3-1MillsAction Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 5e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Action Research

Geoffrey E. Mills

Fifth Edition

© 2014, 2011, 2007, 2003, 2000Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Guide for the Teacher Researcher

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Chapter 3

Deciding on an Area of Focus

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Overview

Clarify your area of focus. Do reconnaissance. Review related literature. Write an action plan to guide your work.

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Clarifying an Area of Focus

General idea: statement that links idea to action and refers to a situation to change or improve

Area of focus: explicit question or problem to investigate involves teaching and learning focuses on your own practice within your locus of control something you feel passionate about something you want to change or

improve

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Reconnaissance

Preliminary information gathering Taking time to reflect on your own

beliefs Taking time to understand the nature

and context of your general idea 3 forms

self-reflection description explanation

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Self-reflection

Reflect on theories that affect your practice educational values you hold

historical contexts

how your work in schools fits into the larger context of schooling and societyhistorical contexts

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Descriptive Activities

What evidence do you have that this is a problem?

Which students are affected? How is the content currently taught?

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Explanatory Activities

Develop a hypothesis focus on the why try to account for critical factors

that have an impact on the general idea

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Review of Related Literature

Systematically identifying, locating, analyzing documents related to the topic/area of focus major themes promising practices

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Online Resources

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

Education Full Text PsycINFO Dissertation Abstracts

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Internet and WWW Resources

Google: Scholar, Books, UncleSam CSTEEP: The Center for the Study

of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy

National Center for Education Statistics

Developing Educational Standards U.S. Department of Education Education Resources Directory

(EROD)

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Professional Organizations

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

National Education Association (NEA) National Science Teachers Association

(NSTA) International Reading Association (IRA)

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University Library

Perhaps a statement of the obvious!

Meet the librarian. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

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Evaluating Sources

Key questions Relevance: What was the problem

statement of the study? Author: Who performed the study? Source: Where was it published? Method: How was it conducted? Date: When was it conducted? Context: What sources are

referenced?

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Annotating Reviewing, summarizing, classifying

references read abstract/summary to determine

relevance skim article, making mental notes of

main points write complete bibliographic reference classify and code according to system

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Annotating Reviewing, summarizing, classifying

references summarize essential points indicate responses that come to mind identify direct quotations and personal

reactions create a literature matrix

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Literature Matrix Visual overview of similarities and

differences

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Analyzing, Organizing, & Reporting

Make an outline Analyze each reference in terms of the

outline Analyze the references for similarities and

differences Give a meaningful overview of past

research Discuss references least related to your

problem first and those most related last Conclude with a brief summary of literature

and its implications

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The Action Research Plan Write an area of focus statement Define the variables Develop research questions Describe the intervention or innovation Describe group membership

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The Action Research Plan Describe negotiations Develop a timeline Develop a statement of resources Develop data collection ideas.

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Area of Focus Statement

Identifies the purpose of the study

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Define the Variables

Variable: characteristic of your study that is subject to change represent what the factors,

contexts, and variables mean to you

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Develop Research Questions

Validate that you have a workable way to proceed with your investigation breathe life into the area of focus

statement help focus the data collection plan

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Describe Intervention/Innovation

What are you going to do to improve the situation you have described?

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Describe Group Membership

Identify who will be involved in action research group

Describe the importance of the members for the success of the investigation

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Describe Negotiations

Head off any potential obstacles to implementation of the action plan permission from an administrator?

parents? students? Other teachers?

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Develop Timeline

Decide who will be doing what, when

Anticipate where, how inquiry will take place

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Develop Statement of Resources

List materials & resources that you need

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Develop Data Collection Ideas

Preliminary statement identifying kinds of data that may provide evidence

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Put the Plan into Action

Develop & implement data collection ideas