ELP515 - Diller: What is Action Research?

Please take a few minutes and tell us how you feel about today's library session.

Action Research

• A form of Qualitative Research.

• Start with a review of the literature (Qual and Quan).  This will change and grow as the research advances.

• Is based on a perceived problem which you want to solve.

• Often involves a group of people working on the same issue.

• Information gathering consists of observing or listening to the voices of your stakeholders (parents, teachers, students, board, PDE, US Dept of Ed, etc.)

• Artifacts to be studied are often transcripts of interviews or focus groups, field notes, rubrics, policy statements, etc.

• Methodology often is content analysis.

Cook, D., & Farmer, L. S. J. (2011). Using qualitative methods in action research: How librarians can get to the why of data. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2011.