When to Use Action Research?

In many field settings it is not possible to use more traditional research methods because they can't readily be adjusted to the demands of the situation. If you do alter them in midstream you may have to abandon the data collected up to that point. (This is because you have probably altered the odds under the null hypothesis.)

I think that the major justification for action research methods is that they can be responsive to the situation in a way that many other research methods cannot, at least in the short term. On these grounds I think action research will usually, though perhaps not always, be cyclic in nature. In the interests of rigor, each cycle will include critical reflection. In most instances it will also be qualitative and participative to some extent.

When you wish to find out about a few variables, and the causal relationships between them. Then, experimental or quasi-experimental research will serve you much better than action research. Alternatively, you may wish to explore some organization or group or culture in depth. For this, you may do better to use ethnographic methods.

Action research methods are most likely to be appropriate when you do not know where to start, and do not have a lot of time to invest in the study. It is useful for exploratory research, where you do not yet have a very precise research question. But it is most valuable when you have to be responsive to the changing demands of a situation, as when you wish to build a research component into some change program or the like. Good research, it can be argued is research, which uses a methodology, which fits the situation, and the goals you are pursuing.

AR is most commonly used for research in Education and Community Development.

Action Research in Education

It puts a theoretical concept, teaching practice, or totally new hypothesis to the test in a classroom or school. Action research is done by and for the people taking the action and relates to the action they are taking. Its purpose can be to improve the practice of an individual researcher, or of collaborative research; it can focus on school goals. Teachers raise questions about classroom practice, carefully document procedures and gather data on student performance, then reflect on that data and practical experience to determine what to do next. Action research cycles often start with a question (e.g., Can I accelerate student learning by using cooperative learning groups?). The steps that often follow problem formulation are theory development, design intervention, data collection, and data analysis. The process is not a lock-step regime. More often than not, data collection and analysis lead to new questions or further data collection for the same problem/hypothesis much like peeling away the layers of an onion.

Perhaps the most important part of the process is the reflection on collected data. Having asked a question that begs an answer, and designed a plan for collecting that information, teachers reflect on their experiences and ask questions like:

· What were the anticipated effects?

· Were there some unanticipated effects?

· What have we learned from this?

· What might we have to relearn or unlearn in our work?

· What are our next steps? Should we stop doing this because it doesn't work?

· Continue doing this because it is getting results we find desirable?

· Start doing something else that may be more likely to succeed?