Action Research

Action research, in education, is taking an active, real life approach to solving problems and improving upon issues or situations in which educators and administrators come upon. You are are active participant when you use action research. With active research, you don't just sit back and study data some stranger has compiled. Active research is about being in the trenches. It's a process that starts with an issue and requires planning, time, experiences, and sometimes even failed attempts before the best solution is found. The key to finding the solution to the inquiry or problem requires reflections on the actions you have taken.

In education, action research is studying the ways in which your school, or you, the administrator works (ex.routines, practices, challenges) and then taking the results of the studies and implementing changes that would benefit the school overall and those that work and learn inside of it. Basically, studying the school and figuring out ways to make it a better place to work and learn. Action research is a combination of both action and research. An administrator will want to research the real life issues in their school and then take the appropriate actions to solve problems or enhance the good things pertenant to the specific school. 

 In general, the practitioner inquiry movement focuses on the concerns of practitioners (not outside researchers) and engages practitioners in the design, data collection, and interpretation of data around their question (Dana, 2009).  Unlike passive observations in traditional educational research, action research focuses on action. It requires the researcher to be actively engaged in inquiries, problem solving, improvement plans, etc. Instead of just reading research and data compiled by an outside source, unrelated to the school environment, action research puts the researcher in those “real life” scenarios and leads to them discovering ways to solve problems, improve classroom practices, and possibly creating a better overall learning environment themselves.