Action Research Project: 300 points

What: As masters students, you are developing your skills for understanding and consuming literature such that you can use bodies of literature to inform your respective practices and the problems of practice that arise.  Therefore, this project allows learners to:

• Identify a Problem of Practice and a Research Question relevant to one’s own practice
• Search relevant literature
• Use the literature to inform one’s Problem of Practice
• Develop research design thinking to explore one’s Problem of Practice
• Develop skills in selecting methods to investigate one’s Problem of Practice with validity and trustworthiness
• Understand the ethical concerns and implications of Action Research into one’s Problem of Practice

 
 
Rationale: Being able to effectively search, interpret, and apply the findings in bodies of literature to aid in one’s practice is the defining skill of masters training. Therefore, the rationale for this project is to provide learners the opportunity to practice the related skills of searching, interpreting, and applying empirical findings of literature for one’s identified Problem of Practice.
 
Moreover, masters trained learners should have the knowledge and skills to investigate their own practice, using both empirical literature and their own investigation.
 
 
Elements: An Action Research Project, which will use the Six Cyclical Steps of Action Research, as listed in the Efron and Ravid (2020) text. Those steps include the following elements:

(a)   Introduction

• Step 1: Identify a Problem (of Practice)
  • Identify and define the Problem of Practice you want to explore
    • Problem Statement (Define central concepts and terms)
    • Write Research Questions (see page 40 in Efron and Ravid)
  • Describe your role in the planned study
  • Describe the context of your work, in which the Problem of Practice exists
  • Describe the population with which you are working
  • Explicate the rationale for researching/addressing this Problem of Practice; why does this Problem of Practice matter?
  • Identify what previous steps or approaches you have used in addressing this Problem of Practice; or, if you have not yet tried to address it, discuss that and why

 

• Describe others, besides yourself, who may be interested in the study and who will benefit from the knowledge
• Notes:
  • See pages 1-19 in Efron & Ravid
  • Use Figure 2.1 to check your work
  • This section should be between three and five pages

(c)    Step 2:  Gather background information and write a literature review

• Notes:
  • See below for the Process of Writing the Literature Review below
  • This section should be five to seven pages

 
PROCESS for writing a literature review:

• Gather background information through a review of appropriate literature and existing research on the topic

(Refer to pages 22-23 in Efron and Ravid for tips on searching the lit, and refer to resource from the embedded librarians)

• Read literature and identify themes (Refer to 24-25 in Efron and Ravid)
• Construct the literature review

(Refer to pages 25-28 in Efron and Ravid; refer to figures 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 for organizing / thinking about literature)

• Write the literature review

(Refer to pages 28-34 in Efron and Ravid)
 

(d)   Step 3:  Design the study

• Identify what is the research approach (Qualitative or Quantitative or Mixed Methods) most appropriate to your Problem of Practice and Research Question
  • Consider the assumptions about your Problem of Practice
  • Consider your researcher role
  • Consider the research process
  • Consider common methods to the approach
  • Consider how to build validity / reliability (quan) and to build trustworthiness (qual) into the study
  • Consider the ethical concerns and implications
  • Notes:

o Refer to Chapters 3 and 4
 

(e)    Step 4:  Collect/Generate data and Analyze data

• If you were to run this study, what are the ways in which you would collect/generate data, and what the ways in which you would analyze the data such that you are answering your Problem of Practice and Research Question
  • What research questions would you ask?
  • What data sources would you use?
  • How would you analyze the data?
  • What are the ethical considerations for this planned study

 

• How would you know your strategies had been successful in addressing your Problem of Practice?
• Notes:

o Refer to Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
 

Assessment:

• Ensure that all components above are addressed, such that your work:
  1. Evidences thoughtful refection on one’s Problem of Practice
  2. Identifies a clear, concise Research Question

• Evidences in-depth analysis and synthesis of the literature relevant to the Research Question

1. Identifies a Plan of Action (Methodology) and a clear rationale for that approach
   1. Identifies and explicates one’s approach (qual or quan) and genre (case study, phenomenology, correlation, etc.) and clearly connects the approach to the PoP and Research Question
   2. Identifies, explains, and provides rationale for methods for data collection/generation for one’s Problem of Practice and Research Question

• Identifies, explains, and provides rationale for methods for analyzing data for one’s Problem of Practice and Research Question

1. Identifies and explicates validity and reliability (quan) and trustworthiness and authenticity (qual) concerns and approaches
2. Identifies, explicates, and addresses ethical concerns around planned study
3. Identifies and explicates how the findings from the planned study would be used to inform one’s future practice

• Use appropriate literature throughout your work to support your claims, assumptions, and planned methods
• Format, style, and organization
  1. Assignment is submitted as Word document
  2. Follows APA formatting, including double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font with page numbers, and title page

• Uses first-person language

1. Uses action verbs
2. Has a clear introduction, headings and transitions as needed and a clear conclusion
3. Correctly cites works; correctly formats reference list

• Carefully proofread; free from spelling, typos, punctuation or grammar errors
• Work submitted on time for Action Research Plan:

1. Outline – due Sunday, April 3
2. Draft – due Sunday, April 17
3. Final draft – due Monday, May 2

 
Important Reminders on Assessment of the Action Research Plan: Recall I have noted the core, or essential, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) to be developed this semester are on understanding the process of Action Research and how it is implemented in one’s practice.
Within those core, or essential, KSAs are:
 

• Articulating a Problem of Practice and attendant Research Question
• Searching the literature to find lit that is relevant to one’s PoP
• Synthesizing the literature relevant to one’s PoP into a well-organized and logical literature review
• Interpreting and applying relevant literature in addressing one’s PoP The secondary (or stretch) KSAs are the designing of an ARP. These include:
• Selecting an approach (qual / quan / mixed-methods)
• Selecting appropriate methods of data collection/generation and data analysis that will answer one’s Research Question
• Identifying and explicating the ethical concerns in Action Research into one’s own practice

As such, the assessment scoring will focus on the core, or essential, KSAs, with 70% of the ARP for the these skills and 30% for the secondary skills.
 
 

Other important project notes:

• Take care to use the feedback provided in your reflective papers
• Contact embedded librarians if you hit a wall with searching the literature