Chapter 24: Action Research

Activity 24.1: Action Research Questions

Activity 24.2: True or False?

Activity 24.1:
Action Research Questions

Which of the following questions might lend themselves well to action research?

1. Do students learn more from older or younger children?

2. Is the content found in the literature anthologies in our district biased, and if so, how?

3. Would filmstrips help our elementary teachers teach multiplication to third-graders?

4. Is phonics more effective than look-say as a method of teaching reading?

5. What kinds of things do music teachers do as they go about their daily routine?

6. How might we improve the quality of our school’s social studies program?

7. Is the use of detention successful with elementary school students?

8. What are the effects of giving students with serious behavior problems choices about
how to behave in class?

9. What has been the effect of federal legislation on school reform at the district level?
Activity 24.2:
True or False?

In the space provided in front of each statement below, write “T” if the statement is true.
Write “F” if the statement is false.

1. ______ Action research is research conducted so that a decision can be reached about
an issue of concern at the local school level.

2. ______ Administrators would rarely participate in action research.

3. ______ Those involved in action research generally want to solve some day-to-day
immediate problem.

4. ______ One advantage of action research is that it is not limited to generalizability.

5. ______ Action research requires mastery of at least one of the major types of
educational research.

6. ______ An assumption underlying action research is that those who work in schools
want to engage, at least to some degree, in some form of systematic research.

7. ______ An important aspect of participatory action research is that the question or

problem being investigated is one that is of interest to all the parties involved.

8. ______ It is not unusual in much action research to find the use of more than one
instrument.

9. ______ The researcher is the key instrument in action research studies.

10. ______ A key characteristic of most action research is that the data collection
methods are chosen by the stakeholders.

11. ______ Action research can be done by teachers.

12. ______ Unfortunately, action research cannot help teachers to identify problems and
issues systematically.