Teacher Action ResearchWorkshop 3:

Trustworthy Teacher Action Research

EARCOS Teachers’ Conference28-31 March 2012

Donna Kalmbach Phillips, Ph.D.Pacific University, OR USA

Trustworthy Teacher Action ResearchWhat makes a teacher action research project

‘good’? This interactive workshop is designed to

introduce criteria for creating and implementing trustworthy action research projects. Participants will analyze the role of

triangulation and self-reflexivity; consider the selection of appropriate data collection

strategies; and explore the importance of critical colleagues and collaboration.

Teacher Action Research: Process Workshops

Framing the Study

Discover an Area of Focus

Develop a critical Question

Research Design

Literature Review

Trustworthy Action Research

DesignData Analysis, Interpretation

Research Design

Triangulation

Criteria for Trustworthiness

Data Analysis Fundamentals

Ongoing Analysis:Cycle & Strategies

Final Data Interpretation

Going Public

………………………………………………………Critical Questions……………………………………………………………

Researcher Dispositions

What is trustworthy action research?

Methodological Rigor

“Since action research starts with everyday experience and is concerned

with the development of living knowledge in many ways the process of

inquiry is as important as specific outcomes.”

Reason & Bradbury, 2001

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

Observation Artifact

Interview

Researcher’sJournal

Researcher’sJournal

Multiple Perspectives: Triangulation

“Thick Description”

?

Seeking Multiple Perspectives: Data Collection

Seeking Multiple Voices: Colleagues, students, parents, specialists, community members.

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

Criteria of Trustworthy Action Research

What kind of design supports trustworthy AR?

•Gets to the heart of what you want to study•Focused but not too narrow•Structured and flexible•Deliberately plans for on-going assessment, adjustments•Is do-able: enriches & energizes, does not overwhelm

Who is the trustworthy researcher?

•Curious•Tenacious•Risk-taker•Able to re-frame, re-configure, re-think•Collaborative

Critique Research Design for

Trustworthiness

•Find a partner •Read through the integrated research design•Critique for trustworthiness•Act as a critical colleague: What are the strengths? What suggestions would you make?

•Focused but not narrow•Structured with flexibility•Deliberate plans for on-going analysis•Is do-able as a teacher

Getting Started What is my area of interest?What is my question?What design gets to the heart of what I want to study?What am I going to try out, evaluate and study?What data will best serve my research? When is it best to conduct this research? What is a possible time line?Who should be involved and in what ways?What are my paradigm, beliefs and biases?What literature do I need to read? How can I find this out?

Ethical Considerations of Action Research:

Gaining Permissions

Question 1: Will your research project be made public?

Yes No

You must gain written permission from parents and verbal permission from students. University and/or school district policies may apply

If the project is embedded within the teaching-learning project, you may not need to gain permissions. Check with EARCOS. Getting permission is always preferred.

Question 2:Does your research project include participants who

may be more vulnerable than others or have protected status under law?

YES NO

Permission is critical. Check with school administrator. Make sure informed consent letters are sent home, can be read & understood by parents/guardians, and are returned signed by parents/guardians.

See Question 1

Question 3:Is there any possibility that data collected from your

research project would be harmful to participants (emotionally, physically)?

YES NO

Re-think & revise your project. Anything harmful, even potentially harmful, should not be included in the project. This includes any opportunities for other students to bully students or threat to a student’s sense of self-worth. Grades should never be tied to the AR project.

Excellent! Continue to next question.

Question 4:Do you plan to collect images of students?

YES NO

Many schools have policies surrounding video-imaging and/or taking pictures of students, even if they are not going to be made public. Check with administrator. If you plan to include any images in a public presentation of any kind, you must seek and have signed permission from parents/guardians/students. Be specific about the kind of images you will collect, where and how they will be displayed, and how they will be stored.

Are you sure? Often, audio-recordings, video-images, and/or digital pictures are excellent data, support triangulation, and place other data in context.

Getting Permission: Informed Consent

Topic of ProjectObjective of projectInterventions, strategies, what will be tried outData to be collectedTimeline of projectWhy & how image-taking will happen; what will happen to imagesRequest to use imagesHow project will be made publicHow confidentiality will be maintainedAny potential risksA returned slip to be signed by parents

Action research is systematic. … It involves a self-reflective spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting and re-planning. It requires teachers

to be acutely aware of a sense of process, and to refine their perceptions to account for that

process…action research raises to a conscious level much of what is already being done by

good teachers on an intuitive level. It enables teachers to identify and come to grips with their

practice in a human way that is at once supportive and critical.

McNiff, 2008

Teacher Action Research: Process Workshops

Framing the Study

Discover an Area of Focus

Develop a critical Question

Research Design

Literature Review

Trustworthy Action Research

DesignData Analysis, Interpretation

Research Design

Triangulation

Criteria for Trustworthiness

Data Analysis Fundamentals

Ongoing Analysis:Cycle & Strategies

Final Data Interpretation

Going Public

………………………………………………………Critical Questions……………………………………………………………

Researcher Dispositions

Reference List