A Practical Guide to Action Research for Literacy Educators

Identify a Problem
Example:
CONTROLLING OUTCOMES
Is my question do-able? Focused? Can I control the outcome?
1. Research question: “Why aren’t parents interested in their children’s education?”
2. What’s the real problem? Why would we want parents interested in their children’s education?
3. Problem: Students do not read independently outside of school.
4. a) Plan: Can I solve the problem the way the question is stated? Do I have the control to make it
happen? NO.
3. b) Design a plan to answer the real problem: Assign a more advanced student to help a struggling
reading student after school.
5. Restate the research question: “If I assign a more advanced student to read with a struggling
student who needs more practice in reading, will the struggling student improve his or her
reading ability?”
(Hollingsworth, 2001-2005)
CONTROLLING TIME
Is my question do-able in a reasonable period of time?
1. What is your research question?
2. What problem about students’ learning does this question intend to solve?
3. Can you solve the problem the way you’ve stated the question? What would your action plan be?
What control do you have to make the plan happen?
4. If NO, what’s another way to take action and solve the problem that you CAN control?
5. Restate it as a research question, for example:
“If I …… (take this action)………., then will students (demonstrate improvement on the
problem)?”
(Hollingsworth, 2001-2005)
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