ACTION Research

Action research is a term I became familiar with about 6 years ago as a teacher at Brownfield High School.  Our principal asked a group of us to come in and attack one of the problems facing the high school using a process he called action research.  I have become more acquainted with the process through the principal certification process at Lamar University.  As an administrator, I believe the process can be used with different groups of stakeholders - teachers, students, parents, or community members.  First there has to be a problem to be addressed OR a question to be answered.  There must be someone leading the action research process that can keep the group moving from one step to the next.  After narrowing the focus, there must be data collected.  Data is the driving force in education.  We need to have data to back up our gut feelings if we want to see stakeholders jump on board.  We also need data to tell us areas that we could use action research to help improve the quality of education for our students.  After collecting the data we must be open minded to what it tells us.  The data will direct us on our last step of taking action.  Without follow through, all we have really done is research. We must get to the final step of taking action.