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Comparison between Action Research and Traditional Research

  • Action Research

      Action research is a process of systematic inquiry, which can effectively help instructors to collect information for solving problems in the teaching and learning processes (Mertler, 2014). Instructors can utilize action research for collecting data to find out the school’s system, how they teach, and how their students learn in courses.

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  • Traditional Research

      Traditional research can be used as an application of the scientific method, which identifies educational issues and answers educational questions from common sources (e.g. reporting data and traditional authority​). It is usually conducted by researchers who are removed from the environment they are studying (Mertler, 2014).

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Two Main Types of Research Design

  • Qualitative Research

      Qualitative research is an exploratory research method which utilizes an inductive approach to research through the collection of narrative data, including phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, and case studies (Mertler, 2014). The narrative data appears primarily as words that are usually collected through observation, interviews, or journals; this type of research focuses on accuracy, dependability, and credibility of one’s qualitative data.

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  • Quantitative Research

      Quantitative research is a systematic process for gathering and analyzing measurable data which utilizes a deductive approach to research through the collection of numerical data, including both non-experimental (e.g. descriptive, correlational, causal-comparative research) and experimental designs (Mertler, 2014). The numerical data can be counted, tallied, or rated, and is usually collected though surveys, questionnaires, checklists, tests, and rating scales; this type of research focuses on validity and reliability.

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How to do Action Research

      In ETEC 543, I learned about action research, which utilizes Mixed-Methods research designs. Mixed-Methods research designs use both qualitative and quantitative data that offer opportunities to analyze narrative and numerical data. Three basic mixed-methods designs are explanatory mixed-methods design, exploratory mixed-methods design, and triangulation mixed-methods design.

  • An explanatory mixed-methods design focuses on the quantitative data. In order to demonstrate results of qualitative data, quantitative data is collected first before gathering qualitative data (Mertler, 2014).

  • An exploratory mixed-methods design focuses on qualitative data. In order to further explain any observations, interviews, or journals, qualitative data is collected first before gathering quantitative data (Mertler, 2014).

  • A triangulation mixed-methods design uses both quantitative and qualitative data at the same time and requires equal amounts of quantitative and qualitative data (Mertler, 2014). 

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The Process of Action Research

      Action research is a cyclical and iterative process, including four stages: planning, acting, developing, and reflecting. See the process of action research below.

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Action Research

Adapted from Mertler (2014)

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  • Planning Stage

      This stage involves identifying and limiting the topic, gathering some information related to the research topic, reviewing the related literature, and developing a research plan (Mertler, 2014).

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  • Acting Stage

      This stage involves conducting research, implementing the plan, collecting data, and analyzing the data (Mertler, 2014).

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  • Development Stage

      This stage involves developing an action plan from the previous research. Before doing the research, using related literature is important for planning future research (Mertler, 2014).

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  • Reflecting Stage

      This stage involves sharing and communicating the results of the research, which can be done through presentation or academic journals (Mertler, 2014). It also includes reflecting on the process of action research which continuously monitors the progress of the action research project.

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What I learned in ETEC 543?

      In ETEC 543, I followed the action research process to design a research project with my team members, and our research topic was "The Effect of Instructional Videos on Badminton Teaching with College Students." The main research proposal was to examine the effect of instructional videos to teach students' badminton skills and attitudes through Mixed-Methods Research Designs, including both qualitative and quantitative research. Quantitative data was collected via rating forms before and after instruction, and qualitative data was collected through pre-test and post-test surveys. Also, I learned how to choose relevant articles to develop a research plan with my team members from literature reviews and how to do the data collection and data analysis though a paired t-test. Therefore, applying each action research process is important for conducting the research project in Mixed-Methods Research Designs. 

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Sample Work in ETEC 543

The Process of Educational Research

      In ETEC 643, I had an opportunity to utilize the process of educational research which involved developing an initial research question, selecting a method or research design, conducting data analysis, and reporting findings, interpretations, and making conclusions (McMillan, 2016).

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Educational Research 

Adapted from McMillan (2016)

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  • Question

      This phase starts with an educational problem, which offers an important research proposal for a study (McMillan, 2016). A research question is to identify what specifically will be studied. The research problem for my study was based on my own idea and literature review about digital reading technologies and the YouVersion Bible app. My research questions were to investigate the impact of the YouVersion Bible app on college students’ understanding of Bible contents and learning attitudes within a short period of time.

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  • Method

      This phase involves three different types of research design, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods (McMillan, 2016). My research design utilized an explanatory mixed-methods design, which used both quantitative and qualitative data at the same time. For exploring college students’ learning attitudes, qualitative data was collected through pre/post surveys. I used Google Forms to create the pre/post surveys. Both Bible pre/post surveys included the same twelve Likert scale questions: one multiple choice question, and two open-ended questions for questions with ratings. I used quantitative data to analyze the impact of how the Bible app helped students understand the contents of the Bible through pre/post tests. I also applied Google Forms to design Bible pre/post tests about how college students understand the Bible contents. The Bible pre/post tests included ten multiple choice questions and five fill-in-the-blank questions, which can compare two different types of readings between a hardcopy of the Bible and the YouVersion Bible app. Both tests included different test questions.

       

  • Result

      This phase includes data collection and analysis that are collected by using descriptive or inferential statistics (McMillan, 2016). In my research project, the data collected from the evaluation performance and questionnaire were analyzed using Excel and summarized through using descriptive and inferential statistics. For analyzing the Bible pre/post tests and Likert Scale Surveys as descriptive and inferential data, I utilized the dependent samples t-test to focus on one group, the results of the Bible pre/post test scores and surveys. A coding scheme was developed based upon participants’ response via open-ended questions. I wrote brief sentences summarizing students’ reflection from the pre/post surveys’ open-ended questions through the coding scheme. I also focused on the semi-structured interview, which was effectively transcribed during the Bible study group.

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  • Conclusion

      This phase is interpreting and evaluating the results found from the research problem, questions, and/or hypothesis (McMillan, 2016). Then limitations of the research are identified and suggestions are given for new or future studies to find out the research problem that needs improvement. In my research project, I summarized some important results and issues through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics from students' responses. From the limitations of the research study, I would focus on investigating students’ reading skills for their understanding of the Bible contents with the Bible app and technology devices in the Bible study group in the long run.

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What I learned in ETEC 643?

      In the ETEC 643, I designed the research topic "The Impact of the YouVersion Bible App on Digital Reading with College Students." I learned how to choose relevant articles to develop a research proposal from my literature review and how to collect and analyze data through the dependent t-test. Also, I learned how to utilize Excel and SPSS for my quantitative data analysis, in which descriptive and inferential statistics are useful for organizing large amounts of numerical data. A coding scheme and semi-structured interview effectively provided participants' feedback so that I could find out the advantages of the YouVersion Bible app and drawbacks of the hardcopy of the Bible in the research. Applying each educational research process is important for me to conduct the research study in the explanatory mixed-methods design.

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Sample Work in ETEC 643

How will I apply these research skills in my future career?

      The research experience from the ETEC 543 and 643 courses is beneficial for my career opportunities at educational institutions or corporations. I can use each research process, action research and educational research, to collect data through independent-measures t-test, repeated-measures t-test, or ANOVA. To become a successful instructional designer, I need to not only identify students’ learning abilities and attitudes, but also understand the importance of the research process for building an efficient teaching and learning environment. I will utilize these research skills to locate what is relevant in literature and to analyze data for identifying what specifically will be studied in my future career. 

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References

McMillan, J. H. (2016). Fundamentals of educational research. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Mertler, C. (2014). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (4th ed.).                                                            Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

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