Qualitative and Action Research


Book Description




Action Research Essentials


Book Description

Action Research Essentials is a practical guide born of the author's own experience working with students in the social sciences and education, providing a step-by-step outline of how to "do" action research--backed by the most extensive theory and research coverage on the market today. The author guides future researcher/practitioners through the action research process via numerous concrete illustrations and a wealth of on-line resources; positioning it as a fundamental component of practice, A key and unique strength of the book is its outreach to a much larger breadth of students than usually found in action research books. This book will illustrate all the steps in action research using examples from education, social work, psychology, sociology, nursing, medicine, and counseling. The structure of the book is intended as the sole textbook for a course devoted to naturalistic inquiry, practitioner research, or beginning qualitative methods, or can complement a general research course.




Qualitative Research


Book Description

The bestselling guide to qualitative research, updated and expanded Qualitative Research is the essential guide to understanding, designing, conducting, and presenting a qualitative research study. This fourth edition features new material covering mixed methods, action research, arts-based research, online data sources, and the latest in data analysis, including data analysis software packages as well as narrative and poetic analysis strategies. A new section offers multiple ways of presenting qualitative research findings. The reader-friendly, jargon-free style makes this book accessible to both novice and experienced researchers, emphasizing the role of a theoretical framework in designing a study while providing practical guidance. Qualitative research reaches beyond the what, where, and when of quantitative analysis to investigate the why and how behind human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior, but this presents a number of significant challenges. This guide is an invaluable reference for students and practitioners alike, providing the deep understanding that this sometimes difficult area of research requires to produce accurate results. The book contains a step-by-step guide to analyzing qualitative data and an addendum for graduate students with a template for a thesis, dissertation, or grant application. Build a strong foundation in qualitative research theory and application Design and implement effective qualitative research studies Communicate findings more successfully with clear presentation Explore data sources, data analysis tools, and the different types of research







Action Research


Book Description

Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators, Seventh Edition serves as a comprehensive guide on action research for both beginning and experienced educators. Instead of focusing on theoretical aspects of research, the book provides detailed yet practical information guiding readers step-by-step through the iterative process of action research in a classroom or school-based context. The text adopts a highly sequential manner, beginning with topic conceptualization, reviewing related research, designing the study, executing the investigation, developing an action plan, and ultimately disseminating and reflecting on the results. A distinguishing feature of this book is the integration of numerous relatable examples, hands-on exercises, case studies, and explorations of published action research entries to ensure material comprehension. Each chapter of this Seventh Edition has been updated with a new Action Research Case Study, featuring the move to virtual instruction for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Throughout, the author has added more on alternative strategies for disseminating research and expanded discussion of research topics, problems, questions, data, and analysis. Additionally, the entire book has also been updated for the Seventh Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association to be current with the latest best practices in research. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school′s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don′t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Select the Resources tab on this page to learn more.




Qualitative Research in Practice


Book Description

A practical introduction to qualitative research across fields and disciplines Qualitative Research in Practice offers a hands-on introduction to qualitative research design, methods, data, and analysis. Designed as a companion text for any course involving qualitative research, this book explores the different types of qualitative studies with relevant examples and analysis by the researchers themselves. The workbook format makes it easy to use in the classroom or the field, and the depth of information makes it a valuable resource for students of social work, psychology, counseling, management, education, health care, or any field in which qualitative research is conducted. While quantitative research is primarily concerned with numerical data, qualitative research methods are more flexible, responsive, and open to contextual information. To a qualitative researcher, a situation is defined by the participants’ perspectives, making it the primary method of inquiry for understanding social phenomena through the lens of experience. This book introduces the essentials of qualitative research, bolstered by expert analysis and discussion that provides deeper insight than a traditional textbook format would allow. Understand the fundamental nature of qualitative research Learn how to accurately assess and evaluate qualitative research Explore qualitative research’s many forms and applications Gain insight on qualitative research in a variety of fields and disciplines How does one codify an experience? Is it possible to measure emotion in units? Qualitative research fills the void where numbers cannot reach. It is the best tool we have for studying the unquantifiable aspects of the human experience, and it is an essential tool in a wide variety of fields. Qualitative Research in Practice provides translatable skills in a practical format to quicken your transition from “learning” to “using.”




Action Research in Education


Book Description

Introduction to action research -- Choosing and learning about your research topic -- Approaches to action research -- Developing a plan of action -- Data collection tools -- Using assessment data in action research -- Data analysis and interpretation -- Writing, implementing, and sharing the research findings.




Contemporary Perspectives Through Action Research Across Educational Disciplines


Book Description

The mission of the Action Research Across Educational Disciplines series is to present targeted volumes of action research findings from a wide variety of educational settings. Specifically, this series aims to highlight the issues that commonly impact practitioners, counselors, administrators, and other stakeholders in education. The rationale for such a series comes from the continually evolving educational landscape, resulting from changing student demographics and societal needs. To face the contemporary issues that surface as a result of this changing educational landscape, educators must prepare for and lead through the change with an intent on overcoming these issues through improvements to their daily practice. As many educators are left without tools or resources to make a stronger impact in their educational contexts, this series will serve as a mentor text that provides examples of studies undertaken by practitioners using action research to improve their practice. As a result, Action Research Across Educational Disciplines will present the tools and findings associated with action research to educators across the broad field of K-12 education, and beyond, wishing to improve and transform their practice. This first volume of the Action Research Across Educational Disciplines series presents action research findings from a wide variety of K-12 disciplinary settings. In doing so, the first volume of this series aims to highlight the issues that commonly impact practitioners in K-12 STEM, English, Social Science, and even Art classrooms, and illustrate the solutions proposed in these contexts to improve both educator practice and student achievement. Through the use of action research methodologies to address such issues, volume one of this series offers a resource for improving educational practice across diverse K-12 contexts.




Action Research


Book Description

This book presents a fresh view of action research as a methodology uniquely suited to researching the processes of innovation and change. Drawing on twenty-five years’ experience of leading or facilitating action research projects, Bridget Somekh argues that action research can be a powerful systematic intervention, which goes beyond describing, analyzing and theorizing practices to reconstruct and transform those practices. The book examines action research into change in a range of educational settings, such as schools and classrooms, university departments, and a national evaluation of technology in schools. The opening chapter presents eight methodological principles and discusses key methodological issues. The focus then turns to action research in broader contexts such as ‘southern’ countries, health, business and management, and community development. Each chapter thereafter takes a specific research project as its starting point and critically reviews its design, relationships, knowledge outcomes, political engagement and impact. Action Research is important reading for postgraduate students and practitioner researchers in education, health and management, as well as those in government agencies and charities who wish to research and evaluate change and development initiatives. It is also valuable for pre-service and in-service training of professionals such as teachers, nurses and managers.




Becoming a Teacher through Action Research


Book Description

Becoming a Teacher through Action Research, Third Edition skillfully interweaves the stories of pre-service teaching with the process of action research. This engaging text focuses specifically on the needs of pre-service teachers by providing assistance for all stages of the research experience, including guidance on how to select an area of focus, design a culturally-proficient study, collect and interpret data, and communicate findings. With an updated introduction and two new chapters, this revised edition fully develops a convincing response to the framing question of the book, "Why pre-service teacher action research?" The new edition continues to focus on elements of trustworthy pre-service teacher action research, and provides a more robust overview of research methodology. Using additional activities, charts, and examples, this book offers support during the steps of writing a critical question, data collection, data analysis and the use of analytic memos. New Features in the Third Edition include: New chapters on ongoing data analysis and final data interpretation, which include practice scenarios and examples to give readers a deeper understanding of doing the work of action research processes; An expanded chapter on action research methodology, which includes scaffolds for making methodological decisions, additional practice scenarios, and a revised action research design template; New end-of-chapter Content and Process Questions to encourage deeper understanding; New examples throughout, expanded additional glossary terms, enhanced literature review guidance, and updated templates to support action research projects; An updated companion website with downloadable templates and additional instructor resources; A revised interior text design to increase the accessibility of the text. This one-of-a-kind guide continues to offer invaluable support for teacher-education students during a critical phase of their professional—and personal—lives.