An introduction to educational research methods. Введение в образовательные исследовательские методы Білім беру-зерттеу әдістеріне кіріспе

What Is Educational Action Research?

616

ORIGINS OF ACTION RESEARCH

The creation of the process of action research is often attributed to Kurt Lewin, and whilst 

he appears to have been the first to publish work using the term, he may have earlier 

encountered the method in Germany from work performed in Vienna in 1913 (Altrichter 

et al., 2007). Indeed Buckingham’s book Research for Teachers, published in 1926, cited in 

Altrichter et al., advocates a recognizable action research process. 

Furthermore, Rogers’s (2002) account of John Dewey’s notions of reflection, for

instance, shows that it is very similar, and it might even be possible to suggest that the

ancient Greek empiricists used an action research cycle.

Nonetheless, Lewin was the first to describe action research as ‘proceeding in a spiral

of steps, each of which is composed of planning, action and the evaluation of the result

of action’ (Kemmis and McTaggart, 1990: 8). Lewin argued that in order to ‘understand

and change certain social practices, social scientists have to include practitioners from

the real social world in all phases of inquiry’ (McKernan, 1991: 10).

ACTION RESEARCH AS A FORM OF PRACTITIONER ENQUIRY

Practitioner educational research is a conceptual and linguistic umbrella for an array of

research approaches (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 2009), such as ethnographic research

and case studies. In the wider literature there are various approaches to practitioner

inquiry reported, each with a different emphasis and intention, as well as different historical

and epistemological traditions. However there are also a number of features

which are common to all the traditions. For example, all forms of practitioner inquiry

involve someone carrying out a practice which has involved training and which demands

constant updating of practice knowledge. For example, when a teacher or medical

practitioner simultaneously takes on the role of researcher they become practitioner

enquirers. The important premise is that such practitioners, who work inside a particular

practice context, have significant knowledge and perspectives about that situation

that an outsider would not have. This inside knowledge means that the practitioner

researcher has a deep understanding of the interactions and dynamics within the practice

context. Conversely, there are also drawsbacks because the practitioner is so close

to the context then this familiarity can prevent or limit objective thinking.

Practitioner enquiry also builds on the premise that the relationship between knowledge

and practice is complex and non-linear, and that the knowledge needed to improve

practice is influenced by the contexts and relations of power that structure the daily

work of the specific practice.

Kemmis and McTaggart (2005) describe a number of broad types of practitioner action

research in a range of settings and organizations. However, this chapter will be restricted

to school-based research contexts, and to educational action research in particular. Here

we are defining school-based research as collaboration among school-based teachers and

other educators and university-based colleagues, although others involved in education,

such as parents and other members of the wider school community may also be involved.

What Is Educational Action Research?

617

What do we mean by education? 

Education is the social process by ‘which a new generation is initiated into the language,

rituals, roles, relationships and routines which its members have to learn in order to become 

a member of the society’ (Carr and Kemmis, 2009: 75). It follows then that if education is 

about initiating young people to become members of society then the social practices of 

teaching must fulfill this role. However, it can also be argued that those occupying such social 

roles must also be willing to respond to the changes taking place in the immediate society 

and wider world context.

Consequently  the  process  of  education  has  two  dissonant  functions.  First  to  reproduce 

existing patterns of social life, and secondly to overcome the natural conservative tendency of 

education systems which might hinder transformation of practice, so that future generations 

are also equipped to participate in a rapidly changing social world. It is because of this tension 

that debate about education is overtly political. Indeed the inherent, often contradictory, 

beliefs and values held by all the relevant disparate groups involved in education colours 

debate about what is a ‘good’ society and therefore what is ‘good’ teaching. Therefore, the 

kind of education prevailing in a society at a particular time is a product of previous political 

policies and the resultant relationship between education and society, which has been 

modified and transformed over time. 

Educational action as praxis

If we accept that education is not value free, and indeed that the purposes and process of 

education are highly contested, it follows then that educational action is not a neutral action 

either. Carr and Kemmis argue that educational action is more appropriately understood 

as a form of human practice or praxis a term derived from Aristotelian philosophy. More 

precisely, praxis is defined as ‘ethically informed (social) practices, in which, and through 

which, some understanding of the individual good and the good society are given practical 

expression’  (Carr  and  Kemmis,  2009:  77). Therefore,  to  act  educationally  is  to  act  on 

the basis of an ethical code. Furthermore, the social roles or disposition of the teacher 

is to act in accordance with a tacit understanding of what constitutes a good society or 

good teaching. Such social practice undertaken by ethically informed teachers is termed 

phronesis, which has also come to be known as practical wisdom. This practical wisdom 

cannot be learned in theory and then applied in practice because the context is ‘imbued 

with historically bequeathed traditions, educational thought and action’ (Carr and Kemmis, 

2009: 78). These tacit features of a practice context mean that practical wisdom can only be 

‘acquired by practitioners who, in seeking to achieve the standards of excellence inherent 

in their practice, develop the capacity to make wise and prudent judgements about what, 

in a particular situation, would constitute an appropriate expression of the good’ (Carr and 

Kemmis, 2009: 79)

In summary, educational action is therefore a form of praxis, that is, political action aimed 

at realizing the view of the good society to which the educational practitioner is tacitly 

committed. 

What Is Educational Action Research?

618

What is school-based educational action research?

School-based educational action research is the process whereby practitioners deliberate 

on and respond to school-based problems. This form of research is not so much ‘in’ and 

‘about’ education as ‘for’ education. Consequently, it is the role of the teacher to engage in 

the process of self-reflective enquiry so that they will understand and improve their own 

practice. The efforts of the participants of educational action research are geared towards 

changing the curriculum, challenging existing school practices and working for social change 

by engaging in a continuous process of problem posing, data gathering, analysis and action.

Kemmis goes further suggesting that:

Action research changes people’s practices, their understandings of their practices, and

the conditions under which they practice. It changes people’s patterns of ‘saying’, ‘doing’

and ‘relating’ to form new patterns – new ways of life. It is a meta-practice: a practice that

changes other practices. It transforms the sayings, doings and relatings that compose those

other practices. (Kemmis, 2007: 1)

In other words transforming practice means transforming what we do, transforming

understanding means transforming what we think and transforming the conditions

changes how we relate to each other (Figure 14.1).

 

Figure 12.1

 An example of a Lewin spiral used by a teacher researcher

SCHOOL-BASED RESEARCH

234

What is school-based educational action research? 

School-based educational action research is the process whereby practitioners deliberate on 

and respond to school-based problems. This form of research is not so much ‘in’ and ‘about’ 

education as ‘for’ education. Consequently, it is the role of the teacher to engage in the 

process of self-reflective enquiry so that they will understand and improve their own practice. 

The efforts of the participants of educational action research are geared towards changing 

the curriculum, challenging existing school practices and working for social change by 

engaging in a continuous process of problem posing, data gathering, analysis and action. 

Kemmis goes further suggesting that: 

Action research changes people’s practices, their understandings of their practices, and 

the conditions under which they practice. It changes people’s patterns of ‘saying’, ‘doing’ 

and ‘relating’ to form new patterns – new ways of life. It is a meta-practice: a practice that 

changes other practices. It transforms the sayings, doings and relatings that compose those 

other practices. (Kemmis, 2007: 1) 

In other words transforming practice means transforming what we do, transforming 

understanding means transforming what we think and transforming the conditions 

changes how we relate to each other (Figure 14.1).

The  ‘action resrearch spiral’

My enquiry questioning is disrupted by my need to keep

control in ways the class expects.

My students think that science

means recalling facts rather than a

process of enquiry. How can I

stimulate enquiry in my students?

Change my questioning?

Record questions and

responses on tape for two

lessons to see what is

happening. Keep notes of my

impressions in a diary.

Observe

Observe

Reflect

Reflect

Act

Act

Some questions did not

stimulate good dialogue.

Ask colleague to work with

me to develop better tasks.

What tasks stimulate

discussion?

Record group discussion on tape. Note in

diary effects on student behaviour

Shift questioning strategy

to use more open ended

questioning students to

explore answers to their

own questioning.

Try organizing students

into groups to discuss

ideas using prepared

questions which let

students say what they

mean, what interests

them.

Plan and try out group

work for at least two

lessons.

Plan

Revise

Plan

Figure 14.1  An example of a Lewin spiral used by a teacher researcher 

Source: Based on Kemmis and McTaggart (1988).

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What Is Educational Action Research?

619

The purposes of action research

There are also differences in the general purposes of action research. In the 1980s Carr 

and Kemmis used a theory of knowledge based on constitutive interest (Habermas, 1986) 

to distinguish three kinds of action research. These were: technical action research, guided 

by an interest in improving control over outcomes: practical action research, guided by an 

interest in educating or enlightening practitioners so they can act more wisely and prudently; 

and critical action research, guided by an interest in emancipating people and groups from 

irrationality, injustice and harm or suffering.

Twenty  years  on  Carr  and  Kemmis  (1986)  have  refined  these  to  become  ‘personal’, 

‘professional’ and ‘political’ purposes – although each proponent of action research places a 

different emphasis on their purpose, rather these being discrete typologies. So, for example, 

Whitehead’s ‘living theory’ approach to action research (whitehead and Mc Niff, 2006) places 

more emphasis on the personal dimension than professional and political purpose. However 

Whitehead would argue these are other two purposes are also important.

See Table 14.1 for a summary of the traditions of action research. 

Table 12.1

 Action-research traditions: principles and purposes

WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL ACTION RESEARCH? 

235

The purposes of action research

There are also differences in the general purposes of action research. In the 1980s 

Carr and Kemmis used a theory of knowledge based on constitutive interest 

(Habermas, 1986) to distinguish three kinds of action research. These were: technical 

action research, guided by an interest in improving control over outcomes: practical 

action research, guided by an interest in educating or enlightening practitioners so 

they can act more wisely and prudently; and critical action research, guided by an 

interest in emancipating people and groups from irrationality, injustice and harm or 

suffering. 

Twenty years on Carr and Kemmis (1986) have refined these to become ‘personal’, 

‘professional’ and ‘political’ purposes – although each proponent of action research 

places a different emphasis on their purpose, rather these being discrete typologies. So, 

for example, Whitehead’s ‘living theory’ approach to action research (whitehead and Mc 

Niff, 2006) places more emphasis on the personal dimension than professional and 

political purpose. However Whitehead would argue these are other two purposes are 

also important. 

See Table 14.1 for a summary of the traditions of action research.

Table 14.1  Action-research traditions: principles and purposes

Approach 

Key Proponents 

Principles 

Purposes 

Practitioners 

conducting research 

about their own 

practice to better 

understand and 

improve practice 

Lewin, Corey, Zeichner, 

Noffkee (USA) Stenhouse, 

Elliott, Rudduck, Somekh 

(UK) 

Changing practice 

is educative and 

linked to 

practitioner 

personal growth 

Professional: 

To test out ideas 

To change and improve practice and 

evaluate these changes. 

To enable professional growth of the 

practitioner 

Living theories through 

self-study and auto 

ethnography. Whitehead 

(UK) McNiff (Ireland)

Personal: 

To examine personal values and beliefs, 

and to uncover hidden dispositions to 

guide actions and choices

Collective self-enquiry 

undertaken by 

participants in social 

situations which 

contribute to greater 

equity and democracy 

in schools and society 

Critical Emancipatory. Carr 

and Kemmis (Australia) 

Freire (S. America) Elliott 

(UK) 

Undertaking action 

research is an 

emancipatory 

process 

Political: 

To close the gaps between problems 

and theoretical ideas 

 

The field and domains of action research

There are a number of key researchers who have made significant contributions to the 

field of action research. In the UK Lawrence Stenhouse was the first researcher to advo-

cate this approach and he worked with teachers to help them take an active role in 

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What Is Educational Action Research?

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THE FIELD AND DOMAINS OF ACTION RESEARCH

There are a number of key researchers who have made significant contributions to the 

field of action research. In the UK Lawrence Stenhouse was the first researcher to advo-

cate this approach and he worked with teachers to help them take an active role in teach-

er research. Elliott and Rudduck carried this work on and their seminal work promoted

action research projects which have made significant changes to classroom practice

through mobilizing teachers. These projects include Jean Rudduck’s ‘Consulting

Pupils about Teaching and Learning’.

Carr and Kemmis continue to promote emancipatory notions of action research, and

Whitehead and McNiff publish living theories. Both approaches purport to be about

closing the gaps between problems and theoretical ideas through examining personal

values and beliefs and uncovering hidden dispositions to guide actions and choices.

Schön’s long-established reflective practitioner idea proposes that action research is

also about building knowledge to support professional practice.

It may be action but is it research?

There are on-going debates in the literature too about whether action research can justifi-

ably

be called research.

Elliott (2009) defends action research and differentiates between research on education

and educational research. He defines research on education as the type of

research professional researchers do, mainly in university departments. That is, the sort

of ethical inquiry aimed at realizing educational ‘good’. Therefore, research on education

is about constructing knowledge about teaching and learning whilst being detached

from the context being researched.

On the other hand, educational research is carried out by a practitioner, in their own

situation, to make their practice more worthwhile, and involves ethically committed

action.

In other words, each category of research has different ways of working and different

purposes. Research on education is undertaken by professional researchers, some of

whom are interested in making the study of method the actual object of study. Other

research programmes have large teams of professional researchers and graduate assistants.

Their work is often funded by charities or grant awarding bodies to investigate a

topical aspect of education. These teams of researchers collect large amounts of data

and try to make causal links between their findings and the object of their study. Their

aim is often to produce theories from which policy can be determined, or to develop a

greater understanding of a particular phenomenon.

Elliott argues that educational research has a different but equally valid purpose. This

purpose is not primarily about producing generalizable theory, but is about creating new

knowledge about interactions and dynamics of actual classrooms and school situations.

This form of research is highly relevant to the practitioner and school. Indeed it could

be argued that such forms of research may even have more impact on the classroom,

albeit only on a small, local scale.

Educational research in the form of action research can improve the common sense

What Is Educational Action Research?

621

conceptualization of practice, and help practitioners to formulate a theory of classroom 

action to improve their own situation; whereas research on education conceptualizes class-

rooms from a ‘scientific’ research perspective.

It could be argued that an important reason for undertaking research on education is to 

change educational practice so that practitioners will conform to how education theo-

rists believe that practitioners should practice. It may also be the case that researchers in 

education produce theories that are formed by professional researchers’ ways of doing 

research. These researchers pay little or no regard for how these theories can actually 

be incorporated into practitioners’ everyday ways of working. Furthermore, much of the 

research published by professional researchers is usually difficult to get at for classroom 

practitioners, unless they actually embark on their own practitioner-based research. This 

dissonance has fuelled the critics of action research who argue that educational research 

theories produced by teacher researchers are not as valid or reliable as research in ed-

ucation theories (Hammersley, 2004). This may be the case, but this view overlooks the 

importance to the individual classroom teachers or school in generating classroom-specific 

research knowledge.

Critics also fail to acknowledged that action research gives practitioners the intellectu-

al and moral control over their own practice. The self transformation process of talking 

about, doing and relating to colleagues about the research process gives meaning to the 

practice. However, the corollary is that if school-based participants want their research 

to be taken seriously then they too must use recognized research techniques rigorously 

to inform both their actions and data collection methods. The research techniques used 

should meet the criteria common to other kinds of academic research, that is they must 

withstand peer review of procedures, be original, significant, and the data must be valid and 

any claims made must be warranted by the data collected.

Nonetheless, there are significant differences between everyday classroom practice, 

teachers researching their own practice to make changes, and professional researchers 

researching classrooms (Table 14.2).

The key differences are that knowledge gained in routine practice tends to remain with 

the individual practitioner rather than become disseminated through publication, as in the 

case of the professional researchers. The outcomes of the action research undertaken by 

teacher practitioners tend to be towards the less valued practitioner end of these con-

tinua. However, if excellent teaching is about making explicit the deliberative process of 

knowledge in action (Chapter 1) and if it is true that when a teacher intervenes in routine 

practice they are venturing into the unknown, Then it follows that being equipped with 

extensive research and practice knowledge will assist the teachers in making expert judge-

ments about what is likely to improve the situation most effectively.

Secondly, action researchers invariably use pragmatic data collection methods, whereas 

methodology is usually paramount in research in education. In action research, method-

ology is often subservient to practice. That is a teacher researcher will not be prevented 

from making changes to practice because there is no measure or adequate baseline data 

set. Rather, the teacher will make judgements on the best evidence that is available. This is 

perceived as a serious flaw in action research by the critics (Hammersley, 2004).

What Is Educational Action Research?

622

SCHOOL-BASED RESEARCH

238

Consequently, action research, as a practical improvement process, is sometimes consid-

ered to be atheoretical. Whilst it is true that traditional disciplinary theory is not a major 

priority for teachers (Chapter 1), it is nevertheless important to draw on ontological, epis-

temological and methodological understanding of classroom situations when engaged in 

school-based research if an intervention is to be truly transformative (Chapter 5). Elliott 

(1991) claims that although it is academic theorists that ultimately provide the methods 

and resources for reflection, the development of practice within an action research pro-

cess takes place through the problematization and application of expert researchers’ 

Table 14.2  Action research as educational research 

Routine classroom practice 

Action research  

as educational research 

Research in education 

Practice is an habitual process 

using tacit knowledge which may or 

may not have been derived from 

previous educational research or 

research in education 

Teacher action in both practice and 

research

Externally funded researcher 

studying practice 

Role

Teacher reacts to the situations in 

the classroom 

Teacher is proactive with regard to 

change but action is based upon 

understanding achieved through the 

analysis of research findings 

Researchers use 

pre-determined strict 

methodological protocol 

Routine practice is the sole 

responsibility of the practitioner

 

Teacher participating in action 

research in their own classroom but 

also drawing on external expertise 

through collaborative ways of working

Research is usually carried out 

in teams as outsiders looking 

in at practice 

Pr

ocesses

Routine practice is naturalistic in 

that it is not researched

Interventionist research through 

changing some aspect of existing 

practice so there is inside manipulation 

of the classroom 

Research can be either 

experimental or a deep study 

of what is happening from the 

perspective of an outsider 

Routine practice does not normally 

allow for much examination of 

procedures, values and effectiveness

Action research is an improvement 

process which starts with an identified 

problem

Research on education 

proceeds with a given agenda 

and is generally commissioned 

by external funding agencies

On-going routine practice is 

generally only experienced by the 

participants 

Action research is deliberative 

thoughtful practice 

Practice is the object of study 

Purpose

The main criterion for routine 

practice is that it works well 

Action research is about finding out 

about why things don’t work and 

trying to improve them 

Constructing conceptual 

systems to explain and 

construct theory

Knowledge gained in routine 

practice tends to remain with the 

individual practitioner

Knowledge gained in action research 

ought to be shared within the school 

or be disseminated through networking 

and teaching organizations 

Knowledge published for the 

benefit of other researchers in 

education 

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