Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas.

Research Paradigms and Methodology

Danna Carolina Carranza Ibagn
Patricia Chindoy.
An Overview of the Methodological
Approach of Action Research
"Action research...aims to contribute both to
the practical concerns of people in an
immediate problematic situation and to
further the goals of social science
simultaneously. Thus, there is a dual
commitment in action research to study a
system and concurrently to collaborate with
members of the system in changing it in what
is together regarded as a desirable
direction. Accomplishing this twin goal
requires the active collaboration of researcher
and client, and thus it stresses the importance
of co-learning as a primary aspect of the
research process." 1
Principles of Action Research

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Reflexive critique
Dialectical critique
Collaborative Resource
Risk
Plural Structure
Theory, Practice, Transformation

When is Action Research used?

Action research is used in real situations,
rather than in contrived, experimental studies,
since its primary focus is on solving real
problems. It can, however, be used by social
scientists for preliminary or pilot research,
especially when the situation is too
ambiguous to frame a precise research
question.

Situating Action Research in a Research

Paradigm
Positivist Paradigm
Interpretive Paradigm
Paradigm of Praxis
Evolution of Action Research

Origins in late 1940s

Kurt Lewin is generally considered the
father of action research. A German social
and experimental psychologist, and one of the
founders of the Gestalt school, he was
concerned with social problems, and focused
on participative group processes for
addressing conflict, crises, and change,
generally within organizations.
Eric Trist, another major contributor to the
field from that immediate post-war era, was a
social psychiatrist whose group at the
Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in
London engaged in applied social research,
initially for the civil repatriation of German
prisoners of war.
Current Types of Action Research

Traditional Action Research

Contextural Action Research (Action
Learning)
Radical Action Research
Educational Action Research

Action Research Tools

The Search Conference

Role of the Action Researcher
Ethical Considerations

Action research (In, Research Methods

Action research is not the scientific

in Education).

method applied to teaching. There is not just

one view of the scientific method; there are

Defining action research

many.

Acording to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988):

Action research is a form of collective

Action research as critical praxis

selfreflective

by

Praxis here is defined as action informed

participants in social situations in order to

through reflection, and with emancipation as

improve the rationality and justice of the own

its goal. Kincheloe (2003: 1389) suggests a

social or educational practices, as well as

seven-step process of emancipatory action

their understanding of these practices and the

research:

situations in which these practices are carried

Constructing a system of meaning.

out.

Understanding

enquiry

undertaken

Kemmis and McTaggart distinguish it from

dominant

research

methods and their effects.

the normal practice of teaching in the

Selecting what to study.

following way:

Acquiring a variety of research

It is not the usual thinking teachers do

when they think about their teaching. Action

strategies.

research is more systematic and collaborative

in collecting evidence on which to base their

It is not simply problem solving. Action

problem-solving. It does not start from a view

of problems as pathologies. It is motivated

sense

of

information

collected.

group reflection.

research involves problem-posing, not just

Making

Gaining

awareness

theories

and

of

the

assumptions

tacit
which

guide practice.

Viewing

teaching

as

an

emancipatory, praxis based act.

by a quest to improve and understand the

world by changing it and learning how to
improve it from the effects of the changes
made.
It is not research done on other people.
Action research is research by particular
people on their own work, to help them
improve what they do, including how they
work with and for others.

Procedures for action research

Stage 1: the identification, evaluation and
formulation of the problem.
Stage 2: involves preliminary discussion and
negotiations among the interested parties.This
may include a statement of the questions to
be answered

Stage 3: a review of the research literature.

How can action research techniques

Stage 4: modification or redefinition of the

be sufficiently specific that they

initial statement of the problem.

enable a small scale investigation by

Stage 5: the selection of research procedures

a practitioner to lead to genuinely

Stage 6: the choice of the evaluation

new

procedures to be used

accused of being either too minimal

Stage 7: the implementation of the project

to be valid, or too elaborate to be

itself.

feasible?

Stage 8: the interpretation of the data.

insights,

and

avoid

being

How can these methods, given the

above, be readily available and

Reflexivity in action research

accessible to anyone who wishes to

What is being required in the notion of

practice

reflexivity is a self-conscious awareness of

competencies

the

already possess?

effects

that

the

participants-as-

practitioners-and researchers are having on

them,

building
which

on

the

practitioners

How can these methods contribute a

the research process, how their values,

genuine

attitudes,

actions,

understanding and skill, beyond prior

feelings etc. are feeding into the situation

competence, in return for the time

being studied (akin, perhaps, to the notion of

and energy expended that is, a more

counter-transference in counselling). The

rigorous process than that which

participants-as-practitioners-and-researchers

characterizes positivist research?

perceptions,

opinions,

need to apply to themselves the same critical

scrutiny that they are applying to others and
to the research.
Some practical and theoretical matters:
Zuber-Skerritt (1996) suggests four practical
problems that action researchers might face:

How can we formulate a method of

work

which

is

sufficiently

economical as regards the amount of

data gathering and data processing
for a practitioner to undertake it
alongside a normal workload, over a
limited time scale?

improvement

of

An Action Research Case Study on

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Students Diversity in the
THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH
classroom: Focus on Students
Diverse Learning Progress
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
Students diverse learning progress 'Focused
action
research'
was
exists in every classroom. This study employed in a teacher in service
aimed to discover what strategies can program which sought to develop a
be used to deal with students diverse fusion between trainer- centered input
learning progress in classroom. The and teacher- centered action research.
data

gathering

consisted

of

two The areas of input to teachers were

structured interview and observations. learning

strategies,

thinking

skills,

Qualitative approach was utilized to questioning skills and the teaching of

analyze the data. The study reflected on study skills. During the four months of
the practices of addressing students this action research project of the
diverse learning progress and made an teacher

educators,

action plan for improving primary school experienced

two

teaching. The findings from this study research,

one

teachers

cycles

of

investigating

action
their

have the potential to enrich the teaching students' learning strategies and the
approaches

in

both

secondary schools.

primary

and second implementing a plan to improve

some aspect of their students' learning such as summary writing, remedial
reading, hot seating, introducing group
work, vocabulary-learning techniques and

wrote

reports

on

their

work.

Although there was no evidence that

the gains made transferred into the
following school year the teachers both
displayed and reported an increase in
reflection

during

the

project

and

immediately after it. Issues of sustaining

transfer need to be addressed.

Bibliography
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