In my position as a classroom teacher, I am unlikely to have access to the resources needed to conduct traditional experimental research with a control group, or even a quasi-experimental project. Action research provides me with a structure to conduct valuable research that will directly inform my professional practice using small samples (Glanz, 1999).The four basic phases in action research are: select a focus, collect data, analyze and interpret the data, and take action (Glanz, 1999).
During the first phase, I consider what I am concerned about, gather some preliminary information and review literature to begin to limit the scope of my research so that I may develop specific research questions, along with a creating plan for getting answers to those questions (Glanz, 1999; Mertler, 2014). The action research plan considers the design of my research project: qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods.
During the second phase, I collect qualitative data through interviews, observations, or by reviewing existing documents and records such as maps and journals, and/or quantitative data through test scores, rating scales, and surveys (Mertler, 2014).
The third phase involves analyzing the data collected in step two to draw conclusions about the research question. If I collected qualitative data, I may conduct an inductive analysis by first looking for patterns in the data, then create some theories to explain those patterns (Mertler, 2014). If I collected quantitative data, I may conduct and analysis through descriptive statistics, such as measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and dispersion (standard deviation, range), or inferential statistics if I believe that my sample does represent a larger population and that my results may be generalizable to that population (Mertler, 2014).
The fourth phase involves taking action based on findings, continuing or discontinuing the current conditions, or perhaps modifying them (Glanz, 1999). This action plan may be designed for only my classroom, for my department or team, or applied to the whole school or district, so it may be necessary to write an action report to share my findings (Mertler, 2014).
This artifact addresses the first phase in the action research process. This is a proposal for an action research project to study the impact of "Tug Team," a game for multiplication fact fluency on Multiplication.com, on the fact fluency of 5th grade students. It includes background on the situation that prompted the concern, the research questions, and a plan for specific quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
This project required a review of current and past research on gaming in education, and whether or not a computer-based delivery of games was innately superior to traditional games. After reviewing this research, my group agreed that using a computer does not necessarily result in better outcomes, despite the common assumption that computer games are inherently more engaging; there are multiple factors that may influence the effectiveness of a computer-based game and we sought to discover what those factors might be. This process helped to shape and limit the scope of our research question as we discovered more current and past research articles that addressed the question of whether using technology based delivery methods resulted in better outcomes and analyzed what factors these articles proposed as being significant to a well-designed computer based game or lesson.
A statement of methodology for an action research project on how to use video modeling of social skills to support the successful inclusion of students with severe social, emotional, and behavioral disabilities into the general education environment. This artifact presents the methodical manner in which I may design an intervention prior to collecting and analyzing data. The previous artifact presented researching a pre-made technology based resource; this artifact presents how I may design my own technology based intervention in preparation for action research.
Reflection
As I have progressed through this program, I have developed a greater understanding of the action research process. Having multiple opportunities to practice the cyclical steps in action research has made me more confident in my ability to conduct a review of the available literature, document the most relevant literature in an annotated bibliography then synthesize the ideas from those sources into a literature review to show interested parties the thought process that went into refining my research topic, questions, and methods. I am confident in my ability to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and to use that data to further refine my research project.
This particular form of research is much more applicable to what I will likely be able to accomplish in my career as a classroom based teacher. I will be able to test instructional techniques in my classroom with my specific students. A more traditional research model would require me to have a control group, which would be extremely difficult for me to form since I am the only special education teacher at my small and rural school. I work with students with a variety of disabilities, and very rarely do I ever work with a group of students with the same disability, let alone two groups with the same disability, which might allow for a comparison. In short, my sample size would always skew my results. Action research allows me to work within the structure of my job while providing a framework for conducting research that will be of direct benefit to my students.