AR+Defined

Joanna Lynn's Definition

Action research is an act that is embraced by many teachers and instructors in business to explore and test new strategies. This is done by observing and collection information related to the success of instructional methods. Teachers and facilitors of trianing ask themselves questions everyday.

Some sample questions...If I added more activities to my class, would my students be more engaged and remember information better? If I gave more homework, would test scores improve? If I gave more time to students to work through problems and ask questions and cut actual instruction time, would my students learn more and consequently be able to apply what they learned better (in other words is volume of work more important than quality of work)?

Action research provides a structured process for implementing data collection and analysis. It tells the teacher or facilitator of traiing whether or not their intervention had the anticipated results.

A Formal Definition

Action research can be described as a family of research methodologies which pursue action (or change) and research (or understanding) at the same time. In most of its forms it does this by > It is thus an **emergent** process which takes shape as understanding increases; it is an **iterative** process which converges towards a better understanding of what happens. In most of its forms it is also participative (among other reasons, change is usually easier to achieve when those affected by the change are involved) and qualitative.
 * using a cyclic or spiral process which alternates between action and critical reflection and
 * in the later cycles, continuously refining methods, data and interpretation in the light of the understanding developed in the earlier cycles.

Source: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/whatisar.html