Basics of Action Research

Reference: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/aandr.html

True or False
1. Action research is the usual thing that teachers do when they think about their teaching.

2. Action reasearch is about problem solving.

3. Action Research is about research on ther people's problems.

it is abt trs studying their practice

STAGES of ALAR
reflect - where do I start (Identify 1 area of focus)

Plan - What do I do next? (come up with plan of action e.g. time frame, resources needed, strategies devised)

Act - implement your plan

Observe -

Reflect

ALAR

• taking an action to improve classroom practice (wk on real issues and own sol)
• involves identifying a qn and collecting and analysing relevant data
• using the cycle consciously and deliberately

Critical Friending
Definitions and Role-Playing

What is a critical friending ?
Person who helps us:

• with ednal actions/decisions
• to articulate precisely our rationale for those decisions
• to see impt info fr a diff perspective

Characteristics:

• listen well
• encourage specificity
• offer value judgements ONLY when asked

What do CF do?
Critical

• analysing
• raising issues
• identifying prob
• being 'devil's advocate'
• challenging

Friend

• supporting
• recognising
• enthusing
• helping to maintain
• commitment
• appreciating

Why CF in Action Research?
Practitioners = 'expert'
Complex situations > different perspectives
"The growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest dialogue among the people who do it. We grow by private trial and error (...) but our willingness to try, and fail, as individuals is severely ltd when we are not supported by a community that encourages such risk.

What is Action Learning?
A process that involves a small group working on real & complex problem, taking action and learning while doing so.

Components of ALP

• a problem
• group of 4-8 pple
• processes of reflective qng and listeng

Qns during Session

Group Processes

• How are we doing as a team?
• What are we doing well? What was the impact of that?
• What could we do better? What hindered us?
• How did we help? What questions were most useful?

Action!

• is there clarity and agreement on the prob
• what actions are you going to take as a result of this session?
• what is the quality of our ideas?

Concluding Questions

• What have we learned abt teamwork, problem-solving, our students, etc?
• What have you learned abt yourself?
• how can we apply these learning to other parts of the org?
• what helped us learn?

Data Collection

Why collect data?

• to ans the qn leading to the focus qn
• to use infl for informed decision on current practice

Many methods

Criteria for selction techq

• how applicable are the data
• how soon will the techq yield info
• can you afford the time to gather, record

Quantitative

• designed for researching a few of the same components across many cases
• enables prediction and produce a general picture of the whole population

Qualitative

• designed for researching many different components to produce a comprehensive picture of a few cases
• produce a comprehensive picture & enable detailed comparisons

(Tripp, 1991)

QN and caution in implementing ALAR: how does it contribute to the school improvment? Translating it into gains? Quantifying the time and resources spent on ALAR. Affordance of the system - seeing from policy maker and participants

http://sweekin.freecoolsite.com/alar/rdmap_home.htm