EDLD 5301 Research- What I have learned about action research.

During the first week of my EDLD 5301 Research course, I have learned to identify several key factors that differentiate action research from research in general. First and foremost, action research can be best characterized as practitioner inquiry; unlike traditional academic research performed by outsiders to the subject or scenario, action research is performed by insiders, educators and administrators who are themselves, according to Dana (2009), “Focused on providing insight into an administrator’s own practice in an effort to make change and improve the school.” As Dana elaborates, practitioner inquiry takes place in typical school and classroom settings during the course of everyday administration, and stems from a desire to better understand and improve a process, or to establish a new process, ultimately designed to improve instruction and thereby improve the school. Traditional research in contrast is generally more scientific in nature, conducted by researchers (scholars, scientists, professional researchers or other “outsiders” to the school) in a controlled and objective setting.

Secondly, action research is also differentiated from traditional research in that it answers a relevant and pressing question or need in the administrator’s specific school or setting, whereas scholarly research, while it may answer a question, is more broad in nature and applied to a larger question on a grander scale not necessarily impacting or improving any specific immediate need in any specific school or setting.

Finally, action research typically results in a synergistic outcome in which current practices are combined with and transformed by the research findings, resulting in an immediate transformative situation improving the school. Action research builds on ongoing feedback as new methods are applied and results observed firsthand; it is both interactive and practical, driven by and responding to the dynamic need and the intervention process itself.



References:

Dana, Nancy F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin.