Developing a Design for Classroom Action Research (CAR): How to do a CAR Effectively

for Improving Students’ Learning Process in Class

At some point, teacher may find some problems during learning process in a classroom. These
problems can be caused by several factors, such as the environment around the classroom or the
characteristics of students that are not suitable with the teaching method teacher uses. To solve
these kind of problems, some teachers may use a traditional approach like doing a personal
reflection, asking the students about their difficulties while learning, or seeking advice from
some colleagues or experts, and some other teachers may use a Classroom Action Research as an
approach to solve the problems teachers facing.

What is Classroom Action Research (CAR)?

CAR is a way to finding the method works best in teacher’s classroom through integrating
evaluation, data, theory, and also the application of the theory. According to Kurt Lewin, in
his paper “Action Research and Minority Problems” (1946), action research is “a comparative
research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to
social action” that uses “a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning,
action, and fact-finding about the result of the action”. Here, a Classroom Action Research is an
action research that is conducted in a classroom, involving a teacher, students, and also
collaborator(s), another teacher or expertise who will act as an observer toward the whole
learning process. Action research process began from problem finding, and then formulating
possible actions for the problem, applying an action, and finally evaluating on the outcome of the
action. These activities go round in a circle. Sometimes, we should repeat the process until we
can get the desired parameters that show the improvement of learning process.

Why CAR?

Asking for solution from some expertise or some senior teachers can also be done but not all
problems can be generalized since there are different context, different students, different
teacher’s personality and so on. Doing a reflection alone is also cannot be a solution while we
cannot see clearly what the problems are. Why CAR? It is because CAR is a systematic method
and more effective since it is being done according to data, classroom situation, teacher’s
personality, students’ characteristics, and also theory based. CAR is also developing a teacher
profesionally, improving the teacher’s teaching way and also her/his knowledge on the subject,
method, and students.

The Characteristics of Classroom Action Research

According to Burns (2000), Kember (2000), and Gay and Airasian (cited in Hien, 2009), here are
the characteristics of classroom action research:

1. CAR is contextual and local.

The action that can be effectively applied in Class A is not always can be applied in Class B.
Here, CAR is contextual and also local. What the teacher sees when he/she do the CAR is the
improvement in classroom learning process, that the CAR is able to reach the parameters of
improvement desired.

2. CAR is reflective and evaluative.

Before doing any research or action, the first step teacher will do is doing a reflection on her/his
teaching process. He/she will ask herself/himself about the way teacher teaches, about the
condition when teaching, the factors that may caused distractions while teaching (like
temperature, humidity, or the noise around the class), etc. Then, after doing a reflection, the
teacher will go to the next steps. After taking some actions and getting the results, the teacher
then will evaluate the whole steps that teacher has been done. This evaluation is needed to decide
whether the next cycle must be conducted or not, and if it is, what kind of actions that must be
taken to improve the learning results on the next cycle.

3. CAR is self-generated.
Teacher can do this CAR independently without having to be agreed by the superiors in the
institution.

4. CAR is collaborative.
Teachers and students are equal partners that have similar purpose while doing the CAR: how to
find an efective method to learn, and how this method can improve the learning process results.

5. CAR is focusing on practical actions and is aimed towards improvement.

When doing a CAR, teacher collects, analyzes, and interprets the data for deciding the best
actions needed to get the best result (as a prove of imrpovement in learning process).

6. CAR is systematic and flexible.

CAR is systematic because it consists of observation, action, then reflection. Yet, because CAR
consists of one or more than one cycle, it is also flexible. When an action taken has no effect on
the classroom learning process, the action can be changed or improved according to the
reflection teacher’s done and according to the needs. If in Cycle 1 using method A and the
method A is failed, then in Cycle 2 the method B can be used while the teaching process is also
modified according to the classroom needs.

7. CAR is developing better understanding of students, teaching, learning process,

teacher’s role.
This development is also developing teacher’s professional traits and also improving teacher’s
self-esteem.

Conducting a Classroom Action Research

These are four steps needed while you conduct a CAR:

1. Selecting Focus

Identifying the topic or issue your classroom facing

To identify the topic or issue, researchers may ask themselves, “What classroom problem
or issue that I need to solve?”. This reflection can also be asked to the students to get
knowing what are the real problems of classroom. If we still cannot decide what
problems are actually we face, try to make a brainstorm.

Researchers are also must consider the availability of the solutions. What the researchers
must see is what problems and the factors of the problems currently are. We cannot think
a problem that are outdated such as thinking about what issues we faced last year while
those students are also have been graduated by now. The researchers must be sure that
they can obtain the data.

These are the examples of research topics:

 How can we find ways to encourage slower readers to be engaged more in reading?
 What are the best strategies to make students start the lesson quickly from the start?
 What are the best ways to make students engaged in writing?

Beside the classroom related topic (students’ achievement and classroom environmental
conditions), there are also another areas you may want to investigate as well. These are
like curriculum (instructional materials, frameworks), school climate (students’ morale,
teachers’ morale), or parental involvement. As a reseacher, we can choose the best topic
and area according to the reality we faced in the classroom.

Conducting a Literature Review

Once we find the topic, now it is the time to conduct literature review. To be more
specific while reading and gathering the theories we need, first we make a research
question.

Formulate a research question can limit the literature review process to be more specific.
For example, for the research question about how to encourage students to be more
engaged in reading, the literature review we do will provide us the ideas of several fun
reading activities that can be applied in our classroom, and we can choose one of them
acoording our students’ needs and characteristics.
2. Collecting Data

The best data that can be chosen is the data that are directly related to the topic. If
possible, we can choose both of qualitative and quantitative data to get the most valid
results. The data can be obtained from students’ portfolio, survey, observations,
interviews, or a test.

As you collect data, you have to make sure that you organize it as efficient as possible so
you will easy while analyze the data later. This organized data will help you when you
want to share your data as a prove of your findings.

Observation

To do an observation, the researchers need another teacher or an expertise to fill the

observation check list during the CAR process. Here, the observation check list paper
consists of several factors that really influenced the whole teaching process and also
related to the effectiveness of the method the resaerchers used.

3. Analyzing and Interpreting Data

After collecting the data, you have to analyze and interpret them. While describe or
summarize your data (and also your data result), you must to see the pattern that are
appear on your data. This pattern may help you to answer the research question or to
prove your hypotheses.

Describing the data does not have to be always in form of paragraphs. You may also use
a table or graph to help explaining the pattern you find in your research.

4. Taking Action

The last step is taking the possible action according to your findings. While the action
taken, your collaborator will fill the observation check list in order to help you to get
betterunderstanding of your CAR while you do the reflection.
 Pic 1. Classroom Action Research’s Cycles

After taking action, based on the results of your action and observation checklist, you will
reflect on whether the method on your action was really needed or not, about the way you
teach, the way students’ learn, how these processes are getting the results you desired and
so on. The reflection you do will make you understand about is it needed to take another
cycle or not.

If you choose to take another cycle, think about what can be improved in the next cycle.