ACTION RESEARCH TIE

UP

CONTENT
Abstract
The context
Literature review
Research focus
Action plan
Implementation of action plan
Data collection methods
Data analysis and interpretation
Reflection and implications
The next step

ABSTRACT
Motivation:
Why do we careabout the problem and the results?
Problem statement:
Whatproblemare you trying to solve?
Approach:
How did you go about solvingor making progress on the
problem?
Results:
What's the answer?
Conclusions:
What are the implicationsof your answer?

EXAMPLE OF AN ABSTRACT

(adapted from
http://facdent.hku.hk/pbl/conf/abstracts/sampleabstracts.pdf)
Programmelevel evaluations of student perceptions of the learning experiences in PBL curricula have found
that the early years of the curriculum experience lower levels of satisfaction than the final years. This could
be seen as a natural process of adjustment to university life in general and the demands of PBL curricula in
particular. Additionally, generic student evaluations of university learning experiences can be problematic for
a fullyintegrated PBL curriculum. How, for example, can students comment on courses when learning is
fully integrated? Clear goals and standards scales may also provide problematic data for beginning students
when problem scenarios are deliberately illdefined. METHODS: Universitywide data on firstyear student
evaluations of learning was used to inform curriculum design for one fullyintegrated PBL programme. In
particular, firstyear student evaluation data from the 200607 academic year was used to review how the
transition into university life and a PBL programme could be enhanced for firstyear students. As a result, the
established 1week induction was further developed and extended across the first year. The system
generated student evaluation was repeated at the end of the 200708 academic year and results on items
related to attainment of university goals items were compared. RESULTS: Comparison of the two groups
found significant improvements in firstyear students perceptions that the PBL programme was helping
them achieve university level educational outcomes. The greatest improvements, measured using Cohens
d, were seen for items related to intercultural understanding (d=.77); critical selfreflection (d=.60);
global citizenship (d=.52); and critical intellectual inquiry (d=.51). Additionally, items related to greater
understanding of others (d=.36), and collaboration (d=.33) also showed improvements. CONCLUSION: An
extended induction in a fullyintegrated problembased learning curriculum can assist firstyear students
transition into a PBL curriculum thereby improving programmelevel evaluations of the firstyear experience

The context
-may include historical, cultural, political, social or
organisational information about the context of the
research
-may include a theoretical starting point
-may include personal motivation
-may include policy

Example of context

(adapted from
http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ict/literacy-teaching-andlearning-in-e-learning-contexts/chapter-1-background-to-the-research)
This report presents the findings of a research project on literacy teaching and
learning in e-Learning contexts carried out by CORE Education and the New
Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) for the Ministry of Education
in 2009.
The research project had two parts. One involved supporting the ten4recipients
of the 2009 e-fellowships5to design and implement classroom-based inquiries
into literacy teaching and learning. The e-fellows presented their findings as eportfolios and these can be found at: http://efellows2009.wikispaces.com. They
also presented their findings at the ULearn 2009 conference.
The other aspect of the project involved a meta-analysis using data collected
from across the e-fellows classrooms, to see how e-Learning contexts can be
used effectively to support literacy teaching and learning. The findings of this
analysis are presented here.

Research focus
Refer to previous slides/ your own

Action plan
Should consist of the steps and methods to your
activity/intervention.
Should have anticipated teacher and student action.
Rationale for your action.

Example of Action plan (adapted

from Goh, L.H. ,2012)
Date/time

Activity step

Anticipated
Rationale for
teacher and
steps based
student action on research
focus

Additional
comments/not
es

11th June 2009

-Teacher
would.
-Student
would

-Response.
- Reflection

Anything out of
the ordinary?

Action research: data analysis

Qualitative data
Content analysis
Categorising the data
Coding the data
Arranging the data into analysis grids
Identifying the issues/themes/assertions
Further research activities

Example of data analysis

(interview/journal)
Themes/assertions/ items

Evidence

Shows motivation

..I feel that I want to learn more (R1Q1)

Shows dissatisfaction

. Theres just way too much work!! (R5Q2)

Shows success

I cant believe that they are finally getting it!!

(T1Q5)

Example of data analysis (task )

Example
Question two of section A touched on how Google documents helped students learn
from others. Whereas question three of section A explicates how Google documents
has made the course better organized. The mean of both Question two and three
were 4.05 and 4.25 respectively. Thus, indicating that the respondents agreed that
Google documents has helped with the organization of the course.

This is supported by the open ended statements on the questionnaire. Amongst

these attributes, the attribute most frequently mentioned was the convenience that
Google documents and Schoology provided. Statements with regards to
convenience were stated eleven times citing the use of both Google documents and
Schoology to organize their work. Examples of these statements are stated below:
can share or get the information from others. (S8 QA-3)
Because I can access the website anytime and anywhere. (S12 QA-3)
can get myself updated and get the information needed (S3 QA-3)

Action research:data analysis

Quantitative data
Descriptive analysis: Frequency, percentage, mean,
mod, median, standard deviation, correlation coefficient

Interpreting the action research

data
Integrating various sources of data
Connecting the data with literature review
Summarising the results and drawing conclusions
Some may link this to data analysis. It is similar.

Example of data
analysis/interpretation(Write up)

The attribution to motivation could be linked to test 1 that the respondents had to complete. In the first test almost all of the
respondents scores reduced, especially in terms of their argumentative skills where 50% of the respondents had seen a drop in
their results (refer to appendix D). This issue was queried during the interview, the respondents mentioned that test 1s question
was difficult to understand, as such they had difficulty writing. Furthermore, the respondents also mentioned their lack of
knowledge on that particular subject that has contributed to them not being able to answer the question in test 1. Thus, this may
have caused the respondents to be demotivated and perhaps, led the respondents to not place much effort in completing the
subsequent tasks after test 1.
On the other hand, this could also be attributed to the feedback that the respondents received. It is possible that 25% of the
respondents had queries of the quality of their task and despite the feedback were not willing to inquire the researcher on how to
overcome the deficiencies in their academic writing. In addition, this could also be attributed to the lack of face to face feedback
from the researcher. This is because some of them perceived face-to-face feedback to be more effective as compared to those
given on Schoology or Google documents.
However, the respondents improvement can be attributed to the collaboration with their peers in completing the writing tasks.
Through collaboration the respondents were able to scaffold their knowledge which contributed to their overall improvement. This
is as such related to Vygotskys socio-constructivist theory where the respondents scaffolded each others learning.
This is also in line with Chu and Kennedys (2011) study where collaborative writing via Google documents has spurred
improvement. The respondents improvement are also significant as seen in the effect size score calculation above. This is also in
line with past studies conducted by Warschauer & Liaw (2010) who mentioned of the use of Google documents to improve the
writing abilities of the respondents. In addition, this is also concurred by the studies conducted by Kieser and Golden (2009) who
stated the benefits of Google documents in engaging the respondents to write more and better. The factors that led to the
respondents improvement can also be further confirmed via interviews and questionnaire that were conducted. This will be
further elaborated in the following section.