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Action Research Advantages and Disadvantages
Action Research Advantages and Disadvantages
97
Why is action research suitable for education?
Tran Thi Thu Hien*
Department of Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes, College of Foreign Languages,
Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Pham Van Dong Street, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam
Received 4 February 2009
Pro
Action Research can be used in education by the practitioner who wants to explore their own teaching
style/practice. The practitioner may be asked by their institution to carry out Action Research on a work
colleagues practice. For instance a teacher may want to explore why there is disruptive behavior in a specific
lesson and particular group he teachers. He may have talked to work colleagues who have not
experienced any behavior issues with this group. The practitioner may want to explore why this is
happening. They may look at the course syllabus, his/her teacher style (if it is appropriate for this group),
how discipline group, group dynamics. As a result of his findings he hopes to identify explanations for the
behavior and a plan to change teaching environment to reduce disruptive behavior.
Some Educational Institutions believe practitioners should use Action Research as part of their continuing
CPD (continuing professional development).
Action Research can involve a variety of qualitative methods, these can include: 1:1 interviews, focus
groups, participant observation. The practitioner may decide to use more than one method.
Con
There is a risk that for the practitioner who decides to evaluate his own practice. How do you select students
to participate? How objective will the practitioner be in his/her selection of participants? Is there a risk that
the practitioner selects students who he knows will co-operate with study, who he /she has a good
relationship so that any comments/interview data will be complementary of the practitioner?
Will students feel they have a choice to participate or are they just selected/coerced?
Will participants be honest in answers to questions particularly if the answer was negative? Would there be
fear of repercussions (lower grade marks etc).
When writing up the report, how objective will the practitioner be when wiring the results? What if the
report is critical of their teaching style? Will the practitioner include findings that will reveal this or will this
be left out of the report? If so it does raise the issue of how validated the report is.
The purpose of Action Research is to allow the practitioner the opportunity for reflexive inquiry. That a
practitioner who decides to use this research method has to be prepared to critically analyze and evaluate
their practice if they want to make changes and improve. They must be prepared to take action as a result of
the findings.
The primary purpose of action research is to help teachers understand their students and
improve their practice in specific, concrete ways (Hubbard & Powers, 1999). Through
careful reflections and self- assessments, teachers can develop and refine their craft. The
significance of the teacher’s study is how it informs and changes their teaching (Hubbard &
Powers, 1999). Conducting action research can also change how teachers view themselves
as professionals. Positive experiences with the action research process can build confidence
in teachers as they collect evidence of successful teaching or decision-making. Christine
Bennett (1994) conducted a study to evaluate teachers’ perceptions of action research. She
found that teachers who conducted action research viewed themselves as being more open to
change, more reflective about their teaching practices and decision making, and more
effective teachers with fresher attitudes toward the educational process. Glanz (2003)
discussed how action research benefits the field of education, teachers, and their students.
The benefits he described are as follows:
Ultimately, students will benefit, as their learning is the focus of the action research study.
https://education.ucf.edu/mirc/docs/pp/FLaRE%20Professional%20Paper%20-%20Action
%20Research.pdf