Section archive - Research Methods

An action-research account of a successful improvement to practice presented for assessment within a taught MA in education was given a fail grade. The paper presents an extract from the original action-research account. The paper then presents the story of the assessment and notes how it exemplifies some of the key issues relating to the way action-research can and should be assessed within credentialed academic programmes. Finally, the paper suggests that Elliott's formulation of quality criteria can resolve the central dilemma of marking action-research reports within credentialed programmes of study.

In this article, a teacher action researcher describes how he investigated ways to enhance student engagement in the required reading. The article begins by setting research context in Greece, and goes on to describe the action research project. The author focuses on the students' active involvement in the process. The article concludes that, in an action research framework, the teacher-students negotiation organizes student intervention quite effectively and allows us to consult the student's voice.

This article examines the implementation of a participatory action research study as a parent involvement strategy in one urban, Colorado middle school thought to have low parental involvement. Findings revealed that parent participants perceive themselves to be significantly involved in their children's lives at home in ways that are not recognized under traditional definitions of parent involvement.

This paper is based on the emergence of a small research group and its journey to enhance scholarly activity within a new school of education. The group explored a research-orientated learning project to determine what makes a beneficial school experience. Narrative enquiry and hermeneutic analysis were used to develop descriptions and interpretations of the phenomenon from the perspective of the participants. The analysis is presented and discussed to help understand the processes that contribute favorably to research capacity building in an academic institution.