What is action research? How can it be used in a school setting?

Action research is a process that allows participants to improve personally and professionally.  This process is multifaceted.  In order to analyze current practices or seek out a better or new methodology, questions are posed, data collected and analyzed, changes are made based on this analysis and results are shared.   Action research is beneficial to both principals and teachers.  As stated by Nancy Fichtman Dana (2009), “In a fashion similar to the ways teachers utilize this process to gain better understandings of themselves and their teaching practice, administrators can use it to gain deeper insights into their practice as administrators and their leadership role in school improvement efforts.”

The most appealing aspect of action research is the continuous cycle approach.  This reinforces the idea that learning is a lifelong process.  As educators, we need to constantly reevaluate ourselves and our techniques.  We, educators and students, must be global learners to meet the needs of our ever changing world.  In order to meet these needs, we must maintain a continuous cycle of evaluation and improvement of all our policies and procedures.

Technology is one aspect of education where action research can be used in a variety of ways.  With the advancements in personal technology and the budget constraints of many school districts, there has been a move toward ‘Bring Your Own Technology’ or BYOT in a growing number of schools.  This presents the issue of developing new policies for the use of student owned devices in the classroom.  Schools are facing limited budgets and there is a push to move to eTextbooks.  This would require detailed analysis including the cost of eTextbooks and supplemental materials, availability to students, and the updating of online content.

Action research is used on a daily basis is education. Teachers adjust their teaching strategies to accommodate the students’ learning styles. Administrators are always striving to implement and update their school improvement plans.  Education is not a static environment and action research is an excellent tool to use to development new and better methods of meeting the needs of the educational staff and the student population.

Fichman, Nancy Dana (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 

Murphy, Kari Rhame (2011, November). Striking a balance: district acceptable-use policies must evolve to reflect the changing realities of 21^st century learning. Techedge,4. 23-24.