Overview
- Step 1: Identify – define the problem and frame research questions
- Step 2: Plan – collect data and decide how teaching could be changed
- Step 3: Act – implement the selected changes to teaching
- Step 4: Observe – monitor and evaluate the changes made
- Step 5: Reflect – review and reflect upon the changes. Repeat cycle if necessary
Key Points
- Action research is a term that refers to a practical way of looking at your own work to check that it is as you would like it to be
- People do action research as a way of helping them understand how they can influence social change
- In traditional research, researchers do research on other people, but in action research, researchers do research on themselves
- Action research is open-ended. It does not begin with a fixed hypothesis. It begins with an idea that you develop
- In an action research report, you should aim to show not only the actions of your research, but also the learning involved in order for it to be authentic
- As a self-reflective practitioner, you need to be aware of what drives your life and work, so you can be clear about what you are doing and why you are doing it
- Critique is essential for helping us evaluate the quality of the research
- A validation group is a group of 4-10 people you invite to look at your research from time to time to offer critical feedback
- By showing other people what you are doing, you can establish a systematic evaluation procedure
Reflections
- I can improve my Ethical Action Plan by explaining that my colleagues will be part of my validation group and that I intend to include them as part of my systematic evaluation procedure
- I can also improve my plan by explaining that my project focus is driven by my personal values and my desire to make arts learning more inclusive and accessible for neurodiverse women of colour like myself. It is strongly influenced by my positionality as a practitioner-researcher and former learning needs as a CSM student
- Another modification I can make to my plan is explaining that my idea was inspired by the issue I identified, which is the attainment gap between White and BAME students at CSM and knowing that supporting neurodiverse learning needs better can help to close this gap