ACTION RESEARCH DESIGN

 

 

 

 

Action Research Design

 

Insert your Name Here

School of Public Service and Education, Capella University

EDD8040: Research Design for Practitioners

Insert the Instructor’s Name Here

Insert the Due Date Here (Month, Day, Year)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Important Writing Instructions]

[This assignment and the entire course project needs be written in the third person voice.  Do not write in the first person voice (I . . .). There should be none of you and your voice in this assignment or the course project.Do not use awkward language such as The researcher . . . or The learner when referring to yourself.  Do not refer to yourself. Do not write in the second person voice (writing that uses the language you or your).This assignment does not need to include a long paper; your writing should be clear, precise, and concise. The assignment should be no more than 8 to 12 pages of text.]

[Use direct quotes sparingly. At the doctoral level your writing should be comprised primarily of summarizing and paraphrasing.  Ensure your paragraphs have at least three sentences.  There are no single sentence paragraphs in either scholarly or basic writing.

[In proposing and describing your action research outcomes avoid using colloquial expressions that contain the word would as in a phrase such as “The participantswould be. . .” The word would is the past tense of will. The use of phrases such as would be are colloquialisms unless preceded or followed by the word if.  Instead replace would be or similar phrases with will be or other concrete phrases. “The participants will be . . .”]

[Scholarly writing is meant to be read and interpreted literally. Please avoid slang, colloquialisms, anthropomorphisms, and conversational writing (refer to APA 7^th ed. pp. 116-117). Instead, be clear, precise, and accurate.  Use direct quotes sparingly. At the doctoral level your writing should be comprised primarily of summarizing and paraphrasing. If you must use a direct quote ensure the quoted text is in quotation marks followed by an in-text citation that includes the author’s name, year and page (refer to APA 7^th ed. pp. 261-267 and Table 8.1 on p. 266).]

[Double space your entire paper. That means do not add additional spaces between sections. See APA 7^th ed. p. 45, Section 2.21 Line spacing and the example student paper starting on p. 61.]

[Using Previous Coursework]

[It is okay to re-use work from previous discussions and assignments if that work was part of the course progression to the action research proposal.  Do not cite yourself.  For this assignment use previous course material without citing yourself.  Note that previous course work will be flagged as a match in SafeAssign.  That is okay; however, if your assignment includes work from previous discussions and assignments, please include a comment when you submit the assignment telling your instructor that your assignment includes some previous course work.]

[Important Instructions – Understanding the Action Research Inquiry Cycle]

[Although the problem is a real-world organizational problem or organizational process that needs improving, the proposal with its intervention and data collection and data analysis plan are hypothetical.  To complete this assignment, you need to have a good grasp of the Action Research Inquiry Cycle (review the Week 6 multimedia learning activities and download the Cycle of Inquiry pdf). Action Research information is available via the Given (2008) resource included in Week 9 “What you need to know.”]

[Keep in mind that your proposed action research study is a first cycle action research study.  Focus on the short-term impact of the intervention.  For example, if you intervention includes several strategies provided to middle school teachers on how to incorporate culturally responsive instruction, your data collection and evaluation of the intervention should focus interviewing those middle-school teachers who received the intervention regarding to what extent they are beginning to incorporate those strategies in their classrooms and instructional activities.]

[Keep in mind that your hypothetical action research proposal will follow and present a plan for completing the first 5 steps of the 10 steps inquiry cycle.For step 1, diagnosing the problem, and step 2, generating alternatives, you will need to have hypothetically already collected the data you need via a needs assessment and hypothetically collaborated with your organizational leaders to generate alternatives.  Based on your understanding of the organizational problem or process your hypothetical needs assessment and hypothetical stakeholder collaboration and your review of the literature, you will propose an intervention and a plan to implement that intervention (steps 3 and 4).  Your action research proposal will also include a data collection plan and a data analysis plan (step 5) and will conclude with a discussion of (a) how the action research proposal relates toyour specialization of with the EDD program, (b) the ethical considerations for the action research study, and (c) a discussion of the potential weaknesses of the action research plan.]

Preliminary Information

[Please provide a brief overview of the organizational issue you have chosen to study in this course.  Recall you initially presented this organizational issue in your u02a1 Your Area of Interest assignment.  Include a brief description of the organization where the issue exists with pertinent contextual information (e.g., type of organization, purpose of organization, number of personnel, teachers, students, etc., and other pertinent demographic information). In this paper, use a pseudonym rather than the actual name of the organization.]

Problem

[Define the problem as it exists at your organization. The problem in an action research study is an organizational situation, deficiency, or process that needs to be improved.

Begin with the statement: “The problem at [insert organizational pseudonym] is…” The statement should be one or two sentences at most. Then, provide evidence to support your problem statement. Supportive evidence may be:]

• [Records data to which you have access: persistence or survey data (surveys that have been conducted in the past by the organization), teacher observations, and so on.
• Information or knowledge you have about the problem through firsthand experience (such as from staff meetings, informal conversations, or review of student work.).
• Evaluations or results of past efforts to address the problem.
• Other]

[Please be specific. It is not necessary to have reviewed or analyzed the data for the purposes of this assignment, but you must be specific about the evidence you have or would have available to analyze in support of the problem. For example, if student test scores are one source of evidence that supports your problem statement, include type of test(s), which grade levels and subject areas, and the actual findings or the expected findings in terms of the test scores that support your statement of the problem.]

[Here is an example: The problem in the School of Education at Capella University is that only about half of first course learners are attending the three live webinars in the first course. The first course instructors believe that attendance at the three live webinars is a critical component of the first course experience in preparing first course learners to succeed in their programs but the administration is hesitant to make attendance at live webinars mandatory.

Important Note: This problem reflects an actual action research study conducted over 2018-2019in which one of the course subject matter experts was one of the researchers.  This example is provided not only as an example but also to discuss how to think about a first cycle action research intervention. We believe that a solid foundation provided by the first course will improve overall retention and graduate rates and that the live webinars play a critical role in a good first course experience.  However, in terms of a first cycle action research intervention we did not make any attempt to connect our first course intervention to retention and graduation.  Our intervention was the inclusion of animated videos that reminded learners about each upcoming live webinar.  Our goal was to increase learner attendance rates at the live webinars.  We collected attendance data from the quarter before we introduced the intervention so that we could compare attendance data during the quarter the intervention was implemented. Our only goal was to change learner behavior in the short term.  Similarly, do not attempt to link your action research study to long term goals. Think in terms of the immediate goals. So, for example if your problem is poor performance scores forESL students, you might propose an intervention that teaches ESL instructors some strategies and techniques for improving how the teach ESL learners.  Ultimately of course you will want to see better scores but for a first cycle action research intervention that teaches ESL instructors some strategies and techniques for improving how the teach ESL learners your data collection will focus only on the immediate goal of: are ESL instructors beginning to incorporate the intervention strategies and techniques in the ESL classes?  The next cycle of action might include intensive instructional coaching for ESL instructors.  Again, keep in mind that a first cycle action research study will focus on the immediate goals possible and not long-range goals.]

[Be concise in your description of the problem that needs to be addressed.]

[This section does NOT contain a solution or description of an intervention.]

Topic

[Every local problem has a larger context. The topic provides the broader context within which your organizational problem is situated.  For example, if the problem is the lack of parental involvement with high school teachers, staff, and administration, the larger topics might include transitional difficulties for students moving from eighth grade to the ninth grade and how research has demonstrated the impact of parental involvement on student academic success.  If the problem is poor motivation in online courses, the broader topic might be student motivation in general.]

[Support your assertions with in-text citations. (Note: You may use material from your Unit 8 assignment as appropriate).]

[Do not write about your own research setting or problem here.]

Intervention

[A differentiating factor for action research is that it merges action and research.

For this section: Describe what the organization is doing now (if anything) to address the problem you have identified. Then, in the next paragraph describe thedetailedstep-by-step intervention planyou envision implementing to address the problem or improve the process. Cite support for your approach in the literature.]

[Be concise but provide key step-by-step interventiondetails.  A typical action research intervention might include intensive training or professional development.  There should be sufficient details so that this section is written like a recipe that another researcher could follow and duplicate the study and intervention in exactly detail.]

Research Questions

[Please adapt the two standard action research questions below. The research questions do not need an introduction – just list them in this section.]

[To what extent will the [intervention] bring about a change in [the problem] at [a specific organizational site]?]

[How will [the intervention] bring about a change in [the problem] at [a specific organizational site]?]

[The “to what extent” research question is typically a measurement question that will drive the quantitative component but for an action research study (when quantitative data are also collected) but keep in mind that action research is based on the qualitative paradigm. For an action research study in which only qualitative data will be collected the “to what extent” research question can be answered by participants’ perceptions and descriptions of the extent to which they are using or incorporating the intervention training or new process provided. In other words, when only qualitative data are collected, the “to what extent” research question will be answered descriptively with qualitative data.]

[The “how” question is a process research question that will drive the qualitative component in order to tell the story of how the intervention led to change. The howresearch question refers to two things: (a) The process by which the intervention does its work (known as process tracking or monitoring) andis answered by telling the story of how the intervention works and (b) the ways in which the problem is changed or improved (known as the assessment of outcomes) when using qualitative descriptive interview and or focus group data. Keep in mind that action research studies overall are qualitative in nature (see Stringer 2014 p. 36) but can typically include both quantitative and qualitative data, although with very small samples (e.g., fewer than 20 participants), only qualitative research might be used.  Again, use and adapt the two standard action research questions above.]

Purpose

[Provide a statement of purpose. You may use the following formulation and add a few sentences of clarification if desired:]

[The purpose of the proposed action research study is to implement [insert your intervention] in order to improve [insert area to be improved].  Be sure the purpose statement aligns with your problem statement and research questions.]

Existing Research

[Include a synopsis of literature you reviewed for Unit 8. Do not copy and paste your Unit 8 paper here. Provide a brief synopsis of the literature of about one page that includes existing research that is relevant to your issue, the problem, and/or your proposed intervention.]

Participants

[Change and improvement in organizations are collaborative efforts. Describe who the participants will be in your action research study. Before designing any improvement project or action research study, you will also need to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders as you explore the actual causes of the problem and preferred ways to address it.For this proposal, you have hypothetically already collaborated with your stakeholders.]

[Stakeholders and participants are not necessarily the same people, but they could be. Stakeholders have a stake in solving or improving a problem situation, provide the necessary shared input needed to define a problem, and consider ways to address it. This collaboration happens before beginning the implementation of the intervention and is an essential part of change management. For your hypothetical proposal, if no real-world collaboration has taken place, then describe hypothetically what should have happened to arrive at the intervention you are proposing.]

[It is possible for stakeholders to later become participants in the study. It is also possible that some stakeholders may not be study participants. For example, a school principal may be a stakeholder in a process to define a problem with student achievement or teacher performance but will not be a participant in a study that provides instructional coaching for teachers. Both teachers and a school principal; however, could be stakeholders with whom you collaborate in the planning stages of the study.]

[For this section provide the roles of people who would be stakeholders and study participants in your study, and approximate number.]

[Collaborating Stakeholders]           

[Study Participants]

[Describe how study participants will be selected via a transparent recruitment process.]

Data Collection

[Action research studies involve two types of data collection. First, qualitative process data are collected throughout the implementation of the intervention to monitor the implementation and make adjustments in the implementation as warranted by the data and information that are collected. This type of data is important in presenting a process analysis of how the implementation unfolded. Often action researchers keep a journal of reflections as well as informal or unplanned conversations and observations during the implementation.]

[The second type of data is collected to answer the research questions that correspond to the expected outcomes or objectives of the intervention. These data depend, of course, on the research questions and the intervention and may include interview-perception data, focus-group data, meeting minutes, student work or assessments, or observational data.]

[Note: some process data may also be used to answer research questions. For example, a staff meeting part way through the implementation may be part of monitoring data that result in changes to the implementation.]

[For this section:  Complete the APA formatted table below or use the APA formatted table that is in the u09a1 template with headings only.]

[TIPS:

• Note which data will be useful for the process analysis.
• Be as specific as possible in describing the data.
• Be realistic. What is feasible?
• Try to identify actual data that would be available or possible to collect at your organization. But, remember that this is a hypothetical study. You may include relevant data even if you are unsure it would be possible to collect it at your organization.
• The key is to identify data that are aligned with your research questions and the purpose of the research.
• Within the table content you can use Times New Roman 12-point, 11-point, or 10-point font.  Just be consistent.]

[Table 1

Data Collection Plan

Research Question	Data to be Collected	Data Source	When Collected
To what extent . . . ?   How will . . . ?]

 

[Use the APA formatted table above which has five rows and four columns. Follow these instructions and remove the instructions from the final version.

* Research Question:    State research question(s), one per row

** Data Collection:       Which data will be collected to answer the research question? (interviews for studies with fewer than 20 participants, surveys for studies with 20 or more participants, tracking data, and so on). Identify each data sources as qualitative or quantitative and as process or outcome data or both.

+ Data Source:             Who will provide the data or where will you find it? (faculty members who are participating in the intervention, counseling records, or records database.)

++ When Collected:     When will the data be collected? (prior to implementation of the intervention, during the intervention, week X of the intervention, after the intervention).]

Data Analysis

[For each data source mentioned under Data Collection, explain how you will analyze the data. You are not expected to provide detailed descriptions of data analysis but refer to the readings in course or external sources for information about basic qualitative and quantitative data analysis.]

Discussion

[Reflective on the process of proposing an action research study that responds to the following questions. Cite sources to support your writing as appropriate.]

[How is the proposed action research study related to your specialization (i.e.,Adult Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Leadership and Management, Performance Improvement Leadership, Personalized and Competency-Based Instruction, Reading and Literacy, Reading and Literacy, Teacher Leader in K-12 Studies, Teacher Leader in Digital Transformation)?]

 

 

References

[References go on a separate page. Include a properly formatted list of references cited in this assignment. References go on a separate page. Include all references cited. Ensure references are in the hanging indent format and are properly APA formatted; refer to APA Publication Manual 7^thedition (2020) Chapters 9 and 10 for guidance and examples.]