PROCESS OF ACTION RESEARCH

B.Ed. SEM II/BED 202

Action Research: The Process

Action Research is a cyclic process as opposed to the linear process of traditional or conventional research.

Action Research is cyclic in nature because it never leads to a final stage of the research process. It is a continuous process that appears in the cyclic spiral of small research as seen in the given figure:

Each cycle in the spiral leads to a small increment in the professional enrichment of the teacher.

Each cycle can be seen as comprising of the following four phases:

I....dentify

D....esign

E....nact

A...ssimilate

IDENTIFY: 

This phase includes

Ø Sensing of a Problem: Any problem related to practice or theoretical understanding of the practice. The problem is sensed by the teacher in their action context I.e. while practicing in their professional context. 

       For example, a problem may be sensed in their professional activities related to carrying out co-curricular activities.

Ø Defining the Problem: the teacher attempts to get more focussed on their sensed and diffused problem. They try to identify the key variables and relationships between them and define their problem. They may also collect some data from students to get a more clear insight into the problem. The teacher focusses on a problem in the following ways:

l Interview or observe students or get some questionnaires filled by the student related to the problem sensed by the teacher.

l Reflect upon their own observations of daily interaction with the students in a particular situation.

l Review some literature.

Example: the teacher might have observed that the co-curricular activities were not engaging for the students. They may interview the students to get more feedback on their non-engagement in the activities.

DESIGN:

The teacher has defined the problem. It may be as:

What can be done to make co-curricular activities more engaging for

the students?

In this phase

Ø The teacher clarifies the variables involved.

     For example, they clarify what they mean by co-curricular activities and what they mean by student engagement.

Ø They also do a review of the literature.

Ø The teacher then creates or designs a plan of action. This plan of action includes:

l Description of actions that will be taken by the teacher different from their conventional actions to solve their problem,

l The sequencing of actions or organization of actions that will be taken describing the role of teacher and the students.

l A time schedule for implementation of the action plan.

l A plan for observations

l A statement of the outcomes.

ENACT

Ø The teacher in this stage implement their action plan.

Ø They carry out the actions planned in the design phase as per the planned schedule.

Ø They make observations as per the plan- during the implementation of the plan and or after the implementation of the plan.

ASSIMILATE

Ø The teacher evaluates their implemented action by analyzing data and reflecting on their personal observations

Ø The teacher incorporate the new learning in their repertoire of knowledge and skills

Ø They also think of new actions for further improvement.