarizing findings
2. Recommending action
3. Determining responsibilities
4. Sharing findings with colleagues
5. Ongoing monitoring (data
collection)
6. Creating timeline
7. Developing resources

45. Steps-to-Action Chart

46. Levels of Action Planning
 Individual
 curriculum development,
implementation
 instructional & assessment strategies
 group management strategies/plans
 community involvement
 Team
 colleagues, administrators,
stakeholders
 Organisation-wide

47. Action Should Be Ongoing
 Taking action is a regular part of work
 based on formative feedback
 often intuitive and informal
Reflection
 What were the intended and unintended
effects of your actions?
 What work issues arise from what you
have learned about your practice?

48. 3.
THE
ACTION RESEARCH
THESIS
1 - 48

49. THE ACTION RESEARCH
THESIS Format
Abstract
CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II - REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER IV – FINDINGS
CHAPTER V - DISCUSSION

50. CONCLUSION
―Action research is a process that
gives credence to the development
of powers of reflective thought,
discussion, decision and action by
ordinary people participating in
collective research on ‗private
troubles‘ that they have in
common.‖
(Adelman 1993)

51. Core Reading
 MILLS, GEOFFREY E. (2011) ACTION RESEARCH, 4TH
EDITION, PEARSON
 JOHNSON, ANDREW P.(2012) A SHORT GUIDE TO
ACTION RESEARCH, 4TH EDITION, PEARSON
 COOPER, D.R. AND SCHINDLER, P.S. (2011) BUSINESS
RESEARCH METHODS, 11TH EDITION, MCGRAW HILL
 SAUNDERS, M., LEWIS, P. AND THORNHILL, A. (2012)
RESEARCH METHODS FOR BUSINESS STUDENTS, 6TH
EDITION, PRENTICE HALL.
 SAUNDERS, M. AND LEWIS, P. (2012) DOING
RESEARCH IN BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT, FT
PRENTICE HALL.
 LEEDY, P.D. AND ORMROD, J.E. (2013) PRACTICAL
RESEARCH, 10TH EDITION, PEARSON
 GLESNE, C.(2011) BECOMING QUALITATIVE
RESEARCHERS, 4TH EDITION, PEARSON

52. QUESTIONS?