Department of Education Regional Office No.

VIII (Eastern Visayas)

Policy, Planning and Research Division

REGIONAL ACTION RESEARCH WRITING WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS

24-26 May 2016 at Cirilo Roy Montejo Night High School, Tacloban City

COURSE OUTLINE
(FACILITATOR’S GUIDE)

The following concepts are taken from the PRD-PS Action-Research Presentation and
DepEd Order No. 43, s. 2015. These are broad statements which may be discussed further in
details using other materials. Each topic must include the following management of learning
process observation and facilitation skills:

1. Climate building
2. Introduction / Review
3. Lecture / Discussion of Topic
4. Group Activity
5. Analysis of Outputs
6. Abstraction / Generalization
7. Individual Application (Writing their own Action Research parts)
8. Concluding Activity

I. Problem Sensing and Concept Development (3 hours)

(Marissa, Mau, and Robert)

Preliminary/Scoping/Reconnaisance Phase of Action Reseach

 Ask “what is the situation at present?”
 Gather information about the current state of things
 Name issues and problems
 Try to understand these issues

Context and Rationale – includes the description and context of the study and the reason for
conducting it; how the results could be used in action planning.

Research Questions – identifies the problem/s which will be addressed by the research in terms
of investigating or testing an idea; trying out solutions to a problem; creating a new procedure
or system; explaining a phenomenon; or a combination of any of these

Formulating Action Research Questions

 Questions are at the heart of an inquiry
 Focus, establish your action research territory
 Identify a specific problem, a need
 Show that the action research is relevant, interesting, problematic
 Formulate clearly, articulate well
 Encapsulate the action research undertaking

Sample Research Questions:

 Can / does … increase …?
 Can / does … reduce …?
 Can / does … speed up …?

Review of Related Literature – focuses on key issues which underlie the action research; general
conclusions about related action research papers; what research still needs to be done; and what
knowledge gaps remain that the study will aim to fill.
Gathering and Synthesizing Literature
 Frame the action research
 Research does not come out of a vacuum
 You are not the first one to do research on this
 Go up – explore the bigger idea
 Go down – explore specific approaches / techniques
 Summarize literature

Some Useful Online Libraries

 Elsevier (journals.elsevier.com)
 Wiley (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
 Taylor and Francis (tandfonline.com)

Scope and Limitation – coverage of the research in terms of location, time, respondents, etc.;
inherent design or methodology parameters that can restrict the scope of the research findings
and are outside the control of the researcher.

II. Designing Methods and Statistics (4 hours)

(Josemilo, Milaner, Nilo)

Action Phase of the Action Research

 Ask: “what changes can I try out?”
 Come up with interventions and strategies that are likely to address issues or solve
problems
 Implement these interventions / strategies
 Monitor and collect evidences of change / improvement

The Action Research Design

 Anchored on the action research questions
 A clear “action” to be tried out in the research (an innovation, a new procedure or
system, a hypothesized solution)
 Clearly identified research participants
 Clearly planned timeframe (e.g. before and after, with and without)

The Action Research Participants

 Who are your target research participants?
 How many are they?
 What sampling scheme will you use?

Sampling – details should be provided about who will participate in the research; number of
people and the characteristics of those who will participate in the research; and how will the
sample be selected or recruited.

Data Collection – the various instruments and procedures for data collection should be outlined
and extensively discussed.

Gathering Data
 Testing (pretest-posttest)
 Surveys
 Observations
 Interviews
 Document review / analysis

Research Instruments
 Cognitive tests
  Affective scales
 Observation protocols (to be discussed in topic V)
 Interview schedules / guides
 Checklists

Validity and Reliability

Encoding data
 Quantitative vs. Qualitative
 Use of spreadsheet or SPSS
 Coding

Analyzing Data
 Statistical methods
 Comparing same group, measured different times
 Comparing two groups, measured at the same time
 Comparing more than two groups

Plan for Data Analysis – indicates how the data will be analyzed and reported; it should specify
the qualitative and/or quantitative methods that will be used in analyzing the data gathered for
the research.

III. Interpretation and Discussion of Results (1 hour)

(Josemilo, Milaner, Nilo)

Interpreting Findings
 Congruent to research questions
 Stay true to your gathered data
 Admit delimitations, do not go beyond research participants, sample size, time frame,
methods chosen and research instruments
 Some research questions remain unanswered

Evaluation Phase of Action Research

 Ask: “did the interventions/strategies work?”
 Explain why you think so
 If not, propose explanations for the failure
 Generate recommendations

Generating recommendations
 Stick to what your action research is saying
 Point out what worked and what did not work
 Be specific, avoid blanket statements
 Show further possibilities, but remain realistic
 Ask: “what will I implement in my own practice?”

IV. Writing Other Parts (2 hours)

(Marissa, Mau, and Robert)

Workplan – contains the research timelines; when will the project begin and how long will it take
for it to be completed; include time estimates for each step in the research process (e.g. 5 days,
2 weeks)

Cost Estimates – includes detailed research cost, broken down per research task, activity and/or
deliverable; it can be further grouped by tranche for easier reference of the evaluation
committee. (Discuss Deliverables and Tranches in BERF)
Action Plan – indicate how the results of the action research will be utilized; how will the findings
be implemented in the classroom; how will the findings be shared to other teachers/schools
with different teaching environment; how will the findings be implemented to other
students/schools with different learning environment.

List of Reference – provide in text of work and reference list. Use APA 6th ed.

V. Observing Ethics in Conducting Classroom-based Action Research (1 hour)

(Helen, Sonia and Nenitabeth)

Ethical Issues – identification of ethical concerns that could possibly emanate from the conduct
of the research, and discussion on how to prevent these from taking place.

Some Ethical Procedures in Research

 Inform participants of the nature of the action research, and what is expected of them
 Obtain informed consent (verbal or written) from participants
 Respecting a participant’s right to refuse to participate, or to withdraw without penalty
 Identified, potentially identifiable, and deidentified/anonymized
 Secure confidentiality of research data and storage

Child Protection Policy Commitments (DO 40, s2012)

 Treat children with respect regardless of race, color, gender, language, religion, political
or other opinion, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status
 Not use language or behavior towards children that is inappropriate, harassing, abusive,
sexually provocative, demeaning or culturally inappropriate
 Whenever possible, ensure that another adult is present when working in the proximity
of children
 Ensure file labels or text descriptions do not reveal identifying information about a child
when sending images electronically or publishing images in any form
 Ensure images are honest representations of the context and the facts

On Photographs and Videos

 Before photographing or filming a child, obtain consent from a parent of the child,
guardian, or teacher
 Explain how the photograph or video will be used
 Take photographs from behind or the side, not of children’s faces
 Ensure that photographs and videos present children in a dignified and respectful
manner
 Children should be adequately clothed, and not be in poses that could be seen as
sexually suggestive

VI. Becoming Effective on Oral or Poster Presentation (1 hour)

(Helen, Sonia and Neneth)

https://www.asp.org/education/EffectivePresentations.pdf

Prepared by Mark Gallano for the Action Research Writing Workshop for Teachers