By:

MARICON L. VILLAMIEL
EGT I

Rationale of Action Research

It responds to immediate action
needed in dealing with school
problems.
Teachers can make conjectures
about causes of instruction
instruction related problems and
can address problems better.
Engages teachers and students
in shared knowledge thus an
educative process for both.

Importance of Action
Research
It has the potential to generate genuine and

sustained improvements in schools.

It gives educators new opportunities

a. to reflect on and assess their teaching;

b. to explore and test new ideas, methods, and
materials
c. to assess how effective the new approaches
were
d. to share feedback with fellow team members
e. to make decisions about which new
approaches to include in the team's curriculum,
instruction, and assessment plans.

What is NOT Action

Research?
is not a library project where
we learn more about a topic
that interests us
is not problem-solving in the
sense of trying to find out
what is wrong, but rather a
quest for knowledge about
how to improve.

What is NOT Action

Research?
is not about doing research

on
or about people, or finding all
available information on a topic
looking for the correct answer
is not about learning why we do
certain things, but rather how
we can do things better. It is
about how we can change our
instruction to impact students.

 Typical Differences Between Formal Research and

Action Research

Aspects
of
researc
h

How
approached
in formal
research

How
approached
in Action
Research

Researcher Considerable
experience / knowledge of
training
and training in
conduct of
research

Practical
experience with
minimal
knowledge or
experience in
research

Research
purpose

To solve problem
or achieve a goal
in current

To produce
generalizable
knowledge

Aspect of
Research

Formal
Research

Action
Research

Approach to
sampling

Random or
representative
sample

Convenience
sample of own
students /
clients

Research
Design

Rigorous
control, long
time frame

Casual
procedures,
emergent
design, short
time frame

Data Analysis

Use of
statistical
significance
tests or in
depth

Focus on raw
data and
practical
significance

Individual
teacher
research

Collaborative School-wide
action
action
research
research

Focus Single
classroom
issue

Districtwide action
research

Single
classroom
or several
classrooms
with
common issue
Possi Coach/ment Substitute
ble
or
teachers
suppo
release time
rt
.Close link
neede
with
d
administrators

School issue,
problem, or
area
of collective
interest

District issue
Organization
al
structures

School
commitment
Leadership
Communicatio
n
External
partners

Poten
tial
impac
t

Potential to
impact school
restructuring
and change
Policy

District
commitment
Facilitator
Recorder
Communicati
on
External
partners
Allocation of
resources
Professional
dev.
activities

Access to
technology
Assistance
with
data

Curriculum
Instruction
Assessment
Policy

Issue : Students are

consistently failing to complete
their reading homework, are
listless in lessons and score
Problempoorly
: The students
are uninterested
in
on reading
proficiency
reading.
test.
Question : How do students experience
reading

Objective: To understand what the experience

of reading means to students

My students focus on decoding rather than

comprehending when they read. How do I
get my students to understand what they
read?
At this point the action
researcher evaluates the
effectiveness of the new
strategies and think alouds
and then continue the cycle
I will model more strategies
and take more time to teach
the strategies. I will use think
-alouds so my students will
know what I am doing as I
read

Reflect

Evaluat
e

Ac
t

Ac
t

Evaluat
e
Reflec
t

All data source indicate that

student interest and motivation
for reading have increased, but
students are still struggling
with comprehension.

A colleague told me about

Readers Workshop and
what Ive read about this
method makes me think it
would work well in my class.
I will implement this
strategy with my students

I will observe and interview

students, keep a reflective
journal, analyze samples of
student work, and ask
colleague to observe my
teaching and my students

Systems Model of Action-Research

Process

Identification of a
problem

Plan Solution,
Act

Reflect

Ok, Document

Not
OK

Re-planning,
further
implementation

The
Research
Cycle

Problem Identification
The first step to conceptualize an action

research is to identify a problem within

ones control: classroom or school. It is
a bothering or pestering problem that a
teacher naturally observes within the
day-to day school activities.

Examples:
A high school English teacher

examined the compositions of her

students and found that they are
unable to spell correctly, punctuate
conventionally, compose
grammatical sentences and develop
unified paragraphs. The
predicament then is how students
could be taught to write passable
prose.

Examples:
A grade four teacher in a certain school

noted that most of her pupils got low

scores in a problem test she gave. Only
5 out of 35 pupils or 14% could solve
five or more of the problem in the test.
Her problem is how pupils ability to
solve word problems be improved.

Examples:
A classroom teacher in the primary

grade found that in her class there

are
slow
learners
who
have
difficulties in adjusting to the
curriculum because of the slight
inferior learning abilities of pupils.
This situation is carried over to
pupils performance in recitations
and tests. The problem then is how
to handle the slow learners to
develop the inherent and natural
abilities.

DepED FORMAT IN
ACCOMPLISHING
ACTION RESEARCH

I. Situation
II. Problem
III. Generation of Alternative
Solutions
IV. Plan of Action

Objective

Time Frame

Target subjects

Activities to be undertaken

Evaluation Criteria

Research Design

V. Presentation and
Interpretation of Results
VI. Conclusions and
Recommendations
VII.
Reflections
Bibliography

I.

The Situation

It refers to the descriptive background of

the problem. It is an account of the local

setting where the problem occurred. The
researcher may talk about her classroom
to provide a clear picture of the problem
and the context from which it occurs.
The written observation slowly unfolds
the problem, how it occurs and what
conditions surround it. The data to back
up the claim are presented and these will
justify the need for the research. The
strength of the justification may rely
heavily on the data presented.

II. The Problem

Specify

the core of difficulty or

crisis. This is the main problem. In
this portion the main problem is
broken down into specific sub
problems from which the former
could be attributed. This is not
similar to the Statement of the
Problem in a thesis. It is the problem
that the teacher faces in teaching
her subject or any endeavor in
school.

III. Generation of
Alternative Solutions
Thi s portion brings about the possible

approaches to solve the problem. It must give

good reasons for use of such alternative.
Alternative approaches can be drawn from
innovative methodologies, for instance, in the
teaching of science, a teacher may explore the
effectiveness of any combination of the following
strategies : ICT, process approach, cooperative
learning. Design a plan of action that will allow
you to make change and to study that change. It is
important that only variable is altered. While the
new technique is implemented, continue to
document until the desired result is attained

IV. The Plan of Action

It is divided into sub- components, namely the

objectives, time frame, target subjects and

activities to be undertaken
a. Objectives goals towards which all the
efforts are directed
b. Time frame specifies the period or
duration of the study, beginning up to ending
c. Target Subjects focus of the study. They
compose those who were observed to possess
the problem characteristics
d. Activities to be undertaken

e. Evaluation Criteria shows the

process by which the success of the

project may be gauged. It shall indicate
the criterion by which the researcher
declares the success of the project.
F. Research Design summarizes the

research activities into sub components:

the subjects, the research activities, the
data to be collected and the statistical
analysis to answer the objectives
specified in the study.

V. Presentation and
interpretation of results

VI. Conclusions summarizes in

clear thoughts and ideas what findings

are, and what these findings mean.
This is in preparation to the succeeding
statements with probable implications
and the necessary recommendation in
answer to the problems presented at
the beginning of the study.

VII Recommendations
Treaties , appeals and entities
which are perceived to solve the
problem and help establish the new
systems
to
ease
out
present
problems and make better existing
situations.

VIII Reflection
Talks about looking back
the original intentions of the
researcher and what has been
achieved.

We

never fully know what

implementation is or should
look like until we in particular
situations attempt to spell it
out through use

You can only understand action

research if you conduct one