What Action Research Actually Is
What Action Research Actually Is
One-line definition
A teacher studies a real problem in her own classroom, tries a change, gathers evidence, and reflects on the result.
Key idea
Research in action, not research about action. The teacher is the researcher. The classroom is the site.
Two names to remember
Donald Schon (the reflective practitioner). Kemmis and McTaggart (the plan, act, observe, reflect cycle).
What Action Research Actually Is
Action research is the practice of investigating your own classroom in a systematic way. A teacher notices a problem. Students do not participate in discussion. Vocabulary scores keep dropping. A topic confuses every cohort. The teacher tries something to fix it, gathers evidence about whether it worked, and reflects on what to do next.
It is research in action, not research about action. The teacher is the researcher. The classroom is the place where the study happens. The aim is improvement, not a paper for a journal (although a paper can come out of it later).
The American scholar Donald Schon called this the reflective practitioner: a person who studies their own work while doing it. Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart in Australia gave the world the cycle that teachers still use today, which you will see in Chapter 6: plan, act, observe, reflect.
This is also why the four-part structure matters. Without all four, the work slides back into ordinary teaching.
The four parts also work as a checklist for any cycle you plan.
