I viewed this reading as a good refresher. I have done action research in the past so I didn’t necessarily need to be introduced to the topic, but rather just have an overview about what might have changed in the field since it was quite a few years ago the last time I did a project.
100Qs affirmed my belief that action research is a powerful tool for educational transformation, further solidifying for me why data collection methods are purposefully embedded in my daily teaching practices.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was the idea that action research begins with my own questions (it’s so often admin’s questions). It reminded me that my role isn’t just to deliver content, but to challenge systems and redesign experiences through reflection and intentional action.
The chapters also emphasized collaboration, which resonated strongly. I saw clear alignment between the collaborative structures I already use with my teaching team and the kind of cross-disciplinary inquiry that can arise when we treat our school as a “living lab”. In short, these early chapters made action research feel accessible and immediately applicable to what I already do.
Spring of 2019 I graduated from Pacific University with my education degree. I first started working on my MEd fall of 2019. My primary purpose was to obtain my endorsements in Health and Physical Education. I completed the requirements for these endorsements (plus EDUC 670) in the spring of 2020, and I had a full-time teaching position offered to me for the fall of 2020. COVID hit, everything closed down. I decided to put my MEd on hold, so I could concentrate on my new job. Dreading my “Inquiry Project” made this decision easy.
After reading our book, I feel much better about this Inquiry Project. It is far more informal than what I was anticipating, and it centers around something I am interest in, a problem that is plaguing me in my work environment. This project may actually make my job easier, provided I come up with a workable solution. It will still be a lot of work, but work pertinent to me. I am looking forward to it.
One main takeaway for me is how action research is used in order to improve a practice. It is different from traditional research in that it is used to solve a question regarding a specific and smaller sample of participants rather than randomly selected participants. Results from action research do not always have to be generalized to a bigger population. Instead, you are assuming that the group of people you are working with will be similar so the results are more specific to your subset of participants. It makes sense that traditional research is mainly used in the health sciences but is interesting to see that there is still a place for action research in the example of the hospital support nurses.
Another part that stood out to me was how action research can often begin as exploratory and then become confirmatory as it can be helpful to understand more about what the issues are before working towards solving it. It is hard to solve a problem without getting more knowledge as to what is causing the problem and the effects it has.
Coming from a background of science, I am more familiar with traditional research so it was interesting to learn about action research and see how it is similar and different from traditional research. Both types of research require developing a high quality research question along with defining variables, precisely describing the population, designing a methodology and collecting data. However, action research is more related to making quick changes compared to doing a longer in-depth study which can be the case with traditional research. As well, I found it interesting that while generalizability is a concern for traditional research, action research is more focussed on a local population rather than extrapolating to a larger population (and thus doesn’t involve complicated statistics). I found it particularly interesting that action research is based on the need/want for change instead of researching for curiosity.
I also found it noteworthy that action research is cyclical which is similar to the scientific method. Research constantly leads to new questions and new hypotheses allowing for continuous improvement and learning.
I was not surprised to see that action research is fairly new in the healthcare industry as I have not seen it much before and am more used to traditional research approaches. This is understandable as it can be difficult to use small-scale research and apply it to a more general, broader field which is what most healthcare research is for.
As well, I appreciated how the reading mentioned that ethics should be taken into consideration when doing research and to keep in mind the following three words: respect, beneficence, and justice. While doing research, it is incredibly important to keep the subjects in mind and to not discriminate against them as well as maximize their potential benefits and minimize any potential harm.
What are your main takeaways from the readings?
I viewed this reading as a good refresher. I have done action research in the past so I didn’t necessarily need to be introduced to the topic, but rather just have an overview about what might have changed in the field since it was quite a few years ago the last time I did a project.
100Qs affirmed my belief that action research is a powerful tool for educational transformation, further solidifying for me why data collection methods are purposefully embedded in my daily teaching practices.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was the idea that action research begins with my own questions (it’s so often admin’s questions). It reminded me that my role isn’t just to deliver content, but to challenge systems and redesign experiences through reflection and intentional action.
The chapters also emphasized collaboration, which resonated strongly. I saw clear alignment between the collaborative structures I already use with my teaching team and the kind of cross-disciplinary inquiry that can arise when we treat our school as a “living lab”. In short, these early chapters made action research feel accessible and immediately applicable to what I already do.
Spring of 2019 I graduated from Pacific University with my education degree. I first started working on my MEd fall of 2019. My primary purpose was to obtain my endorsements in Health and Physical Education. I completed the requirements for these endorsements (plus EDUC 670) in the spring of 2020, and I had a full-time teaching position offered to me for the fall of 2020. COVID hit, everything closed down. I decided to put my MEd on hold, so I could concentrate on my new job. Dreading my “Inquiry Project” made this decision easy.
After reading our book, I feel much better about this Inquiry Project. It is far more informal than what I was anticipating, and it centers around something I am interest in, a problem that is plaguing me in my work environment. This project may actually make my job easier, provided I come up with a workable solution. It will still be a lot of work, but work pertinent to me. I am looking forward to it.
One main takeaway for me is how action research is used in order to improve a practice. It is different from traditional research in that it is used to solve a question regarding a specific and smaller sample of participants rather than randomly selected participants. Results from action research do not always have to be generalized to a bigger population. Instead, you are assuming that the group of people you are working with will be similar so the results are more specific to your subset of participants. It makes sense that traditional research is mainly used in the health sciences but is interesting to see that there is still a place for action research in the example of the hospital support nurses.
Another part that stood out to me was how action research can often begin as exploratory and then become confirmatory as it can be helpful to understand more about what the issues are before working towards solving it. It is hard to solve a problem without getting more knowledge as to what is causing the problem and the effects it has.
Coming from a background of science, I am more familiar with traditional research so it was interesting to learn about action research and see how it is similar and different from traditional research. Both types of research require developing a high quality research question along with defining variables, precisely describing the population, designing a methodology and collecting data. However, action research is more related to making quick changes compared to doing a longer in-depth study which can be the case with traditional research. As well, I found it interesting that while generalizability is a concern for traditional research, action research is more focussed on a local population rather than extrapolating to a larger population (and thus doesn’t involve complicated statistics). I found it particularly interesting that action research is based on the need/want for change instead of researching for curiosity.
I also found it noteworthy that action research is cyclical which is similar to the scientific method. Research constantly leads to new questions and new hypotheses allowing for continuous improvement and learning.
I was not surprised to see that action research is fairly new in the healthcare industry as I have not seen it much before and am more used to traditional research approaches. This is understandable as it can be difficult to use small-scale research and apply it to a more general, broader field which is what most healthcare research is for.
As well, I appreciated how the reading mentioned that ethics should be taken into consideration when doing research and to keep in mind the following three words: respect, beneficence, and justice. While doing research, it is incredibly important to keep the subjects in mind and to not discriminate against them as well as maximize their potential benefits and minimize any potential harm.