Action Research in Urban Schools: Empowerment, Transformation, and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Razfar, Aria

2011-01-01

This article examines the experiences of a cohort of seven urban educators who conducted action research over a two-year period. Of the seven participants, six were teacher-researchers ("TRs") and one was a bilingual coordinator. The author provides an analysis of focus group discussions conducted after the completion of the action research…

Reducing diabetes health disparities through community-based participatory action research: the Chicago Southeast Diabetes Community Action Coalition.

PubMed Central

Giachello, Aida L.; Arrom, Jose O.; Davis, Margaret; Sayad, Judith V.; Ramirez, Dinah; Nandi, Chandana; Ramos, Catalina

2003-01-01

To address disproportionately high rates of diabetes morbidity and mortality in some of Chicago's medically underserved minority neighborhoods, a group of community residents, medical and social service providers, and a local university founded the Chicago Southeast Diabetes Community Action Coalition, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention REACH 2010 Initiative. A community-based participatory action research model guided coalition activities from conceptualization through implementation. Capacity building activities included training on: diabetes, coalition building, research methods, and action planning. Other activities sought to increase coalition members' understanding of the social causes and potential solutions for health disparities related to diabetes. Trained coalition members conducted epidemiologic analyses, focus groups, a telephone survey, and a community inventory. All coalition members participated in decisions. The participatory process led to increased awareness of the complexities of diabetes in the community and to a state of readiness for social action. Data documented disparities in diabetes. The participatory action research approach (a) encouraged key stakeholders outside of the health care sector to participate (e.g., business sector, church groups); (b) permitted an examination of the sociopolitical context affecting the health of the community; (c) provided an opportunity to focus on preventing the onset of diabetes and its complications; (d) increased understanding of the importance of community research in catalyzing social action aimed at community and systems change and change among change agents. PMID:12815078

An action research study of secondary science assessment praxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryan, Thomas Gerald

This practical participatory action research study illuminates the assessment praxes of four Ontario secondary level science teachers at one school using a facilitative approach. Participants were joined by a thematic concern, that is, a commitment to inform and improve assessment. Hence, two distinct sets of research questions emerged. The first involves the nature of assessment as we asked, what was the current state of assessment practice in secondary science? What were participants' initial understandings of assessment and actual practices at the onset of this research? To what extent did these initial understandings and actual practices change due to the illumination of assessment praxes through action research involvement? What was their level of awareness of current Ontario government pronouncements and in what ways did they implement this knowledge? The second theme, concerning the nature of action research, was realised by asking what did participants learn about action research? What other learning and professional gains were realised during this study? And, what did I learn about action research and assessment through my involvement in this study? Data were collected via supportive discussion groups, individual interviews, classroom visitations, journals and documentation. This professional development experience facilitated 'interactive professionalism' as teachers worked in a small group and interacted frequently in the course of planning, testing new ideas, attempting to solve different problems, and assess the effectiveness of those ideas. In addition, this action research effort was strategic and systematic, to attain a high degree of specific interactions, (personal interviews, group meetings, classroom observations, evidence collection). This series of deliberate and planned intentions helped participants solve assessment dilemmas. We developed an awareness and understanding of the need for more preservice and inservice assessment training

Planning as Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Gonzalez, Carmen Beatriz; Hernandez, Teresa; Kusch, Jim; Ryan, Charly

2004-01-01

Planning contains so much more than the written plan. Early in 2000, an invitation came from the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), to people experienced in action research who might want to help plan and present an action research event for elementary school science teachers in Venezuela, South America, in Autumn 2000. This article…

Nursing Students' Perceptions of Participatory Action Research.

PubMed

Csiernik, Rick; O'Regan, Tony; Forchuk, Cheryl; Rudnick, Abraham

2018-05-01

This article evaluates the experience of students engaged in a participatory action research project. Nursing students were assigned to research activities addressing poverty and social inclusion in the lives of individuals with mental health issues. Focus group interviews were held with 25 students, representing 58.1% of eligible students. Themes and subthemes were categorized from the transcripts, with two overarching themes emerging: (a) aspects that worked well, and (b) aspects that could be improved. The range of activities students engaged in while assigned to the project and students' perceptions, both positive and negative, about their overall exposure to participatory action research are identified and discussed. Findings in the literature with regard to perceived benefits and limitations of participatory action research projects involving students are supported by those found in this study. Based on the findings of this study, curriculum development for an interdisciplinary graduate-level course is in process. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(5):282-286.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

An Inquiry into Action Research: Teaching and Doing Action Research for the First-Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palak, Deniz

2013-01-01

I undertook this inquiry into action research while teaching research methods within a graduate degree teacher education program. This inquiry represents my initial encounter with action research and describes the tools, challenges, and uncertainties that I encountered while teaching and doing action research for the first-time. The main purpose…

Group augmentation, collective action, and territorial boundary patrols by male chimpanzees

PubMed Central

Langergraber, Kevin E.; Watts, David P.; Mitani, John C.

2017-01-01

How can collective action evolve when individuals benefit from cooperation regardless of whether they pay its participation costs? According to one influential perspective, collective action problems are common, especially when groups are large, but may be solved when individuals who have more to gain from the collective good or can produce it at low costs provide it to others as a byproduct. Several results from a 20-y study of one of the most striking examples of collective action in nonhuman animals, territorial boundary patrolling by male chimpanzees, are consistent with these ideas. Individuals were more likely to patrol when (i) they had more to gain because they had many offspring in the group; (ii) they incurred relatively low costs because of their high dominance rank and superior physical condition; and (iii) the group size was relatively small. However, several other findings were better explained by group augmentation theory, which proposes that individuals should bear the short-term costs of collective action even when they have little to gain immediately if such action leads to increases in group size and long-term increases in reproductive success. In support of this theory, (i) individual patrolling effort was higher and less variable than participation in intergroup aggression in other primate species; (ii) males often patrolled when they had no offspring or maternal relatives in the group; and (iii) the aggregate patrolling effort of the group did not decrease with group size. We propose that group augmentation theory deserves more consideration in research on collective action. PMID:28630310

Action Research: Trends and Variations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaulieu, Rodney J.

2013-01-01

Action research continues to grow as a research tradition, yet misconceptions about what it is and is not remains, even among scholars. For example, some mistakenly believe action research is only about professional development and is not a scholarly research approach. Some assume action research must be accomplished through a collaborative…

Facts for a Change: Citizen Action Research for Better Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burges, Bill

In an action research project, local citizens and community groups (often in collaboration with school professionals) investigate community-defined issues. Action research is geared to help people think clearly about an issue and find the resources they need to face it. In such a project, citizens develop skills in organizing, finding resources,…

Collective action problem in heterogeneous groups

PubMed Central

Gavrilets, Sergey

2015-01-01

I review the theoretical and experimental literature on the collective action problem in groups whose members differ in various characteristics affecting individual costs, benefits and preferences in collective actions. I focus on evolutionary models that predict how individual efforts and fitnesses, group efforts and the amount of produced collective goods depend on the group's size and heterogeneity, as well as on the benefit and cost functions and parameters. I consider collective actions that aim to overcome the challenges from nature or win competition with neighbouring groups of co-specifics. I show that the largest contributors towards production of collective goods will typically be group members with the highest stake in it or for whom the effort is least costly, or those who have the largest capability or initial endowment. Under some conditions, such group members end up with smaller net pay-offs than the rest of the group. That is, they effectively behave as altruists. With weak nonlinearity in benefit and cost functions, the group effort typically decreases with group size and increases with within-group heterogeneity. With strong nonlinearity in benefit and cost functions, these patterns are reversed. I discuss the implications of theoretical results for animal behaviour, human origins and psychology. PMID:26503689

Authenticity, Aims and Authority: Navigating Youth Participatory Action Research in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rubin, Beth C.; Ayala, Jennifer; Zaal, Mayida

2017-01-01

Motivated by the addition of a curriculum standard for active citizenship into New Jersey's social studies standards a group of educators and researchers set out to integrate an action research curriculum, based on a youth participatory action research (YPAR) model, into social studies classrooms. Adapting YPAR, with its promising blend of…

Practicing What We Teach: Using Action Research to Learn about Teaching Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Barb; Dressler, Roswita; Eaton, Sarah Elaine; Jacobsen, Michele

2015-01-01

In this article, action research is explored as a process for instructor reflection, professional learning and collaboration. The context for the professional learning was the teaching of graduate level education courses in which action research, in conjunction with a cohort-based, collaboratory approach to learning, was used to facilitate…

Using Participatory Action Research to Address Absenteeism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrell, Elizabeth W.; Nance, Cara N.; Torres, Amanda L.; Torres, Selina M.

2014-01-01

Many urban high schools serving low-income families have below-average attendance rates, which can indicate that fewer students are prepared to matriculate into college and career opportunities. Through the use of participatory action research (PAR), we--a group of four educators at Wilson High School--have changed school policies and procedures…

Action Research Methods: Plain and Simple

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Sheri R., Ed.

2012-01-01

Among the plethora of action research books on the market, there is no one text exclusively devoted to understanding how to acquire and interpret research data. Action Research Methods provides a balanced overview of the quantitative and qualitative methodologies and methods for conducting action research within a variety of educational…

Participatory Action Research (PAR) cum Action Research (AR) in Teacher Professional Development: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morales, Marie Paz E.

2016-01-01

This paper reviews Participatory Action Research as an approach to teacher professional development. It maps the origins of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and discusses the benefits and challenges that have been identified by other researchers in utilizing PAR approaches in conducting research. It draws ideas of combining the features of…

Use of Action Research in Nursing Education

PubMed Central

Pehler, Shelley-Rae; Stombaugh, Angela

2016-01-01

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to describe action research in nursing education and to propose a definition of action research for providing guidelines for research proposals and criteria for assessing potential publications for nursing higher education. Methods. The first part of this project involved a search of the literature on action research in nursing higher education from 1994 to 2013. Searches were conducted in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Applying the criteria identified, 80 publications were reviewed. The second part of the project involved a literature review of action research methodology from several disciplines to assist in assessing articles in this review. Results. This article summarizes the nursing higher education literature reviewed and provides processes and content related to four topic areas in nursing higher education. The descriptions assist researchers in learning more about the complexity of both the action research process and the varied outcomes. The literature review of action research in many disciplines along with the review of action research in higher education provided a framework for developing a nursing-education-centric definition of action research. Conclusions. Although guidelines for developing action research and criteria for publication are suggested, continued development of methods for synthesizing action research is recommended. PMID:28078138

Realising dignity in care home practice: an action research project.

PubMed

Gallagher, Ann; Curtis, Katherine; Dunn, Michael; Baillie, Lesley

2017-06-01

More than 400,000 older people reside in over 18,000 care homes in England. A recent social care survey found up to 50% of older people in care homes felt their dignity was undermined. Upholding the dignity of older people in care homes has implications for residents' experiences and the role of Registered Nurses. The study aimed to explore how best to translate the concept of dignity into care home practice, and how to support this translation process by enabling Registered Nurses to provide ethical leadership within the care home setting. Action research with groups of staff (Registered Nurses and non-registered caregivers) and groups of residents and relatives in four care homes in the south of England to contribute to the development of the dignity toolkit. Action research groups were facilitated by 4 researchers (2 in each care home) to discuss dignity principles and experiences within care homes. These groups reviewed and developed a dignity toolkit over six cycles of activity (once a month for 6 months). The Registered Nurses were individually interviewed before and after the activity. Hard copy and online versions of a dignity toolkit, with tailored versions for participating care homes, were developed. Registered Nurses and caregivers identified positive impact of making time for discussion about dignity-related issues. Registered Nurses identified ongoing opportunities for using their toolkit to support all staff. Nurses and caregivers expressed feelings of empowerment by the process of action research. The collaborative development of a dignity toolkit within each care home has the potential to enable ethical leadership by Registered Nurses that would support and sustain dignity in care homes. Action research methods empower staff to maintain dignity for older people within the care home setting through the development of practically useful toolkits to support everyday care practice. Providing opportunities for caregivers to be involved in such

Sharing Control: Developing Research Literacy through Community-Based Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juergensmeyer, Erik

2011-01-01

This article suggests that the methodology of community-based action research provides concrete strategies for fostering effective community problem solving. To argue for a community research pedagogy, the author draws upon past and present scholarship in action research and participatory action research, experiences teaching an undergraduate…

Post-Colonial Theory and Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parsons, Jim B.; Harding, Kelly J.

2011-01-01

This essay explores connections between post-colonial theory and action research. Post-colonial theory is committed to addressing the plague of colonialism. Action research, at its core, promises to problematize uncontested "colonial" hegemonies of any form. Both post-colonial theory and action research engage dialogic, critically reflective and…

Action Research, Stories and Practical Philosophy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotton, Tony; Griffiths, Morwenna

2007-01-01

This collaborative piece written by a philosopher/action researcher and an action researcher/philosopher explores the use of practical philosophy as a tool in action research. The paper explores the connection to be made between what we refer to, roughly, as "theory" and "practice" (while never losing hold of either). The…

Communicative Elements of Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Thomas G.

2013-01-01

This review considers human communications as utilized within a research design; in this case collaborative action research (CAR), a derivative of action research (AR), to achieve outcomes that change, and move participants forward. The association between AR and CAR is a deliberate attempt by the author to draw attention to communicative actions…

The Collaborative Action Research Network: 30 Years of Agency in Developing Educational Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somekh, Bridget

2010-01-01

This article provides an analysis of the Collaborative Action Research Network's (CARN) origins and development since its foundation in 1976. The author brings the unique perspective of active involvement in CARN almost from its inception, and editorship for many years of its journal "Educational Action Research". Cultural-historical…

The Potential of Deweyan-Inspired Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stark, Jody L.

2014-01-01

In its broadest sense, pragmatism could be said to be the philosophical orientation of all action research. Action research is characterized by research, action, and participation grounded in democratic principles and guided by the aim of social improvement. Furthermore, action research is an active process of inquiry that does not admit…

Participatory Action Research and Its Meanings: Vivencia, Praxis, Conscientization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glassman, Michael; Erdem, Gizem

2014-01-01

This article traces the development of the "second" and arguably more well-known "genre" of participatory action research (PAR). The article argues that the origins of PAR are highly distributed and cannot really be traced back to the ideas of a single person or even a single group of researchers. Instead, the development of…

Action-Oriented Research: Models and Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Small, Stephen A.

1995-01-01

Four models of action-oriented research, a research approach that can inform policy and practice, are described: action, participatory, empowerment, and feminism research. Discusses historical roots, epistemological assumptions, agendas, and methodological strategies of each, and presents implications for family researchers. (JPS)

Action Research for Developing Social Workers' Research Capacity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lunt, Neil; Fouche, Christa

2009-01-01

We reflect on the action research process implemented in assisting the development of a culture of practitioner inquiry amongst social workers in social services agencies, and highlight the overall outcomes of the intervention. The paper outlines the rationale and process for undertaking an action research process with social services…

Student-to-Student Legacies in Exploratory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Katherine

2017-01-01

In 2013/2014, I conducted two consecutive cycles of exploratory action research aimed at improving the quality of my French engineering students' oral presentations in English. Each cycle involved a different group of students. I collaborated with the students extensively throughout the project and found that the experience was highly beneficial…

Building Bridges for Innovation in Ageing: Synergies between Action Groups of the EIP on AHA.

PubMed

Bousquet, J; Bewick, M; Cano, A; Eklund, P; Fico, G; Goswami, N; Guldemond, N A; Henderson, D; Hinkema, M J; Liotta, G; Mair, A; Molloy, W; Monaco, A; Monsonis-Paya, I; Nizinska, A; Papadopoulos, H; Pavlickova, A; Pecorelli, S; Prados-Torres, A; Roller-Wirnsberger, R E; Somekh, D; Vera-Muñoz, C; Visser, F; Farrell, J; Malva, J; Andersen Ranberg, K; Camuzat, T; Carriazo, A M; Crooks, G; Gutter, Z; Iaccarino, G; Manuel de Keenoy, E; Moda, G; Rodriguez-Mañas, L; Vontetsianos, T; Abreu, C; Alonso, J; Alonso-Bouzon, C; Ankri, J; Arredondo, M T; Avolio, F; Bedbrook, A; Białoszewski, A Z; Blain, H; Bourret, R; Cabrera-Umpierrez, M F; Catala, A; O'Caoimh, R; Cesari, M; Chavannes, N H; Correia-da-Sousa, J; Dedeu, T; Ferrando, M; Ferri, M; Fokkens, W J; Garcia-Lizana, F; Guérin, O; Hellings, P W; Haahtela, T; Illario, M; Inzerilli, M C; Lodrup Carlsen, K C; Kardas, P; Keil, T; Maggio, M; Mendez-Zorrilla, A; Menditto, E; Mercier, J; Michel, J P; Murray, R; Nogues, M; O'Byrne-Maguire, I; Pappa, D; Parent, A S; Pastorino, M; Robalo-Cordeiro, C; Samolinski, B; Siciliano, P; Teixeira, A M; Tsartara, S I; Valiulis, A; Vandenplas, O; Vasankari, T; Vellas, B; Vollenbroek-Hutten, M; Wickman, M; Yorgancioglu, A; Zuberbier, T; Barbagallo, M; Canonica, G W; Klimek, L; Maggi, S; Aberer, W; Akdis, C; Adcock, I M; Agache, I; Albera, C; Alonso-Trujillo, F; Angel Guarcia, M; Annesi-Maesano, I; Apostolo, J; Arshad, S H; Attalin, V; Avignon, A; Bachert, C; Baroni, I; Bel, E; Benson, M; Bescos, C; Blasi, F; Barbara, C; Bergmann, K C; Bernard, P L; Bonini, S; Bousquet, P J; Branchini, B; Brightling, C E; Bruguière, V; Bunu, C; Bush, A; Caimmi, D P; Calderon, M A; Canovas, G; Cardona, V; Carlsen, K H; Cesario, A; Chkhartishvili, E; Chiron, R; Chivato, T; Chung, K F; d'Angelantonio, M; De Carlo, G; Cholley, D; Chorin, F; Combe, B; Compas, B; Costa, D J; Costa, E; Coste, O; Coupet, A-L; Crepaldi, G; Custovic, A; Dahl, R; Dahlen, S E; Demoly, P; Devillier, P; Didier, A; Dinh-Xuan, A T; Djukanovic, R; Dokic, D; Du Toit, G; Dubakiene, R; Dupeyron, A; Emuzyte, R; Fiocchi, A; Wagner, A; Fletcher, M; Fonseca, J; Fougère, B; Gamkrelidze, A; Garces, G; Garcia-Aymeric, J; Garcia-Zapirain, B; Gemicioğlu, B; Gouder, C; Hellquist-Dahl, B; Hermosilla-Gimeno, I; Héve, D; Holland, C; Humbert, M; Hyland, M; Johnston, S L; Just, J; Jutel, M; Kaidashev, I P; Khaitov, M; Kalayci, O; Kalyoncu, A F; Keijser, W; Kerstjens, H; Knezović, J; Kowalski, M; Koppelman, G H; Kotska, T; Kovac, M; Kull, I; Kuna, P; Kvedariene, V; Lepore, V; MacNee, W; Maggio, M; Magnan, A; Majer, I; Manning, P; Marcucci, M; Marti, T; Masoli, M; Melen, E; Miculinic, N; Mihaltan, F; Milenkovic, B; Millot-Keurinck, J; Mlinarić, H; Momas, I; Montefort, S; Morais-Almeida, M; Moreno-Casbas, T; Mösges, R; Mullol, J; Nadif, R; Nalin, M; Navarro-Pardo, E; Nekam, K; Ninot, G; Paccard, D; Pais, S; Palummeri, E; Panzner, P; Papadopoulos, N K; Papanikolaou, C; Passalacqua, G; Pastor, E; Perrot, M; Plavec, D; Popov, T A; Postma, D S; Price, D; Raffort, N; Reuzeau, J C; Robine, J M; Rodenas, F; Robusto, F; Roche, N; Romano, A; Romano, V; Rosado-Pinto, J; Roubille, F; Ruiz, F; Ryan, D; Salcedo, T; Schmid-Grendelmeier, P; Schulz, H; Schunemann, H J; Serrano, E; Sheikh, A; Shields, M; Siafakas, N; Scichilone, N; Siciliano, P; Skrindo, I; Smit, H A; Sourdet, S; Sousa-Costa, E; Spranger, O; Sooronbaev, T; Sruk, V; Sterk, P J; Todo-Bom, A; Touchon, J; Tramontano, D; Triggiani, M; Tsartara, S I; Valero, A L; Valovirta, E; van Ganse, E; van Hage, M; van den Berge, M; Vandenplas, O; Ventura, M T; Vergara, I; Vezzani, G; Vidal, D; Viegi, G; Wagemann, M; Whalley, B; Wickman, M; Wilson, N; Yiallouros, P K; Žagar, M; Zaidi, A; Zidarn, M; Hoogerwerf, E J; Usero, J; Zuffada, R; Senn, A; de Oliveira-Alves, B

2017-01-01

The Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) proposed six Action Groups. After almost three years of activity, many achievements have been obtained through commitments or collaborative work of the Action Groups. However, they have often worked in silos and, consequently, synergies between Action Groups have been proposed to strengthen the triple win of the EIP on AHA. The paper presents the methodology and current status of the Task Force on EIP on AHA synergies. Synergies are in line with the Action Groups' new Renovated Action Plan (2016-2018) to ensure that their future objectives are coherent and fully connected. The outcomes and impact of synergies are using the Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the EIP on AHA (MAFEIP). Eight proposals for synergies have been approved by the Task Force: Five cross-cutting synergies which can be used for all current and future synergies as they consider overarching domains (appropriate polypharmacy, citizen empowerment, teaching and coaching on AHA, deployment of synergies to EU regions, Responsible Research and Innovation), and three cross-cutting synergies focussing on current Action Group activities (falls, frailty, integrated care and chronic respiratory diseases).

Action Research: Theory and Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jefferson, Renée N.

2014-01-01

Action research as a methodology is suitable for use within academic library settings. Its theoretical foundations are located in several disciplines and its applications span across many professions. In this article, an overview of the theoretical beginnings and evolution of action research is presented. Approaches generally used in conducting an…

Action Research Empowers School Librarians

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robins, Jennifer

2015-01-01

Successful school library programs occur through careful planning and reflection. This reflective process is improved when it is applied in a systematic way through action research. The action research described in this paper enabled school librarians to reflect based on evidence, using data they had collected. This study presents examples of the…

Taking Action with Teacher Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyers, Ellen; Rust, Frances O'Connell

This collection of papers presents examples of teacher research in action. Each study grew out of teachers' questions regarding the implementation of some aspect of education policy in their schools and classrooms. After "Introduction" (Frances O'Connell Rust and Ellen Meyers), the eight papers focus on: (1) "How We Do Action Research" (Frances…

Action Research in Schools: The Practitioners' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Liyan; Kenton, Jeffrey M.

2010-01-01

This paper presents a study on the effectiveness of an action research model from the perspectives of school educators as action researchers. The study design followed seven action researchers--inservice teachers and school library media specialists--as they completed research projects in their schools. Data came from three different sources:…

Self-Regulation of a Chiropractic Association through Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheppard, Lorraine A.; Jorgensen, Anna Maria S.; Crowe, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Participatory action research (PAR) can be used in the health professions to redefine their roles. This study investigated a small health professional group, the members of The Chiropractic Association Singapore (TCAS), by using a PAR method; researchers and participants gained insights into the self-regulation of a health profession. A…

Responsible Action Research for the Pursuit of Justice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feldman, Allan; Bennett, Kory; Vernaza-Hernández, Vanessa

2015-01-01

The pursuit of justice has concerned human beings for centuries and, despite its importance, often remains outside the boundaries of our educational systems. This article reports on a study of an action research seminar for a group of teacher leaders in a position to instigate positive change within their educational context, and make their…

Action Research and Teacher Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smeets, Karel; Ponte, Petra

2009-01-01

The present article reports on a case study into the influence and impact of action research carried out by teachers in a special school. The action research was an important component of the two-year, post-initial, in-service course in special educational needs, provided by Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Department of Inclusive and…

Making Sense of Teacher Participants' Graphic Organizers in a Second Order Action Research: Reflection of the Voice of an Action Researcher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwa, Chuah Kim

2012-01-01

Being a facilitator of AR (action research) to a group of secondary school teachers in Kuching, Sarawak provided me the opportunity to engage in a second order inquiry using AR on the two years' AR learning workshops concerned. The teacher participants were asked to illustrate, using suitable GOs (graphic organizers), their understanding of what…

Philosophy, Methodology and Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carr, Wilfred

2006-01-01

The aim of this paper is to examine the role of methodology in action research. It begins by showing how, as a form of inquiry concerned with the development of practice, action research is nothing other than a modern 20th century manifestation of the pre-modern tradition of practical philosophy. It then draws in Gadamer's powerful vindication of…

Action Research and Organisational Learning: A Norwegian Approach to Doing Action Research in Complex Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eikeland, Olav

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article is to present a specific approach to the practice of action research "in complex organisations". Clearly, there are many approaches to the challenge of doing action research in organisations; approaches that are, and also must be, quite context dependent and specific. But my purpose is neither to give an…

Action Research: Its Origins and Early Application.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Stuart W.

This paper contains informal remarks on action research in social psychology from its post World War II origins to its current status. Kurt Lewin first described action research in the 1946 article, "Action Research and Minority Problems," as a three-step process of program planning, program execution, and follow-up evaluation. Ronald Lippitt and…

Action Research and Academic Writing: A Conversation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winter, Richard; Badley, Graham

2007-01-01

Here is a conversation between two former colleagues about action research and academic writing. Richard Winter opens the discussion with a series of reflections on his work as an action researcher. These reflections include the key argument that action research is a noble cause because it is relevant to working life, has a practical impact and…

When Does the Action Start and Finish? Making the Case for an Ethnographic Action Research in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bath, Caroline

2009-01-01

This paper explores how ethnographic and action research methodologies can be justifiably combined to create a new methodological approach in educational research. It draws on existing examples in both educational research and development studies that have discussed the use of ethnography and action research in specific projects. Interpretations…

Academics and Advocates: Using Participatory Action Research To Influence Welfare Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quoss, Bernita; Cooney, Margaret; Longhurst, Terri

2000-01-01

Participatory action research is a useful technique for helping low income groups access postsecondary education. Conducting research involving analysis of the use of surplus welfare funds and federal regulations and advocating policy changes by explaining the benefits of public investment in postsecondary education are two roles for consumer…

An Action-Research Program for Increasing Employee Involvement in Problem Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pasmore, William; Friedlander, Frank

1982-01-01

Describes the use of participative action research to solve problems of work-related employee injuries in a rural midwestern electronics plant by increasing employee involvement. The researchers established an employee problem-solving group that interviewed and surveyed workers, analyzed the results, and suggested new work arrangements. (Author/RW)

Notes toward a Philosophy of Action Learning Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coghlan, David; Coughlan, Paul

2010-01-01

The philosophical foundations of action learning research have not received a great deal of attention. In the context of action learning postgraduate and professional programmes in universities, articulation of a philosophy of action learning research seems timely and appropriate. This article explores a philosophy of action learning research,…

Exploring levers and barriers to accessing primary care for marginalised groups and identifying their priorities for primary care provision: a participatory learning and action research study.

PubMed

O'Donnell, Patrick; Tierney, Edel; O'Carroll, Austin; Nurse, Diane; MacFarlane, Anne

2016-12-03

The involvement of patients and the public in healthcare has grown significantly in recent decades and is documented in health policy documents internationally. Many benefits of involving these groups in primary care planning have been reported. However, these benefits are rarely felt by those considered marginalised in society and they are often excluded from participating in the process of planning primary care. It has been recommended to employ suitable approaches, such as co-operative and participatory initiatives, to enable marginalised groups to highlight their priorities for care. This Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) research study involved 21 members of various marginalised groups who contributed their views about access to primary care. Using a series of PLA techniques for data generation and co-analysis, we explored barriers and facilitators to primary healthcare access from the perspective of migrants, Irish Travellers, homeless people, drug users, sex workers and people living in deprivation, and identified their priorities for action with regard to primary care provision. Four overarching themes were identified: the home environment, the effects of the 'two-tier' healthcare system on engagement, healthcare encounters, and the complex health needs of many in those groups. The study demonstrates that there are many complicated personal and structural barriers to accessing primary healthcare for marginalised groups. There were shared and differential experiences across the groups. Participants also expressed shared priorities for action in the planning and running of primary care services. Members of marginalised groups have shared priorities for action to improve their access to primary care. If steps are taken to address these, there is scope to impact on more than one marginalised group and to address the existing health inequities.

Action Research: Informing Professional Practice within Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hine, Gregory S. C.; Lavery, Shane D.

2014-01-01

This research paper explores the experiences of three teacher-researchers, "Simone", "Damian" and "Michael", who undertook an action research project in their respective schools as part of their postgraduate studies. The paper initially outlines the construct of action research in the light of its applicability to…

Teacher Education as Identity Construction: Insights from Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trent, John

2010-01-01

This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study that explored the experiences of one group of pre-service English language teachers in Hong Kong as they undertook an action research project as part of their undergraduate teacher training programme. Grounded in a theory of teacher identity construction as both practice and discourse, the…

The Impacts of Preservice Action Research in a Rural Teaching Residency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schulte, Ann

2017-01-01

Preliminary data was collected as part of the program assessment of a yearlong teaching residency program in rural California where preservice teachers conducted action research as the culminating activity for a Masters degree. Focus groups and survey data from program graduates were analyzed and compared to findings from the research literature.…

Giving Student Groups a Stronger Voice: Using Participatory Research and Action (PRA) to Initiate Change to a Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neill, Geraldine; McMahon, Sinead

2012-01-01

Traditional student feedback mechanisms have been criticised for being teacher-centred in design and, in particular, for their absence of transparent follow-up actions. In contrast, this study describes the process and the evaluation of a participatory research and action (PRA) approach used in an undergraduate physiotherapy degree. This approach…

Action Research: A Methodology for Change and Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somekh, Bridget

2005-01-01

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,…

Advancing ophthalmic nursing practice through action research.

PubMed

Waterman, Heather; Harker, Rona; MacDonald, Heather; McLaughlan, Rita; Waterman, Christine

2005-11-01

This paper reports an action research project that promoted posturing face down following macular hole surgery and aimed to enhance patient outcomes. This paper gives an overview of the process and outcomes of the first three of four phases of the project: problem identification, planning and action. The fourth phase, which was an evaluation of the project, is reported in another paper. Surgical repair for macular hole is common procedure carried out worldwide, and patients are required to posture face down for several weeks after this surgery. There is anecdotal evidence that many patients find this difficult to carry out. In the context of increasing medical specialization, nursing practice must be developed to meet the needs of patients being treated. This study will, therefore, be relevant beyond the particular specialty and geographical location described. The methodology was participative and cyclical. Initially, a fact-finding exercise was undertaken, using qualitative interviews with 18 members of staff to elicit their perspectives on the posturing of patients. Based on the fact-finding exercise, seven action objectives were set. While these were being implemented, three further research projects were identified and undertaken. Two were qualitative studies: one investigated patients' experiences of the surgery and posturing, and the second concerned nurses' developing working theories on the promotion of posturing and effects of nursing care on patient outcomes. Another pilot study was a randomized controlled trial to consider the effect of two different posturing regimes on patient outcomes. In addition to regular action research group meetings, these studies served to inform and monitor the changes as they were put into practice. The work was carried out from 1998 to 2002. Several factors appeared to influence whether patients postured after surgery, namely: education of staff and patients, appropriately timed services, clear lines of responsibility for

Using Action Research and Action Learning for Entrepreneurial Network Capability Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGrath, Helen; O'Toole, Thomas

2016-01-01

This paper applies an action research (AR) design and action learning (AL) approach to network capability development in an entrepreneurial context. Recent research suggests that networks are a viable strategy for the entrepreneurial firm to overcome the liabilities associated with newness and smallness. However, a gap emerges as few, if any,…

Finding Community: A Guide to Community Research and Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, W. Ron; And Others

For those concerned with contemporary social problems, whether as students, members of community groups, or individual citizens, this book attempts not only to describe the issues, but also to offer some starting points for local research and action. As an educational tool, it is based on the belief that a good way to learn about a community is to…

Teachers' Opinions Regarding the Usage of Action Research in Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yigit, Celal; Bagceci, Birsen

2017-01-01

The aim of the study is to investigate the contribution of action research to teachers' professional development. In line with this goal, a group of teachers were asked their opinions. The working group of the study is comprised of six teachers working at a state primary and middle school. The study is an example of "Case Study," one of…

Collective Action Problem in Heterogeneous Groups with Punishment and Foresight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perry, Logan; Shrestha, Mahendra Duwal; Vose, Michael D.; Gavrilets, Sergey

2018-03-01

The collective action problem can easily undermine cooperation in groups. Recent work has shown that within-group heterogeneity can under some conditions promote voluntary provisioning of collective goods. Here we generalize this work for the case when individuals can not only contribute to the production of collective goods, but also punish free-riders. To do this, we extend the standard theory by allowing individuals to have limited foresight so they can anticipate actions of their group-mates. For humans, this is a realistic assumption because we possess a "theory of mind". We use agent-based simulations to study collective actions that aim to overcome challenges from nature or win competition with neighboring groups. We contrast the dynamics of collective action in egalitarian and hierarchical groups. We show that foresight allows groups to overcome both the first- and second-order free-rider problems. While foresight increases cooperation, it does not necessarily result in higher payoffs. We show that while between-group conflicts promotes within-group cooperation, the effects of cultural group selection on cooperation are relatively small. Our models predict the emergence of a division of labor in which more powerful individuals specialize in punishment while less powerful individuals mostly contribute to the production of collective goods.

Emerging Action Research Traditions: Rigor in Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, Karen E.; Nicolaides, Aliki; Marsick, Victoria J.

2016-01-01

The authors argue here that contemporary use of action research shares the exploratory, inductive nature of many qualitative research approaches--no matter the type of data collected--because the type of research problems studied are set in complex, dynamic, rapidly changing contexts and because action research is undertaken to support social and…

'Bringing back respect': the role of participatory action research in transferring knowledge from an Aboriginal men's group to youth programs.

PubMed

McCalman, Janya; Tsey, Komla; Baird, Bradley; Connolly, Brian; Baird, Leslie; Jackson, Rita

2009-08-01

This case study describes the efforts of an Aboriginal men's group to facilitate and support the empowerment of young people in their community. It is part of a broader participatory action research (PAR) study of men's groups. Data was derived from quarterly reflective PAR sessions with men's and youth workers and steering committee members, interviews with workers, and focus groups with young people. The data was coded and categorized, with five themes identified. Key opportunities and challenges related to building staff capacity, engaging young people, giving voice to young people and reconciling diverse community views. Emerging outcomes included young people's definition of vision and values, social cohesion, personal achievements and recognition. The youth projects also resulted in local employment, improvements in workforce capacity and proposals to extend the empowerment model in Yarrabah and transfer it to another community. PAR frameworks provide a useful tool for facilitating and sustaining empowerment outcomes. They can be used to support the transfer of knowledge and skills from one Aboriginal community group to another.

Participatory Action Research: International Contexts and Consequences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McTaggart, Robin, Ed.

The collection of essays in this book illustrate commonalties and differences among the theories, practices, and forms of organization of participatory action research in different countries. Participatory action research expresses the recognition that all research methodologies are implicitly political in nature, and this is reflected in the…

Transition from an open-plan to a two-cot neonatal intensive care unit: a participatory action research approach.

PubMed

Broom, Margaret; Gardner, Anne; Kecskes, Zsuzsoka; Kildea, Sue

2017-07-01

To facilitate staff transition from an open-plan to a two-cot neonatal intensive care unit design. In 2012, an Australian regional neonatal intensive care unit transitioned from an open-plan to a two-cot neonatal intensive care unit design. Research has reported single- and small-room neonatal intensive care unit design may negatively impact on the distances nurses walk, reducing the time they spend providing direct neonatal care. Studies have also reported nurses feel isolated and need additional support and education in such neonatal intensive care units. Staff highlighted their concerns regarding the impact of the new design on workflow and clinical practice. A participatory action research approach. A participatory action group titled the Change and Networking Group collaborated with staff over a four-year period (2009-2013) to facilitate the transition. The Change and Networking Group used a collaborative, cyclical process of planning, gathering data, taking action and reviewing the results to plan the next action. Data sources included meeting and workshop minutes, newsletters, feedback boards, subgroup reports and a staff satisfaction survey. The study findings include a description of (1) how the participatory action research cycles were used by the Change and Networking Group: providing examples of projects and strategies undertaken; and (2) evaluations of participatory action research methodology and Group by neonatal intensive care unit staff and Change and Networking members. This study has described the benefits of using participatory action research to facilitate staff transition from an open-plan to a two-cot neonatal intensive care unit design. Participatory action research methodology enabled the inclusion of staff to find solutions to design and clinical practice questions. Future research is required to assess the long-term effect of neonatal intensive care unit design on staff workload, maintaining and supporting a skilled workforce as well as

Using Action Research to prevent work-related illness among rubber farmers in Northeastern Thailand.

PubMed

Sena, Wijitra; Nilvarangkul, Kessarawan; Saranrittichai, Kesinee; Smith, John F; Phajan, Teerasak; Seetangkham, Sansanee

2018-06-10

This research aimed to enhance self-care among rubber farmers for preventing work-related illness. The project used Action Research's four phase iterative process: fact-finding to understand the problems, action planning, action plan implementation, and evaluation and reflection on action plan impacts. Sixty-six participants (46 rubber farmers and 20 community stakeholders) were purposively recruited from two villages in the top 10 rubber producing provinces in Northeastern Thailand. Demographic and work-related illness data were collected in face-to-face structured interviews, Focus group interviews and participant observations were used to collect data in each project phase. Night group meetings were held throughout the research phases. The intervention included training workshops and establishing a community health education team for ongoing farmer support. Results showed improved farmer self-care behaviors and establishment of a community health education team to encourage farmers to care for themselves properly. Community nurses, other health personnel, and the Thai government can build on initiatives like this to strengthen occupational health and safety practices and services policy for rubber farmers. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Knowledge Producing, Its Management and Action and Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadfield, Mark

2005-01-01

This article is based on a "think piece" produced as a resource for action researchers working within networks of schools. The original article considered the utility of key ideas within knowledge management to practitioner researchers attempting to share their research outcomes with other teachers in their network. This article, rather than…

A Participatory Action Research Approach To Evaluating Inclusive School Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dymond, Stacy K.

2001-01-01

This article proposes a model for evaluating inclusive schools. Key elements of the model are inclusion of stakeholders in the evaluation process through a participatory action research approach, analysis of program processes and outcomes, use of multiple methods and measures, and obtaining perceptions from diverse stakeholder groups. (Contains…

Understanding the Complexity of Teacher Reflection in Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luttenberg, Johan; Meijer, Paulien; Oolbekkink-Marchand, Helma

2017-01-01

Reflection in action research is a complex matter, as is action research itself. In recent years, complexity science has regularly been called upon in order to more thoroughly understand the complexity of action research. The present article investigates the benefits that complexity science may yield for reflection in action research. This article…

The use of conferencing technologies to support drug policy group knowledge exchange processes: an action case approach.

PubMed

Househ, Mowafa Said; Kushniruk, Andre; Maclure, Malcolm; Carleton, Bruce; Cloutier-Fisher, Denise

2011-04-01

To describe experiences, lessons and the implications related to the use of conferencing technology to support three drug policy research groups within a three-year period, using the action case research method. An action case research field study was executed. Three different drug policy groups participated: research, educator, and decision-maker task groups. There were a total of 61 participants in the study. The study was conducted between 2004 and 2007. Each group used audio-teleconferencing, web-conferencing or both to support their knowledge exchange activities. Data were collected over three years and consisted of observation notes, interviews, and meeting transcripts. Content analysis was used to analyze the data using NIVIO qualitative data analysis software. The study found six key lessons regarding the impact of conferencing technologies on knowledge exchange within drug policy groups. We found that 1) groups adapt to technology to facilitate group communication, 2) web-conferencing communication is optimal under certain conditions, 3) audio conferencing is convenient, 4) web-conferencing forces group interactions to be "within text", 5) facilitation contributes to successful knowledge exchange, and 6) technology impacts information sharing. This study highlights lessons related to the use of conferencing technologies to support distant knowledge exchange within drug policy groups. Key lessons from this study can be used by drug policy groups to support successful knowledge exchange activities using conferencing technologies. 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Modification of nursing practice through reflection: participatory action research].

PubMed

Delgado Hito, P; Sola Prado, A; Mirabete Rodríguez, I; Torrents Ros, R; Blasco Afonso, M; Barrero Pedraza, R; Catalá Gil, N; Mateos Dávila, A; Quinteiro Canedo, M

2001-01-01

Technology and complex techniques are inevitably playing an increasing role in intensive care units. They continue to characterize nursing care and in some cases dehumanize it. The general aim of this study was to stimulate reflection on nursing care. The study was based on the participation of the investigators with the goal of producing changes in nursing practice. Qualitative methodology in the form of participatory action research and the Kemmis and McTaggart method were used. Data were collected through systematic observation, seven group meetings and document analysis. Eight nurses took part in the study. The meetings were recorded and transcribed verbatim into a computer. This process and the meaning of the verbatim transcription (codification/categorization process and document synthesis cards) were analyzed. The results of this study enabled exploration of the change in nursing practice and showed that the reflection in action method stimulates changes in practice. The new way of conceiving nursing action has increased nursing care quality and its humanization since it shows greater respect for the patient, provides families with closer contact and greater support, improves coordination of nursing care acts and increases collaboration among professionals.In conclusion, participatory action research is a valid and appropriate method that nurses can use to modify their daily practice.

Consistency and Change in Participatory Action Research: Reflections on a Focus Group Study about How Farmers Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piercy, Fred P.; Franz, Nancy; Donaldson, Joseph L.; Richard, Robert F.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on our efforts to balance consistency in our multi-year participatory action research study with the need to adapt our research protocol to what we are learning along the way. While both are important, we share several examples of how our flexibility and openness to adapt our protocol to our research…

Teachers in Action Research: Assumptions and Potentials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yuen-Ling

2008-01-01

Research literature has long indicated that action research may stimulate practitioners themselves to actively evaluate the quality of their practice. This study is designed to report the use of action research for the development of early years professional practice by analyzing the pre-project and the post-project video-filmed teaching events.…

Parents as Co-Researchers: A Participatory Action Research Initiative Involving Parents of People with Intellectual Disabilities in Ireland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walmsley, Jan; Mannan, Hasheem

2009-01-01

This paper evaluates a participatory action research (PAR) approach to conducting family research in Ireland. Drawing on PAR methodology it describes how parents of people with intellectual disabilities were recruited and trained to facilitate focus groups of parents in Ireland, in order to create an evidence base to support improved dialogue…

Intergroup Contact and Social Change: Implications of Negative and Positive Contact for Collective Action in Advantaged and Disadvantaged Groups.

PubMed

Reimer, Nils Karl; Becker, Julia C; Benz, Angelika; Christ, Oliver; Dhont, Kristof; Klocke, Ulrich; Neji, Sybille; Rychlowska, Magdalena; Schmid, Katharina; Hewstone, Miles

2017-01-01

Previous research has shown that (a) positive intergroup contact with an advantaged group can discourage collective action among disadvantaged-group members and (b) positive intergroup contact can encourage advantaged-group members to take action on behalf of disadvantaged outgroups. Two studies investigated the effects of negative as well as positive intergroup contact. Study 1 ( n = 482) found that negative but not positive contact with heterosexual people was associated with sexual-minority students' engagement in collective action (via group identification and perceived discrimination). Among heterosexual students, positive and negative contacts were associated with, respectively, more and less LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) activism. Study 2 ( N = 1,469) found that only negative contact (via perceived discrimination) predicted LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) students' collective action intentions longitudinally while only positive contact predicted heterosexual/cisgender students' LGBT activism. Implications for the relationship between intergroup contact, collective action, and social change are discussed.

Science Teachers Taking their First Steps toward Teaching Socioscientific Issues through Collaborative Action Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hyunju; Yang, Jung-eun

2017-06-01

This study presents two science teachers, Catherine and Jennifer, who took their first steps toward teaching socioscientific issues through collaborative action research. The teachers participated in the collaborative action research project because they wanted to address socioscientific issues but had limited experience in teaching them. The research questions included what kinds of challenges the teachers encountered when implementing socioscientific issues and to what extent they resolved the challenging issues as participating in collaborative action research. The primary data source consisted of audiotapes of regular group meetings containing information on the process of constructing and implementing lesson plans and reflecting on their teaching of socioscientific issues. We also collected classroom videotapes of the teachers' instruction and audiotapes of students' small group discussions and their worksheets. The findings indicated that when addressing socioscientific issues in the classes, the teachers encountered several challenging issues. We categorized them into four: (1) restructuring classroom dynamics and culture, (2) scaffolding students' engagement in socioscientific issues, (3) dealing with values, and (4) finding their niche in schools. However, this study showed that collaborative action research could be a framework for helping the teachers to overcome such challenges and have successful experiences of teaching socioscientific issues. These experiences became good motivation, to gradually develop their understanding of teaching socioscientific issues and instructional strategies for integrating the knowledge and skills that they had accumulated over the years.

Leading multi-professional teams in the children's workforce: an action research project.

PubMed

Stuart, Kaz

2012-01-01

The 2004 Children Act in the UK saw the introduction of integrated working in children's services. A raft of change followed with processes designed to make joint working easier, and models and theories to support the development of integrated work. This paper explores the links between key concepts and practice. A practitioner action research approach is taken using an autoethnographic account kept over six months. The research question was, to what extent is this group collaborating? When the architecture of practice was revealed, differences between espoused and real practice could be seen. Whilst understanding and displaying the outward signs of an effective multi professional group, the individuals did not trust one another. This was exhibited by covert interprofessional issues. As a result, collaborative inertia was achieved. This realisation prompted them to participate in further developmental and participative action research. The paper concludes that trust and relational agency are central to effective leadership of multi professional teams.

Committed dis(s)idents: participation in radical collective action fosters disidentification with the broader in-group but enhances political identification.

PubMed

Becker, Julia C; Tausch, Nicole; Spears, Russell; Christ, Oliver

2011-08-01

The present research examined the hypothesis that participation in radical, but not moderate, action results in disidentification from the broader in-group. Study 1 (N = 98) was a longitudinal study conducted in the context of student protests against tuition fees in Germany and confirmed that participation in radical collective action results in disidentification with the broader in-group (students) whereas participation in moderate collective action does not. Both types of action increased politicized identification. Study 2 (N = 175) manipulated the normativeness of different types of imagined collective actions in the same context and replicated this disidentification effect for radical actions, but only when this action mismatched the broader in-group's norms. This study also indicated that these effects were partially mediated by perceived lack of solidarity and perceived lack of commitment to the cause among the broader in-group. The implications of these findings for understanding radicalization within social movements are discussed.

Acting in solidarity: Testing an extended dual pathway model of collective action by bystander group members.

PubMed

Saab, Rim; Tausch, Nicole; Spears, Russell; Cheung, Wing-Yee

2015-09-01

We examined predictors of collective action among bystander group members in solidarity with a disadvantaged group by extending the dual pathway model of collective action, which proposes one efficacy-based and one emotion-based path to collective action (Van Zomeren, Spears, Fischer, & Leach, 2004). Based on two proposed functions of social identity performance (Klein, Spears, & Reicher, 2007), we distinguished between the efficacy of collective action at consolidating the identity of a protest movement and its efficacy at achieving social change (political efficacy). We expected identity consolidation efficacy to positively predict collective action tendencies directly and indirectly via political efficacy. We also expected collective action tendencies to be positively predicted by moral outrage and by sympathy in response to disadvantaged outgroup's suffering. These hypotheses were supported in two surveys examining intentions to protest for Palestine in Britain (Study 1), and intentions to attend the June 4th vigil in Hong Kong to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre among a sample of Hong Kong citizens (Study 2). The contributions of these findings to research on the dual pathway model of collective action and the different functions of collective action are discussed. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Identification of current priorities for research in humanitarian action: proceedings of the First Annual UN OCHA Policy and Research Conference.

PubMed

Foran, Mark P; Greenough, Paul G; Thow, Andrew; Gilman, Daniel; Schütz, Andreas; Chandran, Rahul; Baiocchi, Allegra

2012-06-01

On December 12-13, 2011, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) hosted a humanitarian policy and research conference on the theme of "Risk, Adaptation and Innovation in Humanitarian Action." The four sessions of the conference covered humanitarian action in a changing world, adaptation and innovation in humanitarian action, humanitarian action in protracted and violent conflict, and effective humanitarian action. This special report contains summaries of presentations in each session and the conclusions resulting from the discussions throughout. Through a process of open discussion, debate, and a closing survey, the conference participants identified four top priorities in humanitarian research for the coming years: evidence-driven humanitarian decision-making; accountability and transparency; risk and agility; and partnership. In addition to plans for a 2nd Annual Research and Policy conference in December of 2012, specific outcomes of the conference include a series of regional workshops in 2012 and 2013, launching with Asia, Africa and the Middle East; creation of Policy Working Groups (PWG) for each research priority identified; and a new flagship OCHA publication, to be launched in late 2012 or early 2013, which will share the progress made on the research priorities identified.

Justifying Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helskog, Guro Hansen

2014-01-01

In this paper I use a general philosophy of science perspective in looking at the problem of justifying action research. First I try to clarify the concept of justification, by contrasting it with the concept of validity, which seems to be used almost as a synonym in some parts of the literature. I discuss the need for taking a stand in relation…

Evaluation of an action research project in ophthalmic nursing practice.

PubMed

Waterman, Heather; Harker, Rona; MacDonald, Heather; McLaughlan, Rita; Waterman, Christine

2005-11-01

This paper reports the evaluation phase of an action research project that promoted face-down posturing of patients following vitreo-retinal surgery for macular hole to enhance patient outcomes. The evaluation phase identified areas of practice needing further development from the perspectives of those involved with the care of patients. To achieve best results following surgical repair of macular hole, patients are required to posture face down for several weeks. As a consequence, patients complain of severe back and neck ache and find it difficult to persist with the posturing. Work to advance nursing practice as surgical developments occur has relevance beyond ophthalmology and the particular context of this project. The first three phases of this action research--problem identification, planning and action--have been reported in another paper. Throughout the project an action research group comprising of representatives of key stakeholders were actively involved in researching and changing practice. During the evaluation phase, a qualitative methodology was chosen. Interviews with 17 members of staff from the inpatient area were carried out to elicit their perspectives on the posturing of patients. Qualitative interviews were selected to facilitate comparison with interview data from Phase 1. Data analysis ran concurrently with data collection, so that one could inform the other. Overall, nurses and healthcare support workers felt that patients were more agreeable to posturing and after surgery began to posture more quickly. Communication was still an issue in some instances, and patients having urgent as opposed to planned surgery were found to be more difficult to prepare and the psychological care of patients still posed problems for nursing staff. The evaluation suggests that improvements in the care of this group of patients have occurred. A 10-point plan to promote face-down posturing has been developed which will be of use to practitioners in other

Changes in science classrooms resulting from collaborative action research initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Phil Seok

Collaborative action research was undertaken over two years between a Korean science teacher and science education researchers at the University of Iowa. For the purpose of realizing science learning as envisioned by constructivist principles, Group-Investigations were implemented three or five times per project year. In addition, the second year project enacted Peer Assessments among students. Student perceptions of their science classrooms, as measured by the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), provided evidence that the collaborative action research was successful in creating constructivist learning environments. Student attitudes toward science lessons, as examined by the Enjoyment of Science Lessons Scale (ESLS), indicated that the action research also contributed to developing more positive attitudes of students about science learning. Discourse analysis was conducted on video-recordings of in-class presentations and discussions. The results indicated that students in science classrooms which were moving toward constructivist learning environments engaged in such discursive practices as: (1) Communicating their inquiries to others, (2) Seeking and providing information through dialogues, and (3) Negotiating conflicts in their knowledge and beliefs. Based on these practices, science learning was viewed as the process of constructing knowledge and understanding of science as well as the process of engaging in scientific inquiry and discourse. The teacher's discursive practices included: (1) Wrapping up student presentations, (2) Addressing misconceptions, (3) Answering student queries, (4) Coaching, (5) Assessing and advising, (6) Guiding students discursively into new knowledge, and (7) Scaffolding. Science teaching was defined as situated acts of the teacher to facilitate the learning process. In particular, when the classrooms became more constructivist, the teacher intervened more frequently and carefully in student activities to fulfill a

Development of Action Research in China: Review and Reflection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Jun; Liu, Katrina Yan

2011-01-01

Action research in China during late 1970s and 1980s was influenced by positivist scientific research, believing the purpose of doing action research is to explore the general law of education. It was carried out through educational experimentations emphasizing the control of the experimental conditions. Starting from 1990s, action research in…

From Research to Praxis: Empowering Trinidadian Primary School Teachers via Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bissessar, Charmaine S.

2015-01-01

An exponential body of extant research illustrates the symbiotic dyad action research, andragogy, reflective praxis, and transformative learning share. This paper contains a narrative review of 83 action research papers submitted to the researcher as part of the fulfilment of the Bachelor of Education degree from April 2011 to May 2013.…

Teaming from Three Perspectives: Interviews with Participatory Action Research Participants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cain, Judith

2008-01-01

Taking part in the autism spectrum disorder participatory action research (ASD PAR) project was a genuine team effort for the group of people supporting Rose, a primary school student with Asperger syndrome. The following excerpts are from interviews with some of Rose's team. This is a collaborative approach to telling the story of the team's…

Participatory Action Research: Collective Reflections on Gender, Culture, and Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, Alice; Chatzopoulos, Nikolaos; Politi, Anastasia; Roz, Julieta

2007-01-01

The focus of this article is the experiences of three undergraduate students who engaged in a participatory action research (PAR) project with a group of preadolescent Latina girls attending a public school in Boston, MA, USA. The aim of the 2-year project was to explore how the girls constructed knowledge about girlhood and other gender-related…

Implementation research design: integrating participatory action research into randomized controlled trials

PubMed Central

Leykum, Luci K; Pugh, Jacqueline A; Lanham, Holly J; Harmon, Joel; McDaniel, Reuben R

2009-01-01

Background A gap continues to exist between what is known to be effective and what is actually delivered in the usual course of medical care. The goal of implementation research is to reduce this gap. However, a tension exists between the need to obtain generalizeable knowledge through implementation trials, and the inherent differences between healthcare organizations that make standard interventional approaches less likely to succeed. The purpose of this paper is to explore the integration of participatory action research and randomized controlled trial (RCT) study designs to suggest a new approach for studying interventions in healthcare settings. Discussion We summarize key elements of participatory action research, with particular attention to its collaborative, reflective approach. Elements of participatory action research and RCT study designs are discussed and contrasted, with a complex adaptive systems approach used to frame their integration. Summary The integration of participatory action research and RCT design results in a new approach that reflects not only the complex nature of healthcare organizations, but also the need to obtain generalizeable knowledge regarding the implementation process. PMID:19852784

Dance Education Action Research: A Twin Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giguere, Miriam

2015-01-01

In this article, the author compares the practices, philosophy, and history of action research, also known as participatory action research, to the purposes and practices of dance education. The comparison yields connections in four categories, enhancing self-reflective teaching and curriculum design, taking responsibility for teaching outcomes,…

Unpacking action research and implementation science: Implications for nursing.

PubMed

Casey, Mary; O' Leary, Denise; Coghlan, David

2018-05-01

The aim of this study was to unpack the key concepts of action research and implementation science thereby enabling appropriate use of these methods in nursing. A key issue in action research is not so much the methodology employed to gather data/evidence but who decides the research agenda and who benefits from it. Implementation science is a way to ensure that evidence is translated into practice. The question arises as to how action research and implementation may be understood in relation to one another in nursing. Discussion Paper DATA SOURCES: This discussion paper is based on our own experiences and offers an exploration of action research and implementation science with the aim of clarifying what each involves and what synergies, if any, exist between them. Using action research to secure the voice of patients in their own care is essential to delivering quality nursing care. Using implementation science frameworks to get research evidence into practice is effective. Familiarity with both these concepts may enable their improved use and have a positive impact on quality of care. There is a tension between action researchers and the protagonists of implementation science related to perceived "trade offs" between what constitutes "science" and the necessity of community participation. Nevertheless, the use of an implementation science framework in an action research approach can reduce the research practice time lag and action research provides sound theoretical and philosophical underpinnings that can be used by those in the implementation science field. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A case study of the development of environmental action projects from the framework of participatory action research within two middle school classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charmatz, Kim

The purpose of this study was to understand student and teacher empowerment through a socially critical environmental education perspective. The main research question guiding this study was: How do participants make sense of a learning experience in which students design and carry out an environmental action project in their community? This study used participatory action research and critical theory as practical and theoretical frameworks. These frameworks were relevant as this study sought to examine social change, power, and relationships through participants' experiences. The context of this study was within one seventh and one eighth grade classroom participating in environmental projects. The study was conducted in spring 2005 with an additional follow-up data collection period during spring 2006. The school was located in a densely populated metropolitan suburb. Fifty-three students, a teacher researcher, and three science teachers participated. Data sources were written surveys, scores on Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey Instrument (MSELI), observations, interviews, and student work. This study used a mixed methodological approach. Quantitative data analysis involved dependent samples t-test scores on the MSELI before and after the completion of the projects. Qualitative data were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach. This study has implications for educators interested in democratic education. Environmental action projects provide a context for students and teachers to learn interdisciplinary content knowledge, develop personal beliefs, and learn ways to take action in their communities. This pedagogy has the potential to increase cooperation, communication, and tensions within school communities. Students' participation in the development of environmental action projects may lead to feelings of empowerment or being able to make a difference in their community, as an individual or member of a group. Future research is needed to discern

Moving Science Off the ``Back Burner'': Meaning Making Within an Action Research Community of Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodnough, Karen

2008-02-01

In this study, the participants conceptualized and implemented an action research project that focused on the infusion of inquiry principles into a neglected science curriculum. Specific objectives were to find (a) What factors challenge and support the evolution of an action research community of practice? (b) How are teachers’ beliefs about science teaching and learning transformed? and (c) How does teachers’ knowledge of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student learning change as a result of learning within a community of practice? In this instrumental case study (Stake 2000, In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 435-454). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage), a range of data collection sources and methods were adopted. Outcomes focus on how the design principles for cultivating a community of practice emerged in the action research group, as well as the types of teacher learning that occurred by engaging in action research.

Integrating Research into Decision Making: Providing Examples for an Informal Action Research Model. Research Report No. 83-24.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Losak, John; Morris, Cathy

One promising avenue for increasing the utilization of institutional research data is the informal action research model. While formal action research stresses the involvement of researchers throughout the decision-making process, the informal model stresses participation in the later stages of decision making. Informal action research requires…

Professionalizing action research--a meaningful strategy for modernizing services?

PubMed

Hall, Julie E

2006-04-01

This paper outlines how a specific action research approach can be used to secure practice development in services which have found sustained change difficult. For the purpose of this paper discussion focuses upon using professionalizing action research (a form of action research) to secure transformation in acute inpatient mental health services. This speciality has experienced long-term difficultly in meaningful practice change. Not limited to this context parallels can be made with other health and social care services requiring significant modernization. The aim is to critically discuss the use of professionalizing action research as an approach to sustainable change. clarifies whether this method is a suitable vehicle for change, which is ideally suited to services which have a poor record of practice development. A review of action research and practice development literature forms the basis of this paper. The literature is sourced through bulletin boards, electronic databases and the British Library Classification Scheme. Keywords searched are action research, team learning, managing change and practice development. Following definition; the components of professionalizing action research are analysed using the themes of educative base, problem focus, improvement and involvement. The educative base of professionalizing action research is collaborative reflective practice which is used to initiate meaningful change, rooted in everyday practice. The benefit of this is that change actions are based in real-time situations. The problem focus component of professionalizing action research is used to emphasize the views of service users and carers. This is positive in terms of the patient and public involvement agenda although this theme does emphasize limitations of the approach. The final components are involvement and improvement, these are debated as pluralistic notions and the implications of this are acknowledged. Reviewing the literature and theoretical

Sharing Action Research on Research Day: Students' Perceptions of a Command Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foulger, Teresa S.; Zambo, Debby

2015-01-01

This action research study involves two cycles of investigation of Research Day an event at the end of each semester where doctoral students share their latest cycle of action research focused on a problem of practice they are facing. The study sought to understand students' perspectives of Research Day in terms of its instructional intention, how…

Action Research in EdD Programs in Educational Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osterman, Karen; Furman, Gail; Sernak, Kathleen

2014-01-01

This exploratory study gathered information about the use of action research within doctor of education programs in educational leadership and explored faculty understanding of and perspectives on action research. Survey data established that action research is used infrequently to meet dissertation requirements. Contributing factors include lack…

Beginning and Becoming: Hannah Arendt's Theory of Action and Action Research in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Carrie

2014-01-01

This paper demonstrates the importance and implications of Hannah Arendt's theory of action for action research. Using examples from my teaching experience I demonstrate the relevance of her ideas in understanding the purpose and aims of action research in the classroom.

Action Research and the Micropolitics in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilertsen, Tor-Vidar; Gustafson, Niklas; Salo, Petri

2008-01-01

This paper is based on the assumption that action research always affects the micropolitical balance characteristic of a certain school setting. The authors claim that micropolitics, that is the patterns of formal power and informal influence, has largely been neglected in the literature on action research in schools. This means that action…

Agroecology Education: Action-Oriented Learning and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieblein, Geir; Breland, Tor Arvid; Francis, Charles; Ostergaard, Edvin

2012-01-01

Purpose: This article examines and evaluates the potential contributions from action learning and action research with stakeholders to higher education in agriculture and food systems. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is based on our experiences over the past two decades of running PhD courses and an MSc degree programme in Agroecology in…

Tackling fuel poverty through facilitating energy tariff switching: a participatory action research study in vulnerable groups.

PubMed

Lorenc, A; Pedro, L; Badesha, B; Dize, C; Fernow, I; Dias, L

2013-10-01

A fifth of UK households live in fuel poverty, with significant health risks. Recent government strategy integrates public health with local government. This study examined barriers to switching energy tariffs and the impact of an energy tariff switching 'intervention' on vulnerable peoples' likelihood to, success in, switching tariffs. Participatory Action Research (PAR), conducted in West London. Community researchers from three voluntary/community organisations (VCOs) collaborated in recruitment, study design, data collection and analysis. VCOs recruited 151 participants from existing service users in three groups: Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, older people (>75 yrs) and families with young children. Researchers conducted two semi-structured interviews with each participant, a week apart. The first interview asked about demographics, current energy supplier, financial situation, previous experience of tariff-switching and barriers to switching. Researchers then provided the 'intervention' - advice on tariff-switching, printed materials, access to websites. The second interview explored usefulness of the 'intervention', other information used, remaining barriers and information needs. Researchers kept case notes and a reflective log. Data was analysed thematically and collaboratively between the research coordinator and researchers. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS, with descriptive statistics and Chi-squared tests. A total of 151 people were interviewed: 47 older people over 75 years, 51 families with young children, 51 BME (two were missing demographics). The majority were not White British or UK-born. Average household weekly income was £230. Around half described 'difficult' financial situations, 94% were receiving state benefits and 62% were in debt. Less than a third had tried to find a better energy deal; knowledge was the main barrier. After the intervention 19 people tried to switch, 13 did. Young families were most likely to

Introducing Pre-Service Teachers to Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, Dianne; Kitchen, Julian

2004-01-01

Action Research is used in many teacher education programs to promote reflection, inquiry, and a sense of efficacy in pre-service teachers. As teacher educators working with a cohort of thirty-two teachers in a nine-month program, we decided to incorporate action research into the Teacher Education Seminar, a foundational course addressing general…

Cancer, Employment, and American Indians: A Participatory Action Research Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Sharon R.; Finifrock, DeAnna; Marshall, Catherine A.; Jaakola, Julia; Setterquist, Janette; Burross, Heidi L.; Hodge, Felicia Schanche

2011-01-01

American Indian cancer survivors are an underserved and understudied group. In this pilot study we attempted to address, through participatory action research, missing information about those factors that serve to either facilitate employment or hinder it for adult cancer survivors. One task of the study was to develop and/or modify…

The Research-Action Context: An Intervention Strategy in Educational Management Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrilleaux, Louis E.; And Others

The purpose of the Middle-Management Center (M-MC) is to engage educational organizations, individuals, and groups in the metropolitan New Orleans area in simultaneous research and action to facilitate the development of more productive and responsive schooling while focusing on the problemsolving processes and practices of management. The center…

Using Working Agreements in Participatory Action Research: Working through Moral Problems with Malaysian Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balakrishnan, Vishalache; Cornforth, Sue

2013-01-01

In this paper we propose that taking time before the work begins to develop agreements about how to work together in participatory action research enables researchers to directly address several ethical issues that can be problematic in this type of research: gaining fully informed consent; in-group confidentiality; cultural misconceptions; and…

Transforming Language Ideologies through Action Research: A Case Study of Bilingual Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Eunah

This qualitative case study explored a third grade bilingual teacher's transformative language ideologies through participating in a collaborative action research project. By merging language ideologies theory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and action research, I was able to identify the analytic focus of this study. I analyzed how one teacher and I, the researcher, collaboratively reflected on classroom language practices during the video analysis meetings and focus groups. Further, I analyzed twelve videos that we coded together to see the changes in the teacher's language practices over time. My unit of analysis was the discourse practice mediated by additive language ideologies. Throughout the collaborative action research process, we both critically reflected on the classroom language use. We also developed a critical consciousness about the participatory shifts and learning of focal English Learner (EL) students. Finally, the teacher made changes to her classroom language practices. The results of this study will contribute to the literacy education research field for theoretical, methodological, and practical insights. The integration of language ideologies, CHAT, and action research can help educational practitioners, researchers, and policy makers understand the importance of transforming teachers' language ideologies in designing additive learning contexts for ELs. From a methodological perspective, the transformative language ideologies through researcher and teacher collaborated video analysis process provide a unique contribution to the language ideologies in education literature, with analytic triangulation. As a practical implication, this study suggests action research can be one of the teacher education tools to help the teachers transform language ideologies for EL education.

The Confucian View of the Relationship between Knowledge and Action and Its Relevance to Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Ching-tien

2014-01-01

There are marked similarities between Confucian ideas about the relationship between action, knowledge and learning, and contemporary educational thinking about action research. Examples can be seen in the relationship between action and research. First, Confucius emphasized the importance of "action" which was different from…

Empowering the Music Educator through Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laprise, Richard

2017-01-01

Action research is an empowering experience for educators, yet many believe that they do not have the time, resources, or knowledge to make it a worthwhile experience. What do you need to know to feel confident in making action research a method of bettering your teaching and your students' learning? This article reveals how to make this process…

Enhancing Postgraduate Learning and Development: A Participatory Action Learning and Action Research Approach through Conferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Lesley; Louw, Ina; Zuber-Skerritt, Ortrun

2017-01-01

As supervisors who advocate the transformational potential of research both to generate theory and practical and emancipatory outcomes, we practice participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). This paper offers an illustrative case of how supervision practices based on action learning can foster emancipatory and lifelong learning…

Participatory Action Research as a Model for Conducting Family Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turnbull, Ann P.; Friesen, Barbara J.; Ramirez, Carmen

1998-01-01

This article discusses a participatory action research (PAR) approach to conducting family research. It proposes a model of PAR implementation level including the options of family members as research leaders and researchers as ongoing advisors, researchers and family members as coresearchers, and researches as leaders, and family members as…

An Action Research Project's Impact on Teachers' Leadership Attitudes and Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Nancy; Dillard, Benita R.

2013-01-01

California Lutheran University is a regional site for the California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP). In 2010, CRLP began a two-year longitudinal study to examine the effects of participating in an institute called Reframing Teacher Leadership: Action Research Study Group had on PreK-12 teachers' attitudes and perceptions. The foundation…

Action Research: Effects of Self-Efficacy Training on Low Achieving Freshmen

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haselden, Polly G.; Sanders, Marla; Sturkie, Lindsay

2012-01-01

This action research project investigated the effects of self-efficacy training on low achieving high school freshman who were considered to be at risk for academic failure. Six students participated in psycho-educational group counseling sessions for forty-five minutes weekly over the course of a nine-week reporting period. Findings indicated…

Peer Observation Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandt, Fred-Ole

2012-01-01

This paper outlines the initial findings of an action research project that focuses on the possible contribution of peer observation to a more collaborative environment and teachers' professional growth at The University High School. The research component played a significant part as previous attempts to change the culture at the school were…

Leading multi-professional teams in the children’s workforce: an action research project

PubMed Central

Stuart, Kaz

2012-01-01

Introduction The 2004 Children Act in the UK saw the introduction of integrated working in children’s services. A raft of change followed with processes designed to make joint working easier, and models and theories to support the development of integrated work. This paper explores the links between key concepts and practice. Methods A practitioner action research approach is taken using an autoethnographic account kept over six months. The research question was, to what extent is this group collaborating? Results When the architecture of practice was revealed, differences between espoused and real practice could be seen. Whilst understanding and displaying the outward signs of an effective multi professional group, the individuals did not trust one another. This was exhibited by covert interprofessional issues. As a result, collaborative inertia was achieved. This realisation prompted them to participate in further developmental and participative action research. Conclusion The paper concludes that trust and relational agency are central to effective leadership of multi professional teams. PMID:22371690

Poetics of Justice: Using Art as Action and Analysis in Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayala, Jennifer; Zaal, Mayida

2016-01-01

This article explores the use of art as a form of communication and meaning-making in participatory action research (PAR). The authors, researchers and educators, contemplate this concept through a pedagogical lens, and consider the role that visual and performing arts can play in social action. Based on the work of a youth-adult participatory…

Re-Visioning Action: Participatory Action Research and Indigenous Theories of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuck, Eve

2009-01-01

This article observes that participatory action research (PAR), by nature of being collaborative, necessitates making explicit theories of change that may have otherwise gone unseen or unexamined. The article explores the limits of the reform/revolution paradox on actions and theories of change in PAR. Citing examples from two recent youth PAR…

Gaining a Competitive Edge through Action Design Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexa, L.; Alexa, M.; Avasilcăi, S.

2016-08-01

The current business environment is characterized by increased competition and highly innovative approach, in order to create products and services to better respond to the costumers’ needs and expectations. In this specific context, the research approaches need to be more flexible and business oriented and so, throughout the paper we have used a research method that combines design research and action research, named Action Design Research which is a research method used for generating prescriptive design knowledge through building and evaluating IT artifacts in an organizational setting [1]. Following the Action Design Research stages and principles: problem identification, building, intervention and evaluation, reflection and learning and formalization of learning, the research team has developed an online instrument used to actively involve the consumer in the product development process, in order to generate a better consumers insight regarding their needs and desires and to design and/or adjust the product accordingly. The customer engagement IT tool created and tested by using Action Design Research, E-PICUS, has been developed within the framework of the research project „E-solutions for innovation through customer pro-active involvement in value creation to increase organisational competitiveness (E-PICUS)”, PN- II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1811, currently undergoing.

Participatory Action Research and Public Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turnbull, H. Rutherford, III; Turnbull, Ann P.

This paper describes collegial model approaches to the interactions between rehabilitation researchers and individuals with disabilities or their family members. The approaches, called participatory research and participatory action research, grew out of a 1989 conference sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation…

Human reliability in petrochemical industry: an action research.

PubMed

Silva, João Alexandre Pinheiro; Camarotto, João Alberto

2012-01-01

This paper aims to identify conflicts and gaps between the operators' strategies and actions and the organizational managerial approach for human reliability. In order to achieve these goals, the research approach adopted encompasses literature review, mixing action research methodology and Ergonomic Workplace Analysis in field research. The result suggests that the studied company has a classical and mechanistic point of view focusing on error identification and building barriers through procedures, checklists and other prescription alternatives to improve performance in reliability area. However, it was evident the fundamental role of the worker as an agent of maintenance and construction of system reliability during the action research cycle.

Toward a Problematic of Silence in Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazzei, Lisa A.

2007-01-01

Action researchers often generate large amounts of textual material in the form of notes and transcripts, failing to account for those thoughts that we and our research participants silently voice. As such, action research that attempts to engage practitioners in self reflexivity and textual analysis is a fertile site for a consideration of how…

Dialogical action: moving from community-based to community-driven participatory research.

PubMed

Montoya, Michael J; Kent, Erin E

2011-07-01

Proponents of community-based research advocate for the active involvement and engagement of community members, citing improved construct validity, intervention efficacy, and accountability. However, to create the conditions in which expertise is mutually constructed and in which no one is the object of research, a reconsideration of the fundamental ethos of community involvement and engagement is required. In this article, we seek to accomplish two goals: (a) to briefly assess the definitions of community health, focus groups, and dissemination that are often used in community-based research; and (b) to introduce an application of dialogical action that goes beyond traditional focus group methodology to promote the creation of an evolving and dynamic dialogue among campus and community stakeholders. An urban case study is presented.

Participatory Action Research on Help-Seeking Behaviors of Self-Defined Ritual Abuse Survivors: A Brief Report.

PubMed

Matthew, Laurie; Barron, Ian G

2015-01-01

The existence of ritual abuse is the subject of much debate. Ritual abuse survivor perceptions of seeking help have not been explored, and studies have yet to utilize self-defined survivors as collaborative researchers. This study addresses both issues. Participatory action research was utilized to design a survey and semistructured interview to investigate ritual abuse survivor experience of seeking help. Sixty-eight participants completed the survey, and 22 were interviewed. A group approach to thematic analysis aided validity and reliability. Participants reported experiencing disbelief and a lack of ritual abuse awareness and help from support services. In contrast, participatory action research was reported by participants as educative and emancipatory. Future research should explore the benefits of participatory action research for survivors of different forms of oppression.

Understanding Participatory Action Research: A Qualitative Research Methodology Option

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacDonald, Cathy

2012-01-01

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a qualitative research methodology option that requires further understanding and consideration. PAR is considered democratic, equitable, liberating, and life-enhancing qualitative inquiry that remains distinct from other qualitative methodologies (Kach & Kralik, 2006). Using PAR, qualitative features of an…

Respect the technique: Status-based respect increases minority group social cohesion with majority groups, while also increasing minority collective action tendencies.

PubMed

Glasford, Demis E; Johnston, Brian

2018-01-01

The present work explores the implications of respect for social change. Social change can be achieved via improved attitudes between minority and majority groups (i.e., social cohesion) or via action taken by minority groups (i.e., collective action). Recent work suggests that the social cohesion route to social change, in particular an emphasis on commonality, may be incompatible with the collective action route to social change. We suggest that social-cohesion strategies rooted in status-based respect may allow for social cohesion and collective action. We experimentally investigated the relative effects of a majority group communicating status-based respect and commonality, as compared to a control, on minority group members' social cohesion with the majority group and willingness to engage in collective action. Status-based respect increased positive attitudes toward a majority group, relative to commonality and control, but was also associated with increased collective action tendencies. Implications for social change are discussed.

Action Research: Enhancing Classroom Practice and Fulfilling Educational Responsibilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Mark R.; Rapp, Eve; Murphy, James W.

2010-01-01

Action Research is an applied scholarly paradigm resulting in action for continuous improvement in our teaching and learning techniques offering faculty immediate classroom payback and providing documentation of meeting our educational responsibilities as required by AACSB standards. This article reviews the iterative action research process of…

Action Learning Research? Reflections from the Colloquium at the Third International Conference on Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coghlan, David

2013-01-01

The case for the notion of action learning research has been posed and explored in several publications over the past few years. There is no tradition within action learning of understanding it as an approach to research. Within some academic circles, there has been a focus on the "action turn," the development of the notion of actionable…

The Value of Action Research in Middle Grades Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caskey, Micki M.

2006-01-01

Action research is one of the relevant methodologies for addressing research questions and issues in middle grades education. Accounting for nearly 20% of published middle grades research studies (Hough, 2003), action research has emerged as an important and appropriate research method. In addition to reviewing the historical context, this article…

Deleuze, Action Research and Rhizomatic Growth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amorim, Antonio Carlos; Ryan, Charly

2005-01-01

Deleuze and his colleagues, particularly Guattari, have had a profound impact on a number of fields of study. The authors argue that their work offers a range of images to help think about and write action research, a way that acknowledges and celebrates the complexities of the sites of action. The article has a divided structure, coherent with…

SL(2, C) group action on cohomological field theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basalaev, Alexey

2018-01-01

We introduce the S} (2,C) group action on a partition function of a cohomological field theory via a certain Givental's action. Restricted to the small phase space we describe the action via the explicit formulae on a CohFT genus g potential. We prove that applied to the total ancestor potential of a simple-elliptic singularity the action introduced coincides with the transformation of Milanov-Ruan changing the primitive form (cf. Milanov and Ruan in Gromov-Witten theory of elliptic orbifold P1 and quasi-modular forms, arXiv:1106.2321 , 2011).

Concern for the in-group and opposition to affirmative action.

PubMed

Lowery, Brian S; Unzueta, Miguel M; Knowles, Eric D; Goff, Phillip Atiba

2006-06-01

The present experiments suggest that the desire to benefit the in-group drives dominant-group members' policy preferences, independent of concern for out-groups' outcomes. In Experiment 1, the effect of a manipulation of affirmative action procedures on policy support was mediated by how Whites expected the policy to affect fellow Whites, but not by the expected effect on minorities. In Experiments 2 and 3, when focused on losses for the White in-group, Whites' racial identity was negatively related to support for affirmative action. However, when focused on gains for the Black out-group or when participants were told that Whites were not affected by the policy, racial identity did not predict attitudes toward the policy. In Experiments 2 and 3, perceived fairness mediated these effects. Copyright 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

Adding to Your Teaching Repertoire: Integrating Action Research into the Lesson Plans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basham, Matthew J.; Yankowy, Barbara

2015-01-01

As today's students become more technologically savvy, social, and collaborative using social media, there are new and innovative techniques educators can use in the classroom. For example, action research is a newer technique using collaborative group processes, drawing upon the experiences of the individuals to promote positive results. This…

Caribbean and Central American Women's Feminist Inquiry through Theater-Based Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sánchez Ares, Rocío

2015-01-01

Feminist action research interrogates gendered dynamics in the development of a collective consciousness. A group of immigrant Latina women (Latinas) from the Caribbean and Central America employed community-based theater as an instrument to mobilize diverse audiences against discriminatory practices and policies. Based on their theater work, I…

The development of peer reflective supervision amongst nurse educator colleagues: An action research project.

PubMed

Bulman, C; Forde-Johnson, C; Griffiths, A; Hallworth, S; Kerry, A; Khan, S; Mills, K; Sharp, P

2016-10-01

This action research study developed the use of peer reflective supervision (PRS) amongst eight nurse educators contributing to an undergraduate Adult Nursing programme at a UK University. During the academic year (2013-14), nurse educator co-researchers met for an introductory workshop and then met regularly in pairs to facilitate each other's reflection. This provided an opportunity for nurse educators to reflect on identified issues linked to their role with a facilitative peer. Educators met three additional times in a Reflexive Learning Group (RLG), to gather data on their use of PRS. Audio-recordings from the RLGs were transcribed and analysed using Norton's (2009) thematic analysis framework. Co-researchers iteratively validated the data and an external validation group critically viewed the evidence. Overall, seven themes were generated from the three research cycles. These were: PRS as a Valuable Affirming Experience; Time Issues; Facilitation- Support, Trust and Challenge; Developing a Flexible 'Toolbox'; To Write or Not to Write; Drawing on Literature; and Requirement for Action. Findings add new evidence regarding use of a flexible toolbox of resources to develop reflection and offer practical guidance on the development of PRS. Nurse educators often experienced similar concerns, and a facilitative supervision structure allowed co-researchers to positively explore these. Recognition of work pressures and requirement for time and space for reflection was highlighted, particularly regarding writing, and exploring the literature, to develop critical analysis of experiences. The importance of action as part of the reflective process was emphasised. Co-researchers reported positive personal change as well as the opportunity to highlight issues through their reflection for further action within the organisation. The study adds constructive evidence for the use of reflection to explore professional work, make sense of experiences and develop positive action

Grassroots Action Research and the Greater Good (La investigación acción de base y el bien mayor)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rainey, Isobel

2011-01-01

This study examines the action research topics and topic preferences of two groups of grassroots teachers: active researchers, and potential researchers. The analysis of the topics appears to indicate that, over the past decade, action research at the teaching of English at the grassroots level to speakers of other languages has been principally…

Inter-Professional Collaboration in Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leeman, Yvonne; van Koeven, Erna; Schaafsma, Frank

2018-01-01

This article describes an example of inter-professional action research conducted by teachers and university-based researchers/teacher educators in a vocational college in the Netherlands. The research was aimed at the professional learning of the teachers on their pedagogical approach to a new curriculum initiative. Despite a difficult context in…

Changes in Vision: Teachers Engaging in Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Susan; Doorn, Dan; Green, James

2008-01-01

This investigation explored the effects of action research on teachers in a graduate education program. Mixed methods were utilized, combining a semantic differential study of student attitudes with qualitative analysis of students' perceptions of their experience as action researchers. Results indicate that participants perceived themselves as…

Science, Gender, and Afterschool: A Research-Action Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froschl, Merle; Sprung, Barbara; Archer, Elayne; Fancsali, Cheri

2003-01-01

This report presents a research-action agenda to enhance the role of afterschool education in increasing girls' participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, majors, and careers. The research-action agenda was developed for three areas: access, recruitment, and persistence; program content, approaches, and…

The Reflective Teacher Leader: An Action Research Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furtado, Leena; Anderson, Dawnette

2012-01-01

This study presents four teacher reflections from action research projects ranging from kindergarten to adult school improvements. A teacher leadership matrix guided participants to connect teaching and learning theory to best practices by exploring uncharted territory within an iterative cycle of research and action. Teachers developed the…

Assessing country-level efforts to link research to action.

PubMed Central

Lavis, John N.; Lomas, Jonathan; Hamid, Maimunah; Sewankambo, Nelson K.

2006-01-01

We developed a framework for assessing country-level efforts to link research to action. The framework has four elements. The first element assesses the general climate (how those who fund research, universities, researchers and users of research support or place value on efforts to link research to action). The second element addresses the production of research (how priority setting ensures that users' needs are identified and how scoping reviews, systematic reviews and single studies are undertaken to address these needs). The third element addresses the mix of four clusters of activities used to link research to action. These include push efforts (how strategies are used to support action based on the messages arising from research), efforts to facilitate "user pull" (how "one-stop shopping" is provided for optimally packaged high-quality reviews either alone or as part of a national electronic library for health, how these reviews are profiled during "teachable moments" such as intense media coverage, and how rapid-response units meet users' needs for the best research), "user pull" efforts undertaken by those who use research (how users assess their capacity to use research and how structures and processes are changed to support the use of research) and exchange efforts (how meaningful partnerships between researchers and users help them to jointly ask and answer relevant questions). The fourth element addresses approaches to evaluation (how support is provided for rigorous evaluations of efforts to link research to action). PMID:16917649

Using Action Research to Examine Teacher Strategy Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Becky J.; Cox, Betty J.; Vann, Martha

2012-01-01

Successful teachers strive to ensure that their students learn to their maximum abilities. Is action research a valuable way for graduate students to review their effectiveness as teachers? Do students learn more through varied teaching strategies and techniques? The authors examined graduate students' perceptions of action research projects…

The Future of Pedagogical Action Research in Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cormack, Sophie; Bourne, Victoria; Deuker, Charmaine; Norton, Lin; O'Siochcru, Cathal; Watling, Rosamond

2014-01-01

Psychology lecturers are well-qualified to carry out action research which would contribute to the theoretical understanding of learning as well as having practical benefits for students. Pedagogical action research demonstrates how knowledge of psychology can be applied to solve practical problems, providing role models of psychological literacy…

Variability in group size and the evolution of collective action.

PubMed

Peña, Jorge; Nöldeke, Georg

2016-01-21

Models of the evolution of collective action typically assume that interactions occur in groups of identical size. In contrast, social interactions between animals occur in groups of widely dispersed size. This paper models collective action problems as two-strategy multiplayer games and studies the effect of variability in group size on the evolution of cooperative behavior under the replicator dynamics. The analysis identifies elementary conditions on the payoff structure of the game implying that the evolution of cooperative behavior is promoted or inhibited when the group size experienced by a focal player is more or less variable. Similar but more stringent conditions are applicable when the confounding effect of size-biased sampling, which causes the group-size distribution experienced by a focal player to differ from the statistical distribution of group sizes, is taken into account. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participatory action as a research method with public health nurses.

PubMed

Cusack, Cheryl; Cohen, Benita; Mignone, Javier; Chartier, Mariette J; Lutfiyya, Zana

2018-02-28

This article explores and describes participatory action research (PAR) as a preferred method in addressing nursing practice issues. This is the first study that used PAR with public health nurses (PHNs) in Canada to develop a professional practice model. Participatory action research is a sub-category of action research that incorporates feminist and critical theory with foundations in the field of social psychology. For nurses, critical analysis of long-established beliefs and practices through PAR contributes to emancipatory knowledge regarding the impact of traditional hierarchies on their practice. This study used participatory action, a non-traditional but systematic research method, which assisted participants to develop a solution to a long-standing organizational issue. The stages of generating concerns, participatory action, acting on concerns, reflection and evaluation were implemented from 2012 - 2013 in an urban Canadian city, to develop a professional practice model for PHNs. Four sub-themes specific to PAR are discussed. These are "participatory action research engaged PHNs in development of a professional practice model;" "the participatory action research cycles of "Look, Think, Act" expanded participants' views;" "participatory action research increased awareness of organizational barriers;" and "participatory action research promoted individual empowerment and system transformation." This study resulted in individual and system change that may not have been possible without the use of PAR. The focus was engagement of participants and recognition of their lived experience, which facilitated PHNs' empowerment, leadership and consciousness-raising. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Supporting Action Research in a Field-Based Professional Development School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menchaca, Velma D.; Peterson, Cynthia L.; Nicholson, Sheila

A collaborative project between a Professional Development School (PDS) and a public school supported teachers' action research and initiated preservice teachers into action research. This paper describes one team's action research project in an inclusive high school classroom that shared the duties of teaching, assisting, modifying instruction,…

Through a Feminist Poststructuralist Lens: Embodied Subjectivites and Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chesnay, Catherine T.

2016-01-01

An emerging literature has been building bridges between poststructuralism and participatory action research, highlighting the latter's potential for transformative action. Using examples from participative action research projects with incarcerated or previously incarcerated women, this article discusses how participatory action research is a…

Student Voice in High School: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Termini, Lorraine

2013-01-01

This action research study examined the effects of student voice in one high school and the self-reflection of the researcher-administrator involved in the effort. Using three cycles of action research, the researcher-administrator completed a pilot study, implemented a student voice project in one class, and developed a professional development…

Preparing Leaders to Facilitate Change through Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Gary B.; Searby, Linda J.

2012-01-01

This article describes an educational leadership course in which students perform action research. The assignment, along with its structure, restraints, directions, and outcomes is described. Student topics are presented in detail, along with the data source used for each project. The authors argue for the utility of action research on school…

An Action-Research Project: Community Lead Poisoning Prevention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajaram, Shireen S.

2007-01-01

This action-research project focused on gathering data on awareness of lead poisoning, as well as disseminating information on lead poisoning prevention in a metropolitan midwestern city. This project reflects an action-research approach to service learning and was in collaboration with a grass-roots organization. This paper outlines the daunting…

Bi-Exact Groups, Strongly Ergodic Actions and Group Measure Space Type III Factors with No Central Sequence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Houdayer, Cyril; Isono, Yusuke

2016-12-01

We investigate the asymptotic structure of (possibly type III) crossed product von Neumann algebras {M = B rtimes Γ} arising from arbitrary actions {Γ \\curvearrowright B} of bi-exact discrete groups (e.g. free groups) on amenable von Neumann algebras. We prove a spectral gap rigidity result for the central sequence algebra {N' \\cap M^ω} of any nonamenable von Neumann subalgebra with normal expectation {N subset M}. We use this result to show that for any strongly ergodic essentially free nonsingular action {Γ \\curvearrowright (X, μ)} of any bi-exact countable discrete group on a standard probability space, the corresponding group measure space factor {L^∞(X) rtimes Γ} has no nontrivial central sequence. Using recent results of Boutonnet et al. (Local spectral gap in simple Lie groups and applications, 2015), we construct, for every {0 < λ ≤ 1}, a type {III_λ} strongly ergodic essentially free nonsingular action {F_∞ \\curvearrowright (X_λ, μ_λ)} of the free group {{F}_∞} on a standard probability space so that the corresponding group measure space type {III_λ} factor {L^∞(X_λ, μ_λ) rtimes F_∞} has no nontrivial central sequence by our main result. In particular, we obtain the first examples of group measure space type {III} factors with no nontrivial central sequence.

Exploring multiple intelligences theory in the context of science education: An action research approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodnough, Karen Catherine

2000-10-01

Since the publication of Frames of Mind: The Theory in Practice, multiple intelligences, theory (Gardner, 1983) has been used by practitioners in a variety of ways to make teaching and learning more meaningful. However, little attention has been focused on exploring the potential of the theory for science teaching and learning. Consequently, this research study was designed to: (1) explore Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (1983) and its merit for making science teaching and learning more meaningful; (2) provide a forum for teachers to engage in critical self-reflection about their theory and practice in science education; (3) study the process of action research in the context of science education; and (4) describe the effectiveness of collaborative action research as a framework for teacher development and curriculum development. The study reports on the experiences of four teachers (two elementary teachers, one junior high teacher, and one high school teacher) and myself, a university researcher-facilitator, as we participated in a collaborative action research project. The action research group held weekly meetings over a five-month period (January--May, 1999). The inquiry was a qualitative case study (Stake, 1994) that aimed to understand the perspectives of those directly involved. This was achieved by using multiple methods to collect data: audiotaped action research meetings, fieldnotes, semi-structured interviews, journal writing, and concept mapping. All data were analysed on an ongoing basis. Many positive outcomes resulted from the study in areas such as curriculum development, teacher development, and student learning in science. Through the process of action research, research participants became more reflective about their practice and thus, enhanced their pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987) in science. Students became more engaged in learning science, gained a greater understanding of how they learn, and experienced a

Action Research: An Early History in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foshay, Arthur W.

1994-01-01

There is little residue from the cooperative action research movement of the 1940s and 1950s. So far, teachers have found educational research applications of little use. Action research must originate in the classroom. Researchers are advised to keep it simple, become an effective classroom consultant, learn how teachers think, and be modest in…

Action Research: An Approach for the Teachers in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yasmeen, G.

2008-01-01

Introduction: Action Research is a formative study of progress commonly practiced by teachers in schools. Basically an action research is a spiral process that includes problem investigation, taking action & fact-finding about the result of action. It enables a teacher to adopt/craft most appropriate strategy within its own teaching…

A Guide to Facilitating Action Research for Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldwasser, Matthew

2004-01-01

What is "action research" and how is it relevant to urban youth activists? Action research is a systematic process of inquiry, which involves gathering information about an issue or problem, analyzing the findings, and developing practical plans for affecting positive change. It is motivated by the desire to investigate in order to better…

Politicising Action Research through Queer Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filax, Gloria

2006-01-01

Queer theory and action research together offer possibilities for exposing the deep injustice of both homophobia and heterosexism. Underpinning identity categories of sexuality and gender, these forms of social injustice lurk in schools, families, religions, communities, and nation-states. For educators and educational researchers, addressing…

Action Research: An Approach for the Teachers in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yasmeen, Ghazala

2008-01-01

Introduction: Action Research is a formative study of progress commonly practiced by teachers in schools. Basically an action research is a spiral process that includes problem investigation, taking action & fact-finding about the result of action. It enables a teacher to adopt/craft most appropriate strategy within its own teaching environment.…

Critical Action Research and Third Wave Feminism: A Meeting of Paradigms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiner, Gaby

2004-01-01

Critical action research emphasises participation, democracy and social critique, and thus has had considerable potential for feminist scholarship and action. Feminist action research, in turn, has gained a foothold in education, for example, through the work of Hollingsworth, Miller, Lather and others, although much action research might still be…

Utilising Collaborative Forms of Educational Action Research: Some Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenbank, Paul

2007-01-01

This article considers the value of collaborative forms of educational action research in higher education and the difficulties involved in implementing such forms of research. It is argued that educational action research represents an opportunity for improving teaching and learning and developing the knowledge and skills of those participating…

[The Positionality of Caring Action: Small Group Dialogue in a Course on Nursing Ethics].

PubMed

Chiang, Hsien-Hsien

2016-12-01

The content of nursing-ethics education has typically focused on the external standards of caring behavior and neglected the relationship between the ethical attitudes and internal experiences of caregivers. To explore the embodied experience in order to define the positionality of caring action, which is necessary to enrich the content of nursing ethics through small-group-learning-based dialogue. The researcher, as a participant observer, teaches a course on nursing ethics. Reflective analysis was used to analyze the data from the process of small group learning, a reflective group of faculty members, and 30 reflective journals submitted by 10 students. The results identified three items that were related to the positionality of caring action: the attitudes of belief, including the choice to belief and deep understanding; articulating the value system, including exploring affectivity and positionality; and cultivating the self through self-dialogues and dialogues with others. The attitudes of belief promote trust in interpersonal relationships. Articulating the value system deepens the meaning of caring. Cultivating the self may facilitate the ethical self.

A Case Study Examining Change in Teacher Beliefs Through Collaborative Action Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaino, Katrin; Holbrook, Jack; Rannikmäe, Miia

2013-01-01

The main goal of this study was to explore the role of collaborative action research in eliciting change in teacher beliefs. The beliefs were those of five chemistry teachers in implementing a new teaching approach, geared to enhancing students' scientific and technological literacy (STL). The teacher beliefs were analysed based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour (2005) by looking at the teacher's (a) attitude towards implementing STL modules, (b) perceived subjective norms, and (c) behavioural control regarding the new teaching approach. After an introductory year, when teachers familiarised themselves with the new approach, a collaborative action research project was initiated in the second year of the study, helping teachers to minimise or overcome initially perceived constraints when implementing STL modules in their classroom. The processes of teacher change and the course of the project were investigated by teacher interviews, teacher informal commentaries, and meeting records. The formation of positive beliefs towards a STL approach increased continuously, although its extent and character varied depending on the teacher. The close cooperation, in the format of collaborative action research and especially through teacher group reflections and perceived collegial support, did support teacher professional development including change in their beliefs towards the new teaching approach. Additionally, positive feedback gained from other teachers through running a two-day in-service course in year three helped to strengthen all five teachers' existing beliefs towards the new approach. The current research demonstrated that perceived constraints, where identified, can be meaningfully addressed by teachers, through undertaking collaborative action research.

Explaining radical group behavior: Developing emotion and efficacy routes to normative and nonnormative collective action.

PubMed

Tausch, Nicole; Becker, Julia C; Spears, Russell; Christ, Oliver; Saab, Rim; Singh, Purnima; Siddiqui, Roomana N

2011-07-01

A recent model of collective action distinguishes 2 distinct pathways: an emotional pathway whereby anger in response to injustice motivates action and an efficacy pathway where the belief that issues can be solved collectively increases the likelihood that group members take action (van Zomeren, Spears, Fischer, & Leach, 2004). Research supporting this model has, however, focused entirely on relatively normative actions such as participating in demonstrations. We argue that the relations between emotions, efficacy, and action differ for more extreme, nonnormative actions and propose (a) that nonnormative actions are often driven by a sense of low efficacy and (b) that contempt, which, unlike anger, entails psychological distancing and a lack of reconciliatory intentions, predicts nonnormative action. These ideas were tested in 3 survey studies examining student protests against tuition fees in Germany (N = 332), Indian Muslims' action support in relation to ingroup disadvantage (N = 156), and British Muslims' responses to British foreign policy (N = 466). Results were generally supportive of predictions and indicated that (a) anger was strongly related to normative action but overall unrelated or less strongly related to nonnormative action, (b) contempt was either unrelated or negatively related to normative action but significantly positively predicted nonnormative action, and (c) efficacy was positively related to normative action and negatively related to nonnormative action. The implications of these findings for understanding and dealing with extreme intergroup phenomena such as terrorism are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Using action research in nursing practice with older people: democratizing knowledge.

PubMed

Reed, Jan

2005-05-01

This paper reports on an action research study which raised some questions about the processes of developing a sense of shared ownership in action research in a research environment which does not always have the appropriate mechanisms to support and sustain action research. Action research has gained popularity in nursing and healthcare research, offering a way of developing practice-based knowledge, which can assist in changing practice and democratizing inquiry. There are other organizational constraints on action research which arise at different levels, and which also require discussion. These can be issues about communication and ownership at a practice level and issues of funding and project management procedures. This paper reports on a study in which these issues came to the fore, and offers some thoughts on how they can affect the processes of action research. While the principles of action research appear to offer much towards the development of a practice-rooted body of knowledge for nursing, unless some of the issues of ownership are resolved, it is unlikely to move beyond academic rhetoric. If nursing is to engage in action research, this must be done critically and reflectively and careful attention paid to developing an inclusive and collaborative approach to knowledge and practice development. Furthermore, to develop in nursing and health care research, it must find ways to meet the requirements of funding bodies.

Deliberation, Capability and Action Research: Knowledge and Becoming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibbs, Paul

2014-01-01

In this short paper I examine whether obtaining the capability to change practice can be solely achieved through reflective action research, and how. I take as our framework of analysis that offered by Aristotelian thought, especially in the discussion of powers and potential. I conclude that action research as a way of changing practice cannot be…

Facilitating Lecturer Development and Student Learning through Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Westhuizen, C. N.

2008-01-01

The aim of the action research project is to improve my own practice as research methodology lecturer to facilitate effective student learning to enable students to become reflective practitioners with responsibility for their own professional development through action research in their own classrooms, and to motivate the students and increase…

What Every PDS Partner Should Know about Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garin, Eva

2016-01-01

This article explores the process of an action research project undertaken by a PDS partnership. Participants in a one day professional development seminar shared their perspectives on action research within a PDS network, and findings indicate that participants valued the collaborative effort and opportunities to share their research efforts.…

History and Culture of Alara--The Action Learning and Action Research Association

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuber-Skerritt, Ortrun; Passfield, Ron

2016-01-01

As co-founders of the Action Learning and Action Research Association (ALARA), we tell the story of this international network organisation through our personal experience. Our history traces the evolution of ALARA from origins at the first World Congress in 1990 in Brisbane, Australia, through development over two and a half decades, to its…

Groups' Actions Trump Injunctive Reaction in an Incidental Observation by Young Children

PubMed Central

Turner, Cameron R.; Nielsen, Mark; Collier-Baker, Emma

2014-01-01

Children's ability to use social information to direct their behavior is key to their survival and development. However, in observing adult behavior, children are confronted with multiple forms of social information that may vary in reliability and adaptiveness. Two of the most well established biases influencing human behavior are: (1) following the majority (majority influence or conformity); and (2) the use of emotional signals. The current experiment aimed to evaluate how children respond when both information about the majority behavior of a group (descriptive norm) and attitudes of the group towards a behavior (injunctive norm, expressed through an emotional reaction) are present and what happens when they are in conflict. We used a method designed to mimic the manner in which children might observe group members' behavior during development. Novel apparatuses were constructed for which there were two discrete actions that could be performed to retrieve a reward. Three-year-olds observed four adults demonstrating one set of actions, followed by a fifth adult who presented an alternative set of actions. The first four adults' injunctive responses to this fifth adult's actions were manipulated between-groups: positive, negative, or neutral. It was found that children preferred to copy the majority action, regardless of the injunctive reaction of the group. We argue that this affirms the adaptive utility of copying the majority. PMID:25198163

Narratives of Adolescent Girls Journeying via Feminist Participatory Action Research through the Aftermath of Divorce

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Botha, Carolina S.; Hay, Johnnie

2016-01-01

This article documents the (often counter-normative) narrative journey of four South African adolescent girls whose biological parents had divorced--and one (or both) parent(s) remarried. Through purposive sampling within a qualitative research paradigm of feminist participatory action research, they were supported in group context by the primary…

Nurse-led action research project for expanding nurses' role in patient education in Iran: Process, structure, and outcomes.

PubMed

Khorasani, Parvaneh; Rassouli, Maryam; Parvizy, Soroor; Zagheri-Tafreshi, Mansoureh; Nasr-Esfahani, Mahmood

2015-01-01

Patient education is among the lowest met need of patients in Iran; therefore, expansion of that role can result in greater professional accountability. This study aimed to explain the practical science of the process, structure, and outcomes of a nurse-led action research project to expand the nurses' role in patient education in Iran. This study was part of a participatory action research. Daily communications and monthly joint meetings were held from January 2012 to February 2014 for planning and management. These were based on the research protocol, and the conceptual framework included the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships process by means of Leadership for Change skills. Data were produced and gathered through participant observations. Administrative data included project records, official documents, artifacts, news, and reports, which were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. A participatory project was established with three groups of participants organized from both academic and clinical fields. These consisted of a "core research support team," "two steering committees," and community representatives of clients and professionals as "feedback groups." A seven-stage process, named the "Nurse Educators: Al-Zahra Role Expansion Action Research" (NEAREAR) process, resulted from the project, in which strategic issues were gradually developed and implemented through 32 action plans and quality improvement cycles of action research. Audits and supervision evaluations showed meaningful changes in capacity building components. A nurse-led ad hoc structure with academic-clinical partnerships and strategic management process was suggested as a possible practical model for expanding nurses' educational role in similar contexts. Implications and practical science introduced in this action research could also be applicable for top managers and health system policy makers in a wider range of practice.

Chemical Safety for Sustainability: Research Action Plan

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Strategic Research Action Plan for EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability research program presents the purpose, design and themes of the Agency’s research efforts to ensure safety in the design, manufacture and use of existing and future chemicals.

Peer-led Aboriginal parent support: Program development for vulnerable populations with participatory action research.

PubMed

Munns, Ailsa; Toye, Christine; Hegney, Desley; Kickett, Marion; Marriott, Rhonda; Walker, Roz

2017-10-01

Participatory action research (PAR) is a credible, culturally appropriate methodology that can be used to effect collaborative change within vulnerable populations. This PAR study was undertaken in a Western Australian metropolitan setting to develop and evaluate the suitability, feasibility and effectiveness of an Aboriginal peer-led home visiting programme. A secondary aim, addressed in this paper, was to explore and describe research methodology used for the study and provide recommendations for its implementation in other similar situations. PAR using action learning sets was employed to develop the parent support programme and data addressing the secondary, methodological aim were collected through focus groups using semi-structured and unstructured interview schedules. Findings were addressed throughout the action research process to enhance the research process. The themes that emerged from the data and addressed the methodological aim were the need for safe communication processes; supportive engagement processes and supportive organisational processes. Aboriginal peer support workers (PSWs) and community support agencies identified three important elements central to their capacity to engage and work within the PAR methodology. This research has provided innovative data, highlighting processes and recommendations for child health nurses to engage with the PSWs, parents and community agencies to explore culturally acceptable elements for an empowering methodology for peer-led home visiting support. There is potential for this nursing research to credibly inform policy development for Aboriginal child and family health service delivery, in addition to other vulnerable population groups. Child health nurses/researchers can use these new understandings to work in partnership with Aboriginal communities and families to develop empowering and culturally acceptable strategies for developing Aboriginal parent support for the early years. Impact Statement Child

Diffusion, decolonializing, and participatory action research.

PubMed

Woodward, William R; Hetley, Richard S

2007-03-01

Miki Takasuna describes knowledge transfer between elite communities of scientists, a process by which ideas become structurally transformed in the host culture. By contrast, a process that we have termed knowledge transfer by deelitization occurs when (a) participatory action researchers work with a community to identify a problem involving oppression or exploitation. Then (b) community members suggest solutions and acquire the tools of analysis and action to pursue social actions. (c) Disadvantaged persons thereby become more aware of their own abilities and resources, and persons with special expertise become more effective. (d) Rather than detachment and value neutrality, this joint process involves advocacy and structural transformation. In the examples of participatory action research documented here, Third World social scientists collaborated with indigenous populations to solve problems of literacy, community-building, land ownership, and political voice. Western social scientists, inspired by these non-Western scientists, then joined in promoting PAR both in the Third World and in Europe and the Americas, e.g., adapting it for solving problems of people with disabilities or disenfranchised women. Emancipatory goals such as these may even help North American psychologists to break free of some methodological chains and to bring about social and political change.

The Quality of an Action Research Thesis in the Social Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuber-Skerrit, Ortrun; Fletcher, Margaret

2007-01-01

Purpose: The paper seeks to identify the quality characteristics of critical action research and action research theses compared to traditional research thesis writing. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the literature and the authors' experience with supervising and examining action research theses, the paper identifies key problem areas in…

Community stress and social and technological change: a framework for interpreting the behavior of social movements and community action groups

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perry, R.W.; Schuller, C.R.; Lindell, M.K.

1980-06-01

The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive examination of existing research on community organizations and community political systems. These findings will be integrated into a framework for understanding the variety of social and political responses which may be manifest in small communities facing the prospect of hosting a major nuclear facility. The principal focus is on the formation and behavior of social groups in communities, particularly politically oriented social movements or community action groups. This analysis is set on the context of a community experiencing social stress. Most of the discussion which follows is based on anmore » extrapolation from the large body of reseach literature on the topics in sociology, political science, and psychology. Chapter I examines the community political systems which are the arena in which local action groups will operate. Chapter II focuses on the internal conditions necessary for the formation and maintenance of community action groups. Chapter III reviews the research literature on the social environment of organizations in communities and the external conditions which are necessary to maintain organizations over time. Chapter IV develops a logic whereby the community consensus model can be adopted to particular social movement organizations and community actions groups. Chapter V examines changes in aspects of the environment which can be a function of the operation of movement organizations, and changes in the structure and tactics of movement organizations which appear to be a response to the environment.« less

"..., But I Cannot Do Research": Action-Research and Early Childhood Teachers. A Case Study from Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magos, Kostas

2012-01-01

Although action-research is a well-known research methodology in the field of education, in the case of Greece there are few actions-researches carried out by early childhood teachers. The absence of action-research in early childhood education settings is related to the way many early childhood teachers shape their professional role as well as…

Faithful actions of locally compact quantum groups on classical spaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goswami, Debashish; Roy, Sutanu

2017-07-01

We construct examples of locally compact quantum groups coming from bicrossed product construction, including non-Kac ones, which can faithfully and ergodically act on connected classical (noncompact) smooth manifolds. However, none of these actions can be isometric in the sense of Goswami (Commun Math Phys 285(1):141-160, 2009), leading to the conjecture that the result obtained by Goswami and Joardar (Rigidity of action of compact quantum groups on compact, connected manifolds, 2013. arXiv:1309.1294) about nonexistence of genuine quantum isometry of classical compact connected Riemannian manifolds may hold in the noncompact case as well.

Researcher liability for negligence in human subject research: informed consent and researcher malpractice actions.

PubMed

Jansson, Roger L

2003-02-01

Two sets of federal regulations, the "Common Rule" and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, govern human subject research that is either federally-funded or involves FDA regulated products. These regulations require, inter alia, that: (1) researchers obtain informed consent from human subjects, and (2) that an Institutional Review Board (IRB) independently review and approve the research protocol. Although the federal regulations do not provide an express cause of action against researchers, research subjects should be able to bring informed consent and malpractice actions against researchers by establishing a duty of care and standard of care. Researchers owe human subjects a duty of care analogous to the special relationship between physicians and patients. The federal regulations should provide the minimum standard of care for informed consent in human subject research, and complying with them should be a partial defense. In contrast, expert testimony should establish the standard of care for researcher malpractice, and IRB approval should be a partial defense.

The Action Researcher as Chameleon.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadfield, Mark; Bennett, Steve

1995-01-01

Describes a project that trained institutional policymakers in action research regarding problems in developing training policies about young people's needs, examining attempts to collaborate and dialog with stakeholders and discussing how project members became enmeshed in complex sets of relationships calling for construction of dialog in…

Nurse-led action research project for expanding nurses’ role in patient education in Iran: Process, structure, and outcomes

PubMed Central

Khorasani, Parvaneh; Rassouli, Maryam; Parvizy, Soroor; Zagheri-Tafreshi, Mansoureh; Nasr-Esfahani, Mahmood

2015-01-01

Background: Patient education is among the lowest met need of patients in Iran; therefore, expansion of that role can result in greater professional accountability. This study aimed to explain the practical science of the process, structure, and outcomes of a nurse-led action research project to expand the nurses’ role in patient education in Iran. Materials and Methods: This study was part of a participatory action research. Daily communications and monthly joint meetings were held from January 2012 to February 2014 for planning and management. These were based on the research protocol, and the conceptual framework included the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships process by means of Leadership for Change skills. Data were produced and gathered through participant observations. Administrative data included project records, official documents, artifacts, news, and reports, which were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Results: A participatory project was established with three groups of participants organized from both academic and clinical fields. These consisted of a “core research support team,” “two steering committees,” and community representatives of clients and professionals as “feedback groups.” A seven-stage process, named the “Nurse Educators: Al-Zahra Role Expansion Action Research” (NEAREAR) process, resulted from the project, in which strategic issues were gradually developed and implemented through 32 action plans and quality improvement cycles of action research. Audits and supervision evaluations showed meaningful changes in capacity building components. Conclusions: A nurse-led ad hoc structure with academic–clinical partnerships and strategic management process was suggested as a possible practical model for expanding nurses’ educational role in similar contexts. Implications and practical science introduced in this action research could also be applicable for top managers and health system

Action research in radiography: What it is and how it can be conducted

PubMed Central

Munn, Zachary; Pearson, Alan; Jordan, Zoe; Murphy, Frederick; Pilkington, Diana

2013-01-01

Action research is a form of research that investigates and describes a social or work situation with the aim of achieving a change which results in improvement. This article emphasizes the potential for action research to be a useful research method in radiography. A search was conducted to determine the extent to which action research has been utilized in radiography. Although action research has been used in a number of health-care settings, there are no published examples of action research being utilized in a clinical medical imaging department. Action research is discussed in detail, along with an example guide for an action research study. Action research has been identified as a useful way to affect change, to involve radiographers in the research process, and to introduce evidence-based practice to radiography. PMID:26229607

Collaboration in Action: Office of Research and Development ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The "Collaboration in Action: US EPA's Office of Research and Develop - Current Wildfire Research Program" was invited by the USDA's US Forest Service's Scientific Executive Committee to provide USFS scientific leadership active and potential future opportunities for cooperation/collaboration. Health impacts of wildfire smoke merit the attention and action of the US EPA and current research is supported in the ACE and SHC Research Programs. Wildland fire smoke research has taken on greater importance because the 1) contribution of wildland fire PM emissions relative to total US PM emissions is increasing, 2) the population health impacts are measurable and costly, 3) vulnerable and sensitive populations at-risk are increasing attendant to our aging U.S. population and the increasing area of the wildland-urban interface, and 4) health impacts of smoke could be minimized by identifying at-risk individuals and reducing their exposures. Examples are provided. The "Collaboration in Action: US EPA's Office of Research and Develop - Current Wildfire Research Program" was invited by the USDA's US Forest Service's Scientific Executive Committee to provide USFS scientific leadership active and potential future opportunities for cooperation/collaboration.

Action Research and Collaborative Research: Their Specific Contributions to Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savoie-Zajc, Lorraine; Descamps-Bednarz, Nadine

2007-01-01

The increasing complexity of the teaching profession calls for engaged professionals in their professional development. This article claims that participative types of research contribute differently to professional development. Its intent is to explore the different contributions action research and collaborative research bring. One action…

Admiral nursing competency project: practice development and action research.

PubMed

Dewing, Jan; Traynor, Victoria

2005-07-01

project commissioners and this has had a positive impact on implementation. In this paper, we report on combining systematic practice development with action research to achieve immediate project aims. In addition we show how a project of this nature can contribute to developing skills in practitioners necessary for cultural changes in practice and contributes to wider issues of modernization within nursing and health care. This competency framework will enable Admiral Nurses to demonstrate their level of specialist practice, as individuals and collectively as a service and it also promotes the principles of nurses as life long learners. This may have relevance to other groups of specialist nurses. The project has widespread relevance for two reasons. Firstly, it shows that nurses can be involved in designing and testing a competency framework as collaborators. Secondly, that to achieve this within the spirit of approaches, such as systematic practice development and action research, can be testing for all collaborators even were there is a shared or espoused aim.

Key Actions of Successful Summer Research Mentors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raman, D. Raj; Geisinger, Brandi N.; Kemis, Mari R.; de la Mora, Arlene

2016-01-01

Summer research opportunities for undergraduates, such as those supported by the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, can be critical experiences that help persuade students to pursue research through graduate studies. Studies analyzing the key actions of successful mentors are scarce. The goal of…

Exploring and Implementing Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savin-Baden, Maggi; Wimpenny, Katherine

2007-01-01

This paper explores the research method of participatory action research, first by examining the roots of this approach and then analysing the shift to using more participatory approaches than in former years. It begins by considering the reasoning and theoretical underpinning for adopting this approach and provides an overview of the steps to be…

Action-Oriented Population Nutrition Research: High Demand but Limited Supply

PubMed Central

Pham, Judy; Pelletier, David

2015-01-01

Background: The relatively rapid ascendancy of nutrition and health on policy agendas, along with greater emphasis on accountability and results, has stimulated interest in new forms of research to guide the development and implementation of effective policies, programs, and interventions—what we refer to as action-oriented research. To date, action-oriented research in the nutrition field is thought to be the exception rather than the rule, but empirical evidence to support this claim is lacking. Methods: We conducted a survey of selected journals in nutrition and public health to assess the extent and nature of population nutrition research published in 2012 that embodied 5 defined characteristics of action-oriented research in relation to: (1) topic(s) of study, (2) processes/influences, (3) actors, (4) methods, and (5) approaches. We identified 762 articles from the 6 selected nutrition journals and 77 nutrition-related articles from the 4 selected public health journals that met our search criteria. Results: Only 7% of the 762 papers in nutrition journals had at least 1 of the 5 action-oriented research characteristics, compared with 36% of the 77 nutrition-related papers in the public health journals. Of all 80 articles that had at least 1 action-oriented research characteristic, only 5 articles (6.25%) embodied all 5 characteristics. Articles with action-oriented research covered a broad range of topics and processes/influences, including policy, workforce development, and schools, as well as actors, such as program staff, store owners, parents, and school staff. In addition, various research methods were used, such as stakeholder analysis, ethnographic narrative, iterative action research, and decision tree modeling, as well as different approaches, including participant-observer and community-based participatory research. Conclusions: Action-oriented research represents a small fraction of articles published in nutrition journals, especially compared

Climate Action Planning Process | Climate Neutral Research Campuses | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Action Planning Process Climate Action Planning Process For research campuses, NREL has developed a five-step process to develop and implement climate action plans: Determine baseline energy consumption Analyze technology options Prepare a plan and set priorities Implement the climate action plan Measure and

Community action and research as citizenship construction.

PubMed

Montero, Maritza

2009-03-01

Social change, well-being and liberation have been intertwined in community research and action, as much as being used as political common-places. In this paper, it is argued that community research and action can have a political character. The epistemological premises shared by both the community and political spheres are discussed, and concepts are defined. The way community psychological action can produce changes is illustrated by an experience carried out with children from poverty sectors of Caracas, Venezuela, intended to construct citizenship by developing awareness about values, civic rights and duties, while experiencing the advantages of participation, peaceful negotiation and solidarity, during art classes. Topics regarding citizenship values and ethics were painted and discussed in a participatory way. Results about how the children developed consciousness about those topics, relating them to their lives, are presented.

Action Research and ICT Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krumsvik, Rune

2012-01-01

This emancipatory action research study investigates implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools. The case study examined retrospectively was part of a Norwegian ICT project called PILOT, the focus of which concerns the impact on school development of a locally developed Internet subject portal and study periods.…

Small Group Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGrath, Joseph E.

1978-01-01

Summarizes research on small group processes by giving a comprehensive account of the types of variables primarily studied in the laboratory. These include group structure, group composition, group size, and group relations. Considers effects of power, leadership, conformity to social norms, and role relationships. (Author/AV)

Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators. Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mertler, Craig A.

2011-01-01

Written for pre- and in-service educators, this "Third Edition" of Craig A. Mertler's "Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators" introduces the process of conducting one's own classroom- or school-based action research in conjunction with everyday instructional practices and activities. The text provides educators with the…

Disability Awareness and Action Working Group (DAAWG) Event with

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-12

Dr. Temple Grandin addresses employees as the keynote speaker at Kennedy Space Center's annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) event. A prominent author and speaker on animal behavior and autism, she is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Kennedy's Disability Awareness and Action Working Group partnered with the Kennedy Networking Opportunities for Women group to sponsor the presentation.

Preparing Palestinian Reflective English Language Teachers through Classroom Based Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dajani, Majida "Mohammed Yousef "

2015-01-01

This study aimed to describe the implementation of individual action research projects among some forty English language teachers distributed in thirty Palestinian schools in Ramallah and Qabatya districts-Palestine. It aimed to analyze the outcomes of the teachers' action research as part of a broader participatory action research project that is…

Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sample McMeeking, L. B.; Weinberg, A. E.

2013-12-01

Research experiences for undergraduates (REU) have been shown to be effective in improving undergraduate students' personal/professional development, ability to synthesize knowledge, improvement in research skills, professional advancement, and career choice. Adding to the literature on REU programs, a new conceptual model situating REU within a context of participatory action research (PAR) is presented and compared with data from a PAR-based coastal climate research experience that took place in Summer 2012. The purpose of the interdisciplinary Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates (PAREU) model is to act as an additional year to traditional, lab-based REU where undergraduate science students, social science experts, and community members collaborate to develop research with the goal of enacting change. The benefits to traditional REU's are well established and include increased content knowledge, better research skills, changes in attitudes, and greater career awareness gained by students. Additional positive outcomes are expected from undergraduate researchers (UR) who participate in PAREU, including the ability to better communicate with non-scientists. With highly politicized aspects of science, such as climate change, this becomes especially important for future scientists. Further, they will be able to articulate the relevance of science research to society, which is an important skill, especially given the funding climate where agencies require broader impacts statements. Making science relevant may also benefit URs who wish to apply their science research. Finally, URs will gain social science research skills by apprenticing in a research project that includes science and social science research components, which enables them to participate in future education and outreach. The model also positively impacts community members by elevating their voices within and outside the community, particularly in areas severely underserved

Action Research as a Professional Development Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Chad

2011-01-01

Reflective teachers are always searching for ways to improve their teaching. When this reflection becomes intentional and systematic, they are engaging in teacher research. This type of research, sometimes called "action research", can help bridge the gap between theory and practice by addressing topics that are relevant to practicing teachers.…

Developing Critical Understanding by Teaching Action Research to Undergraduate Psychology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Gaby; Murray, Michael

2010-01-01

Action research assumes the active engagement of the stakeholders, such as the community, in the research, and a multiple-level process of reflection in order to evaluate and monitor the actions taken. This makes action research a suitable methodology to increase the critical understanding of the participants. In this paper we describe the…

Culminating Experience Action Research Projects, Volume 2, Fall 2002.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAllister, Deborah A., Ed.; Moyer, Peggy S., Ed.

As part of the graduate teacher licensure program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, candidates are required to complete an action research project during a course that coincides with the student teaching experience. The syllabus for the course, "Education 590 Culminating Experience," is included, followed by action research projects…

Critical Literacy for School Improvement: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Karyn; White, Robert E.

2008-01-01

This article provides an overview of the integrative process of initiating an action research project on literacy for students "at risk" in a Canadian urban elementary school. As the article demonstrates, this requires development of a school-wide framework, which informs the action research project and desired outcomes, and a shared…

Phenomenography: Implications for Expanding the Educational Action Research Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaulieu, Rodney

2017-01-01

Action research is a growing tradition for improving teachers' practice and students' learning outcomes, and it draws from a variety of methods for collecting and analysing data. In this article, phenomenography is proposed as an innovative approach for enhancing action research. With an emphasis on mapping variations on students' experience,…

Action Research: An Educational Leader's Guide to School Improvement. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glanz, Jeffrey

This book, in its second edition, is intended as a practical guide to conducting action research in schools--it outlines the process of designing and reporting an action research project. Contending that action research can be used as a powerful tool that can contribute to school renewal and instructional improvement, the book defines and presents…

Making Tracks 1.0: Action Researching an Active Transportation Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Daniel; Foran, Andrew; Robinson, Ingrid

2014-01-01

This paper reports on the results of the first cycle of an action research project. The objective of this action research was to examine the implementation of a school-based active transportation education program (Making Tracks). A two-cycle action research design was employed in which elementary school students' (ages 7-9), middle school…

Scaffolding Strategies for Wiki-Based Collaboration: Action Research in a Multicultural Japanese Language Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Insung; Suzuki, Yoko

2015-01-01

Wikis can be used to encourage and support collaborative constructivist learning. However, their effectiveness depends upon the use of scaffolding strategies to guide the students in their use. This action research investigated three scaffolding strategies for wiki-based multicultural Japanese language learning: worked examples, grouping and peer…

Action Research to Improve Youth and Adult Literacy: Empowering Learners in a Multilingual World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alidou, Hassana, Ed.; Glanz, Christine, Ed.

2015-01-01

One of the greatest challenges in education today is to adapt and respond to a linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social disintegration and discrimination. Participatory and collaborative action research represents an empowering and emancipatory approach to this challenge because the "target groups" become…

Professional Learning with Action Research in Innovative Middle Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Netcoh, Steven; Olofson, Mark W.; Downes, John M.; Bishop, Penny A.

2017-01-01

This article illustrates how action research can be used as a model for professional development with middle grades educators in rapidly changing and technology-intensive schools. Drawing upon ten years of using this model, the authors present three examples of educator action research to highlight five characteristics of effective projects: (1)…

Middle School Responses to Cyberbullying: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zidack, Astri Marie

2013-01-01

This action research study engaged a small public middle school in the northwest United States in a collaborative process to address cyberbullying issues that often lead to academic and behavior problems in schools (Hinduja, 2010; Olweus, 2010). The specific purpose of this action research study was to address the middle school's cyberbullying…

The Promise, Pitfalls, and Persistent Challenge of Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgins, Chris

2016-01-01

Action research began as an ambitious epistemological and social intervention. As the concept has become reified, packaged for methodology textbooks and professional development workshops, it has degenerated into a cure that may be worse than the disease. The point is not the trivial one that action research, like any practice, sometimes shows up…

Overcoming diabetes-related stigma in Iran: A participatory action research.

PubMed

Doosti-Irani, Mehri; Abdoli, Samereh; Parvizy, Soroor; Fatemi, Naimeh Seyed

2017-08-01

The study aimed to overcome diabetes-related stigma in individuals living with type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) in Iran. The study proposed that if individuals with T1DM and the community work together to develop and implement an anti-stigma program, diabetes-related stigma in individuals with T1DM can be reduced. This study was conducted as a participatory action research study based on Kemmis and McTaggert's (2000) Model to design and implement an anti-stigma program for T1DM. Participants were selected among individuals with T1DM, their family members, health care providers, and residents without diabetes in Isfahan, Iran. Data collection was conducted using interviews, focus groups, emails, and text messages. Content analysis was used to analyze the data to develop anti-stigma interventions. Interventions were prioritized based on the Suitability, Feasibility and Flexibility (SFF) Matrix. Anti-stigma interventions were implemented in different levels in Isfahan, Iran, from 2011 to 2014. The effect of the program was evaluated based on interviews, feedback, and focus groups at the individual level. However, interventions were implemented in different levels including community, organization, family, and individual. Participants with T1DM experienced significant empowerment during the project to overcome diabetes-related stigma. The three main themes indicating this feeling of empowerment are "from doubt to trust", "from shadow to light", and "from me to us". Participatory action research can be an effective way to reduce diabetes-related stigma in individuals living with T1DM. It integrates the voices of the marginalized group reducing stigma and discrimination against diabetes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Disability Awareness and Action Working Group (DAAWG) Event with

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-12

Dr. Temple Grandin speaks with employees following Kennedy Space Center's annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) event. Grandin served as keynote speaker. A prominent author and speaker on animal behavior and autism, she is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Kennedy's Disability Awareness and Action Working Group partnered with the Kennedy Networking Opportunities for Women group to sponsor the presentation.

Assessment as Action Research: Bridging Academic Scholarship and Everyday Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malenfant, Kara J.; Hinchliffe, Lisa Janicke; Gilchrist, Debra

2016-01-01

This introductory essay to this special issue demonstrates that action research has a vital role in evidence-informed practice in academic libraries. This special issue of "College and Research Libraries" ("C&RL") proudly features a selection of action research studies by participants of the Association of College and…

An Action Research Study on the Effect of Interactive Technology and Active Learning on Student Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bear, Teresa J.

2013-01-01

This quantitative action science research study utilized a causal-comparative experimental research design in order to determine if the use of student response systems (clickers), as an active learning strategy in a community college course, improved student performance in the course. Students in the experimental group (n = 26) used clickers to…

How Does Telling the Truth Help Educational Action Research?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, Erik

2010-01-01

A number of key constructs underpin educational action research. This paper focuses on the concept of "truth" and by doing so hopes to highlight some debate in this area. In reflecting upon what "truth" might mean to those involved in action research, I shall critically evaluate Thorndike's "Law of Effect" and Bruner's "Three Forms of…

Embodied Learning and Creative Writing: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tobin, Jennifer Ann

2012-01-01

This action research study used narrative analysis to explore the role of the body in the writing process of creative writers. Specifically, the purpose of this action research study was threefold: it was first to examine how professional creative writers describe their writing process with particular attention to their perceptions of the role and…

Experiences in Conducting Participatory Communication Research for HIV Prevention Globally: Translating Critical Dialog into Action through Action Media.

PubMed

Parker, Warren Martin; Becker-Benton, Antje

2016-01-01

Developing communication to support health and well-being of vulnerable communities requires a multifaceted understanding of local perspectives of contextual challenges and potentials for change. While participatory research enhances understanding, robust methodologies are necessary to translate emerging concepts into viable communication approaches. Communicators and change agents need to clarify pathways for change, barriers and enablers for change, as well as the role, orientation, and content of communication to support change. While various approaches to participatory action research with vulnerable communities have been developed, there is a dearth of methodologies that address the formulation of communication concepts that can be applied at scale. The Action Media methodology has been refined over a period of two decades, being applied to addressing HIV, related aspects such as gender-based violence, as well as broader issues, such as maternal and child health, sanitation, and malaria in Africa, The Caribbean, and Asia. The approach employs a sequence of interactive sessions involving communicator researchers and participants from one or more communities that face social or health challenges. Sessions focus on understanding audiences through their engagement with these challenges and leading to shaping of relevant communication concepts that can be linked to mobilization for change. The Action Media methodology contributes to processes of shared learning linked to addressing social and health challenges. This includes determining priorities, identifying barriers and facilitators for change, understanding processes of mobilizing knowledge in relation to context, determining appropriate communication approaches, and integrating indigenous language and cultural perspectives into communication concepts. Emerging communication strategies include support to systematic action and long-term mobilization. Communication to address public health concerns is typically

Preparing Social Justice Oriented Teachers: The Potential Role of Action Research in the PDS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodman, Stephanie L.; Lai, Kerri; Campet, Melissa; Cavallero-Lotocki, Renee; Hopkins, Aaron; Onidi, Christine

2014-01-01

Deliberate investigation into practice is an essential of the National Association for Professional Development Schools' defining elements of a Professional Development School (PDS). This article reports on the pilot efforts of one PDS as it initiated deliberate investigation through action research with a small group of teacher candidates. The…

Seventh-Grade Students' Understanding of Chemical Reactions: Reflections from an Action Research Interview Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilks, Ingo; Moellering, Jens; Valanides, Nicos

2007-01-01

This paper discusses seventh-grade students' explanations of dissolution and combustion and also identifies their understanding of the differences between physical and chemical changes. A teaching strategy was initially negotiated within an action research group and this strategy was then employed in teaching seventh-grade students. The teaching…

Benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice: a focus group approach.

PubMed

Atkinson, Nancy L; Permuth-Levine, Rachel

2009-01-01

To explore perceived benefits, barriers, and cues to action of yoga practice among adults. Focus groups were conducted with persons who had never practiced yoga, practitioners of one year or less, and practitioners for more than one year. The Health Belief Model was the theoretical foundation of inquiry. All participants acknowledged a variety of benefits of yoga. Barriers outweighed benefits among persons who had never practiced despite knowledge of benefits. Positive experiences with yoga and yoga instructors facilitated practice. Newly identified benefits and barriers indicate the need for quantitative research and behavioral trials.

Action Research Projects in Distance Education: A Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramakrishna, C. Pushpa; Prasad, V. S.

This manual, prepared by the Distance Education Council (India) presents guidelines for action research in distance education, balancing practical research activities with a sound theoretical research base. Chapter 1, "Scope, Purpose and Design of the Manual," suggests several definitions of research; draws distinctions between academic…

Getting Girls in the Game: Action Research in the Gymnasium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Daniel B.

2013-01-01

This article presents an action research project focused on improving physical education (PE) for adolescent female students. One university researcher, three male PE teachers, and 13 of their most disengaged female students participated in the one-year, two-cycle, action research project. The process and results are offered so that future PE…

Exploring participant appreciation of group-based principles for action in community-based physical activity programs for socially vulnerable groups in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Herens, Marion; Wagemakers, Annemarie; Vaandrager, Lenneke; Koelen, Maria

2015-11-25

Physical inactivity is a core risk factor for non-communicable diseases. In the Netherlands, socially vulnerable groups are relatively less active than groups with higher socio-economic status. Community-based health-enhancing physical activity (CBHEPA) programs aim to empower socially vulnerable groups by improving participants' health and wellbeing through physical activity. CBHEPA programs often revolve around group-based principles for action, such as active participation, enjoyment, and fostering group processes. As such principles are rarely made explicit, our study aims to identify which of the group-based principles for action are considered important by participants. Respondents (n = 76) from ten focus groups scored their individual appreciation of group-based principles for action - active participation, enjoyment, and fostering group processes - on a three-point, statement-based scale. Opinions were further discussed in the focus group. Focus group discussions were transcribed and analysed by a team of investigators. The coding procedures, identifying elements appreciated in group-based principles for action, were thematic and data driven. Statements about participatory programming generated much less consensus in appreciation among respondents than statements about enjoyment and fostering group processes. To some extent, group members participated in the development of program content. Participation in group formation or community initiatives was less frequently perceived as something within group members' control. Enjoyment, expressed as physical and emotional experiences, was found to be an individual driver of group exercise. Fostering group processes, expressed as social support, was found to contribute to enjoyment and learning achievements. Responsive leadership, ensuring responsive guidance, by an enthusiastic exercise trainer acting as a role model, were identified as additional necessary principles for action. Group-based principles for

"I've Lost My Husband, My House and I Need a New Knee...Why Should I Smile?": Action Research Evaluation of a Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Program for Older Adults with Depression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Lisa; Reid, Corinne

2006-01-01

The current paper details an action research approach to developing and evaluating a group cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) program for older adults (65+ years) experiencing depression. This approach allowed the development of a novel program and for each component of the program to be evaluated and modified in an iterative, developmental…

Disability Awareness and Action Working Group (DAAWG) Event with

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-12

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana addresses employees at the start of the annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) event, which featured Dr. Temple Grandin as keynote speaker. A prominent author and speaker on animal behavior and autism, she is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Kennedy's Disability Awareness and Action Working Group partnered with the Kennedy Networking Opportunities for Women group to sponsor the presentation.

Assessing participants' perceptions on group-based principles for action in community-based health enhancing physical activity programmes: The APEF tool.

PubMed

Herens, Marion; Wagemakers, Annemarie

2017-12-01

In community-based health enhancing physical activity (CBHEPA) programmes, group-based principles for action such as active participation, enjoyment, and fostering group processes are widely advocated. However, not much is known about participants' perceptions of these principles as there are no assessment tools available. Therefore, this article describes the development of the APEF (Active Participation, Enjoyment, and Fostering group processes) tool and reports on its implementation in a Dutch CBHEPA programme. Indicators for the principles have been identified from literature research, interviews with professionals, and secondary analysis of three group interviews with 11 practitioners. To address the identified indicators, the APEF tool was developed, pretested, and used in 10 focus groups with 76 participants. The APEF tool consists of eight statements about group-based principles for action, on which CBHEPA participants vote, followed by in-depth discussion. The voting procedure engages participants. Spider diagrams visualise participants' perceptions of group-based principles. The APEF tool addresses the challenge of relating group level outcomes to individual outcomes such as physical activity behaviour. The tool facilitates as well as evaluates group-based principles for action, it stimulates dialogue and is culturally sensitive, but it needs strong facilitating skills to manage group dynamics. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

"Someone Had to Have Faith in Them as Professionals": An Evaluation of an Action Research Project to Develop Educational Leadership across the Early Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Linda

2017-01-01

This article reports on an evaluation of three action research projects developed by a group of teachers working across the early years in three independent schools. The article examines the role of action research in developing educational leadership capabilities. Drawing on the educational leadership literature, concepts and ideas of action and…

Action-Oriented Population Nutrition Research: High Demand but Limited Supply.

PubMed

Pham, Judy; Pelletier, David

2015-05-27

The relatively rapid ascendancy of nutrition and health on policy agendas, along with greater emphasis on accountability and results, has stimulated interest in new forms of research to guide the development and implementation of effective policies, programs, and interventions-what we refer to as action-oriented research. To date, action-oriented research in the nutrition field is thought to be the exception rather than the rule, but empirical evidence to support this claim is lacking. We conducted a survey of selected journals in nutrition and public health to assess the extent and nature of population nutrition research published in 2012 that embodied 5 defined characteristics of action-oriented research in relation to: (1) topic(s) of study, (2) processes/influences, (3) actors, (4) methods, and (5) approaches. We identified 762 articles from the 6 selected nutrition journals and 77 nutrition-related articles from the 4 selected public health journals that met our search criteria. Only 7% of the 762 papers in nutrition journals had at least 1 of the 5 action-oriented research characteristics, compared with 36% of the 77 nutrition-related papers in the public health journals. Of all 80 articles that had at least 1 action-oriented research characteristic, only 5 articles (6.25%) embodied all 5 characteristics. Articles with action-oriented research covered a broad range of topics and processes/influences, including policy, workforce development, and schools, as well as actors, such as program staff, store owners, parents, and school staff. In addition, various research methods were used, such as stakeholder analysis, ethnographic narrative, iterative action research, and decision tree modeling, as well as different approaches, including participant-observer and community-based participatory research. Action-oriented research represents a small fraction of articles published in nutrition journals, especially compared with public health journals. This reinforces

A Self-Study of the Teaching of Action Research in a University Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Jung-ah

2011-01-01

Despite the potential benefits of action research, teaching action research in a university setting can present challenges. Analyzing my own experiences of teaching a university-based course on action research, this self-study investigates what my students (all classroom teachers) did and did not understand about action research and what hindered…

Effects of a Long-Term Participatory Action Research Project on Science Teachers' Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilks, Ingo; Markic, Silvija

2011-01-01

This paper describes the potential of long-term co-operation between science educators and science teachers concerning the teachers' continuous professional development, based on Participatory Action Research in science education. The discussion is based on a six-year case study observing a group of about ten German chemistry teachers by chemistry…

The sense of agency is action-effect causality perception based on cross-modal grouping.

PubMed

Kawabe, Takahiro; Roseboom, Warrick; Nishida, Shin'ya

2013-07-22

Sense of agency, the experience of controlling external events through one's actions, stems from contiguity between action- and effect-related signals. Here we show that human observers link their action- and effect-related signals using a computational principle common to cross-modal sensory grouping. We first report that the detection of a delay between tactile and visual stimuli is enhanced when both stimuli are synchronized with separate auditory stimuli (experiment 1). This occurs because the synchronized auditory stimuli hinder the potential grouping between tactile and visual stimuli. We subsequently demonstrate an analogous effect on observers' key press as an action and a sensory event. This change is associated with a modulation in sense of agency; namely, sense of agency, as evaluated by apparent compressions of action-effect intervals (intentional binding) or subjective causality ratings, is impaired when both participant's action and its putative visual effect events are synchronized with auditory tones (experiments 2 and 3). Moreover, a similar role of action-effect grouping in determining sense of agency is demonstrated when the additional signal is presented in the modality identical to an effect event (experiment 4). These results are consistent with the view that sense of agency is the result of general processes of causal perception and that cross-modal grouping plays a central role in these processes.

Participatory Action Research: An Overview--What Makes It Tick?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaffney, Michael

2008-01-01

In this article I outline different elements of action research in an attempt to describe and define participatory action research (PAR). There is a lot more material available to readers these days, some of which I will refer you to in this article. I see my role here is to summarise enough of this material to help support your reading of the…

Global oral health inequalities: dental caries task group--research agenda.

PubMed

Pitts, N; Amaechi, B; Niederman, R; Acevedo, A-M; Vianna, R; Ganss, C; Ismail, A; Honkala, E

2011-05-01

The IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Task Group on Dental Caries has synthesized current evidence and opinion to identify a five-year implementation and research agenda which should lead to improvements in global oral health, with particular reference to the implementation of current best evidence as well as integrated action to reduce caries and health inequalities between and within countries. The Group determined that research should: integrate health and oral health wherever possible, using common risk factors; be able to respond to and influence international developments in health, healthcare, and health payment systems as well as dental prevention and materials; and exploit the potential for novel funding partnerships with industry and foundations. More effective communication between and among the basic science, clinical science, and health promotion/public health research communities is needed. Translation of research into policy and practice should be a priority for all. Both community and individual interventions need tailoring to achieve a more equal and person-centered preventive focus and reduce any social gradient in health. Recommendations are made for both clinical and public health implementation of existing research and for caries-related research agendas in clinical science, health promotion/public health, and basic science.

Using action research to plan a violence prevention program for emergency departments.

PubMed

Gates, Donna; Gillespie, Gordon; Smith, Carolyn; Rode, Jennifer; Kowalenko, Terry; Smith, Barbara

2011-01-01

Although there are numerous studies that show that emergency department (ED) violence is a prevalent and serious problem for healthcare workers, there is a lack of published evaluations of interventions aimed at reducing this alarming trend. Using an action research model, the authors partnered with six hospitals to plan, implement and evaluate a violence prevention and management intervention. Phase one of this project involved gathering information from employees, managers and patients using focus groups. Ninety-seven persons participated in one of twelve focus groups. The Haddon matrix was used to develop focus group questions aimed at gathering data about the pre-assault, during assault, and post-assault time frames and to compare these findings to planned strategies. Analysis consisted of identification of themes related to intervention strategies for patients/visitors, employees, managers, and the work environment. Thematic analysis results supported the relevance, feasibility, and saliency of the planned intervention strategies. With the exception of a few items, employees and managers from the different occupational groups agreed on the interventions needed to prevent and manage violence against ED workers. Patients focused on improved staff communication and comfort measures. Results support that violence in the emergency department is increasing, that violence is a major concern for those who work in and visit emergency departments, and that interventions are needed to reduce workplace violence. The Haddon matrix along with an action research method was useful to identify intervention strategies most likely to be successfully implemented and sustained by the emergency departments. Copyright © 2011 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ethical issues in action-oriented research in Indonesia.

PubMed

Rachmawaty, Rini

2017-09-01

Action-oriented research is one of the most frequent research types implemented to transform community health in Indonesia. Three researchers and 11 graduate students from a developed country in East Asia conducted a fieldwork program in a remote area in South Sulawesi Province. Although the project was completed, whether or not the international standards for human subject research were applied into that study remains unclear. This study aimed to examine ethical issues raised from that case, analyze constraints to the problems, and recommend alternatives to protect vulnerable populations from being exploited by local/international researchers. A problem-solving approach was used in this study. It began with problem identification, evaluation of the action-oriented research goal, investigation of the constraints to the problem, and recommendation of some relevant alternatives to address the central issue. Ethical Consideration: The approval for conducting the action-oriented research that being investigated in this work was only obtained from the Head of local district. Some ethical issues were found in this case. No special protection for this population, no informed consent was obtained from the participants, exposure to social and economic risks, no future benefits for the subjects, and conflict of interests. Lack of control from the local research ethics committee and lack of competence of local researchers on human subject research were considered as the constraints to the problems. Creating an independent research ethics committee, providing research ethics training to the local researchers, obtaining written/video consents from underserved populations, and meeting local health needs were recommended alternatives to solve these problems. Indonesian government bodies should reform their international collaborative system on research involving human subjects. Exploitation may not occur if all participants as well as all local and national governing bodies

Collaborative action research: implementation of cooperative learning.

PubMed

Smith-Stoner, Marilyn; Molle, Mary E

2010-06-01

Nurse educators must continually improve their teaching skills through innovation. However, research about the process used by faculty members to transform their teaching methods is limited. This collaborative study uses classroom action research to describe, analyze, and address problems encountered in implementing cooperative learning in two undergraduate nursing courses. After four rounds of action and reflection, the following themes emerged: students did not understand the need for structured cooperative learning; classroom structure and seating arrangement influenced the effectiveness of activities; highly structured activities engaged the students; and short, targeted activities that involved novel content were most effective. These findings indicate that designing specific activities to prepare students for class is critical to cooperative learning. Copyright 2010, SLACK Incorporated.

Action Research: Order Out of Chaos.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geffen, Mitzi

2002-01-01

Describes on Israeli English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher's action research project that focused on how to teach reading comprehension in English to a class of ninth grade boys. Outlines the teacher's goals, implementation of the project, and thoughts on the outcomes. (Author/VWL)

Action Research Approach on Mobile Learning Design for the Underserved

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Paul H.

2009-01-01

This paper discusses an action research study focused on developing a mobile learning model of literacy development for underserved migrant indigenous children in Latin America. The research study incorporated a cyclical action model with four distinctive stages (Strategize, Apply, Evaluate, and Reflect) designed to guide constituencies involved…

Action Research to Encourage Pupils' Active Participation in the Sustainable School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katsenou, Christina; Flogaitis, Evgenia; Liarakou, Georgia

2015-01-01

This article aims to explore the contribution of action research to the development of active participation of pupils in the context of the sustainable school. Action research is looked at not simply as a methodological tool for the exploration of participation, but as a key element of the educational actions that promote the active participation…

Catapulting Shifts in Images, Understandings, and Actions for Family Members through Research-Based Drama

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dupuis, Sherry L.; Gillies, Jennifer; Mitchell, Gail J.; Jonas-Simpson, Christine; Whyte, Colleen; Carson, Jennifer

2011-01-01

This article examined how images, understandings, and actions change for family members of persons with dementia after the introduction of a research-based drama called I'm Still Here. Guided by interpretivist phenomenology, a set of seven pre- and post-performance focus groups were conducted with family members (n = 48) in four cities. Findings…

Science in the Elementary School Classroom: Portraits of Action Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Jane B., Ed.; Gilmer, Penny J., Ed.

Teacher knowledge and skills are critical elements in the student learning process. Action research serves as an increasingly popular technique to engage teachers in educational change in classrooms. This document focuses on action research reports of elementary school teachers. Chapters include: (1) "First Graders' Beliefs and Perceptions of…

Productive Tensions in Youth Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirshner, Ben

2010-01-01

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) brings young people together with adult researchers to identify, study, and act on relevant social problems. In this chapter, the author draws on examples from a recent YPAR project, called Tracing Transitions, whose aim was to study the impact of school closure on students. After defining YPAR in terms…

Action Research as Primary Vehicle for Inquiry in the Professional Development School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tunks, Jeanne L.

2011-01-01

This Yearbook chapter, a compilation of multiple sources, presents both the history of action research and an analysis of reported action research in the professional development school (PDS) between 1992 and 2010. The history begins prior to the inception of the PDS and provides a theoretical premise for action research in the PDS in subsequent…

Case management: developing practice through action research.

PubMed

Smith, Annetta; Mackay, Seonaid; McCulloch, Kathleen

2013-09-01

This article is a report of an action research study carried out with community nurses to help develop case management within their practice. Using action research principles, nurses reviewed and analysed their current practice and developed recommendations for further embedding case management as a means of supporting patients with complex care needs in their own homes. Findings indicate that a number of factors can influence the community nurse's ability to implement case management. These factors include approaches to case finding, availability of resources and interprofessional working. Important considerations for nurses were the influence of the context of care, the geographical location and the health needs of the local patient population, which meant that case management may need to be adapted to meet local circumstances.

Action Research Built on Uncertain Foundations: The Internship and Action-Research in a Graduate Teaching Degree

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loughland, Tony; Bowen, Margo

2012-01-01

This paper analyses the uncertain foundations of the use of action research in a graduate teaching degree. This analysis is conducted by the course coordinator in partnership with a recent graduate. The uncertainty is traced to the pedagogical incoherence of the course that is caused by philosophical infidelity. The philosophy and practice of the…

Role of research in occupational therapy clinical practice: applying action learning and action research in pursuit of evidence-based practice.

PubMed

du Toit, Sanet H J; Wilkinson, Annette C; Adam, Kerry

2010-10-01

 In South Africa, as in many other countries, the development of research capacity in students and their early professional career is regarded as of major importance. Within the context of clinical education for occupational therapy students at the University of the Free State, a lecturer and her students embarked on a collaborative journey while fulfilling the requirements of their undergraduate curriculum. The outcome is a model promoting evidence-based practice (EBP) during service development on a dementia care ward. The practical use of action learning, action research (ALAR) approach in the clinical context, was used to encourage student engagement in successive small-scale research projects while simulating EBP. The projects ranged from the development of therapeutic multi-sensory environments to compiling activity profiles for identified residents. At the same time, students had the opportunity to experience the value of a scientific approach to practice development, which stimulated their awareness of the importance of research. Reflection by the researcher contributed towards more effective ways for compiling project assignments and a formalised approach for assessing projects. Students described personal and professional gains because of participation in projects against the life-changing experience of rendering a service to elderly persons suffering from dementia. The formalised approach guiding thoughts and actions finally assisted in developing a practical process model that could support EBP. The ALAR model contributed towards a scholarship of practice where the students, clinical educator and residents of a dementia unit all experienced the value of research. © 2010 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2010 Australian Association of Occupational Therapists.

From Voice to Knowledge: Participatory Action Research, Inclusive Debate and Feminism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krumer-Nevo, Michal

2009-01-01

This article discusses the relations between participatory action research and feminist research, through an examination of the metaphor of "voice" and its possible replacement with the idea of "knowledge." The article describes in detail a participatory action research project undertaken in Israel, which was aimed at forging…

Building Action Research Teams: A Case of Struggles and Successes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Du, Fengning

2009-01-01

Teaching teams can hold the promise of being an ideal vehicle in which collaborative action research is conducted. This case documents the mixed results of a team leader's efforts to improve teaching and introduce inquiry-based professional development through action research in a community college. This case paints a realistic and…

Facilitating practitioner research into strategies for improving communication in classroom groups: Action research and interaction analysis — A reconciliation?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadler, Jo; Fawns, Rod

1993-12-01

This study involved collaborative classroom-based observation of student communication and cognition in small groups after the implementation of two management strategies in science departments in several schools. The paper presents the data and provides insights into the conduct of research and teacher development in the midst of educational change.

Teacher Researchers in Action Research in a Heavily Centralized Education System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kayaoglu, M. Naci

2015-01-01

Action research is characterized by a new paradigm of empowering teachers to monitor their own practices in a more autonomous manner with a vision of challenging and improving their own techniques of teaching through their own participatory research. Yet in spite of this apparently radical shift in the function of the teacher from the constant…

Disability Awareness and Action Working Group (DAAWG) Event with

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-12

Dr. Temple Grandin, right, accepts a NASA photo collage from Kennedy Space Center Chief Financial Officer Susan Kroskey at the center's annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month event. Grandin served as keynote speaker. A prominent author and speaker on animal behavior and autism, she is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Kroskey is the executive champion of Kennedy's Disability Awareness and Action Working Group, or DAAWG, which partnered with the Kennedy Networking Opportunities for Women group to sponsor the presentation.

Disability Awareness and Action Working Group (DAAWG) Event with

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-12

Dr. Temple Grandin, second from left, pauses for a photo after giving the keynote presentation at Kennedy Space Center's annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) event. From left are Chief Financial Officer Susan Kroskey, executive champion of Kennedy's Disability Awareness and Action Working Group, or DAAWG; Grandin; Joette Feeney, chair of the Kennedy Networking Opportunities for Women group, or KNOW; and DAAWG Co-chairs Nicole Delvesco and Annie Williams. A prominent author and speaker on animal behavior and autism, Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Kennedy's DAAWG and KNOW groups partnered to sponsor the presentation.

Action Research Localization in China: Three Cases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bai, Yimin

2009-01-01

Since the introduction of the action research into China in the 1980s, especially since the start of the twenty-first century, Chinese education researchers have been trying to localize it in relation to the backdrop of the national curriculum reform in basic education. This article presents three cases in which educators aimed for a conscious…

Compilation of Action Research Papers in English Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherman, Thomas F.; Lundquist, Margaret

This action research compilation contains two research projects: "Increasing Student Appreciation of Poetry through the Use of Contemporary Music" by Paul G. Senjem and "Are Men and Women Created Equal? Gender in the Classroom" by Jennifer Joyce Plitzuweit. The researcher/author of the first paper states that his goal was to…

GUIDANCE RESEARCH IN ACTION, GROUP COUNSELING WITH PARENTS, MONOGRAPH 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

SHAW, MERVILLE C.; TUEL, JOHN K.

THE SECOND PHASE OF A 3-YEAR STUDY TO DEFINE AN OBJECTIVE FOR GUIDANCE SERVICES IS PRIMARILY CONCERNED WITH THE INCLUSION OF TEACHERS IN GROUP COUNSELING AND THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP COUNSELING WITH PARENTS. THE 22 PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS FROM SIX SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO INCLUDED K-12 FROM ALL SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS. TO…

Assessment in Action: Collaborative Action Research Focused on Mathematics and Science Assessments. Reports of Twenty-Three Teacher-Research Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dearn, Ceri; And Others

The works reported in this book represent a second phase to a 2-day summer conference that focused on assessment in mathematics and science classrooms. This book presents research and findings of a subset of the conference participants who investigated a self-selected aspect of assessment in their educational environments. Action research was the…

Meta-Action Research with Pre-Service Teachers: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villacañas de Castro, Luis Sebastián

2014-01-01

This article analyses a case of action research collaboratively conducted by a university teacher and 50 students in a master's course in teacher training. Its originality resides in the socio-economic, academic, and conceptual nature of the obstacles encountered in the module; in the meta-theoretical orientation of the action research that was…

Purposeful Action Research: Reconsidering Science and Technology Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

vanOostveen, Roland

2017-01-01

Initial plans for this project arose from a need to address issues of professional development of science and technology teachers that went beyond the norm available within school board settings. Two teams of 4 teachers responded to an invitation to participate in a collaborative action research project. Collaborative action research was chosen in…

National action for European public health research.

PubMed

McCarthy, Mark; Zeegers Paget, Dineke; Barnhoorn, Floris

2013-11-01

Research and innovation are the basis for improving health and health services. The European Union (EU) supports research through multi-annual programmes. Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe (PHIRE) investigated how European countries cooperate for action in public health research. In PHIRE, following stakeholder workshops and consultations, a national report on public health research was created for 24 of 30 European countries. The report template asked five questions, on national links to European public health research and on national research through the Structural Funds and Ministry of Health. The national reports were assessed with framework analysis, and the country actions were classified strong/partial/weak or none. There were responses to the five questions sufficient for this analysis for between 14 and 20 countries Six countries had public health research aligned with the EU, while three (large) countries were reported not aligned. Only two countries expressed strong engagement in developing public health research within Horizon 2020: most Ministries of Health had no position and only had contact with EU health research through other ministries. Only two countries reported use of the 2007-13 Structural Funds for public health research. While seven Ministries of Health led research from their own funds, or linked with Ministries of Science in six, the Ministries of Health of seven countries were reported not to be involved in public health research. Ministries of Health and stakeholders are poorly engaged in developing public health research, with the Horizon 2020 research programme, or the Structural Funds. The European Commission should give more attention to coordination of public health research with member states if it is to give best value to European citizens.

Science teachers' attempts at integrating feminist pedagogy through collaborative action research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capobianco, Brenda M.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of three science teachers attempting to transform their practice by conducting action research on feminist science teaching. The teachers engaged in systematic, self-critical inquiry of their own practice and joined 8 other science teachers to engage in collaborative conversations about the nature of science, science teaching, and science education as a way of coming to a better understanding of how science can be taught for a more diverse group of students. Data were gathered via semistructured interviews, whole-group discussions, classroom observations, and review of supporting documents. Data analysis was based on narrative inquiry, where particular attention was given to the construction and reconstruction of the teachers' stories of their practical inquiries. Results indicated that the teachers as researchers of their own practice gained new knowledge about feminist science teaching and, furthermore, generated a cluster of pedagogical possibilities for inclusive, dynamic science teaching.

How To Conduct Collaborative Action Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sagor, Richard

Collaborative action research, conducted by teams of practitioners, is a process that enables teachers: (1) to improve student learning, (2) to improve their own practice, (3) to contribute to the development of their own profession, and (4) to overcome the isolation commonly experienced by classroom teachers. By promoting collegial relationships…

Critical Reflections of Action Research Used for Professional Development in a Middle Eastern Gulf State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGee, Alyson

2008-01-01

This article describes and critically reflects on an action research project used for professional development purposes in a Middle Eastern Gulf State. The aim of the project was to improve professional development experiences for a group of in-service teacher educators, who were English as Second Language advisers. The initial discussion…

Maritime Action Groups: The Expeditionary Building Block of the Future

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-10

attack submarine, and an alert P-3 aircraft. Captain Robert Crawshaw , USN, Commodore of the initial Sixth Fleet Maritime Action Group emphasizes that...services and our coalition partners. Captain Crawshaw stated that: -the MAG operates as a single force exercising with allied navies throughout the...Less intimidating than a carrier battle group, the MAG has been received eagerly by allied navies throughout the Mediterranean.’ Captain Crawshaw and

Using Group Counseling to Improve the Attendance of Elementary School Students with High Rates of Absenteeism: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb-Landman, Eleanor

2012-01-01

The foundations of academic and social learning are laid in the early years of school, and attendance is critical to school success. However, research suggests that chronic absenteeism is a significant problem at the elementary school level (Chang & Romero, 2008; Romero & Lee, 2007). This paper presents the results of an action research…

A global call for action to include gender in research impact assessment.

PubMed

Ovseiko, Pavel V; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Adam, Paula; Grant, Jonathan; Hinrichs-Krapels, Saba; Graham, Kathryn E; Valentine, Pamela A; Sued, Omar; Boukhris, Omar F; Al Olaqi, Nada M; Al Rahbi, Idrees S; Dowd, Anne-Maree; Bice, Sara; Heiden, Tamika L; Fischer, Michael D; Dopson, Sue; Norton, Robyn; Pollitt, Alexandra; Wooding, Steven; Balling, Gert V; Jakobsen, Ulla; Kuhlmann, Ellen; Klinge, Ineke; Pololi, Linda H; Jagsi, Reshma; Smith, Helen Lawton; Etzkowitz, Henry; Nielsen, Mathias W; Carrion, Carme; Solans-Domènech, Maite; Vizcaino, Esther; Naing, Lin; Cheok, Quentin H N; Eckelmann, Baerbel; Simuyemba, Moses C; Msiska, Temwa; Declich, Giovanna; Edmunds, Laurel D; Kiparoglou, Vasiliki; Buchan, Alison M J; Williamson, Catherine; Lord, Graham M; Channon, Keith M; Surender, Rebecca; Buchan, Alastair M

2016-07-19

Global investment in biomedical research has grown significantly over the last decades, reaching approximately a quarter of a trillion US dollars in 2010. However, not all of this investment is distributed evenly by gender. It follows, arguably, that scarce research resources may not be optimally invested (by either not supporting the best science or by failing to investigate topics that benefit women and men equitably). Women across the world tend to be significantly underrepresented in research both as researchers and research participants, receive less research funding, and appear less frequently than men as authors on research publications. There is also some evidence that women are relatively disadvantaged as the beneficiaries of research, in terms of its health, societal and economic impacts. Historical gender biases may have created a path dependency that means that the research system and the impacts of research are biased towards male researchers and male beneficiaries, making it inherently difficult (though not impossible) to eliminate gender bias. In this commentary, we - a group of scholars and practitioners from Africa, America, Asia and Europe - argue that gender-sensitive research impact assessment could become a force for good in moving science policy and practice towards gender equity. Research impact assessment is the multidisciplinary field of scientific inquiry that examines the research process to maximise scientific, societal and economic returns on investment in research. It encompasses many theoretical and methodological approaches that can be used to investigate gender bias and recommend actions for change to maximise research impact. We offer a set of recommendations to research funders, research institutions and research evaluators who conduct impact assessment on how to include and strengthen analysis of gender equity in research impact assessment and issue a global call for action.

Lessons from the Field: Participatory Action Research in a Family Research Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robison, Dorothy; Krauss, Marty Wyngaarden

2003-01-01

This paper describes development of a study that includes participatory action research, specifically the establishment of a family advisory committee. The study involved a survey of Massachusetts families of children with disabilities. Suggestions for establishing and integrating the committee into the research enterprise are offered, as are…

Seeking to Improve African American Girls' Attitudes toward Science: A Participatory Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buck, Gayle A.; Cook, Kristin L.; Quigley, Cassie F.; Prince, Pearl; Lucas, Yvonne

2014-01-01

In this participatory action research study, we answered the question, How can we improve attitudes toward science education of the African American girls at an elementary school? Girls in grades 3-6 completed the Modified Attitudes toward Science Inventory. A purposeful sample of 30 girls participated in several focus-group interviews throughout…

Teacher Professional Development through Collaborative Action Research: Impact on Foreign English-Language Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banegas, Dario; Pavese, Anahi; Velazquez, Aurelia; Velez, Sandra Maria

2013-01-01

In 2011 we, a group of English-as-a-foreign-language teachers at a secondary school in Argentina, decided to investigate our teaching practices through collaborative action research so as to improve our students' learning opportunities and thus revitalise English-language teaching in our context. We implemented and evaluated the integration of…

Action Research and Its History as an Adult Education Movement for Social Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glassman, Michael; Erdem, Gizem; Bartholomew, Mitchell

2013-01-01

This article is an attempt to tell the story of action research as it has developed over the last half century. Action research has become an important part of a number of research programs, especially in the field of education. Action research is a powerful idea centering on humans' ability to break free from deleterious social habits…

Language Teacher Action Research: Achieving Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Emily; Burns, Anne

2016-01-01

Action research (AR) is becoming increasingly popular in ELT contexts as a means of continuous professional development. The positive impacts of AR on language teacher development are well documented, but the important question of how those impacts can be sustained over time is virtually unexplored. Drawing on findings from a study of teachers in…

Action Learning in Postgraduate Research Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchand, Trevor

2017-01-01

This account of practice explores the benefits and challenges of using Action Learning (AL) with junior researchers. Findings are grounded in an AL set of six doctoral students, organised and convened by the author. The case study reveals the range of emotional and structural hurdles that Ph.D. candidates typically face in completing their…

Cooperative and Context-Based Learning on Eletrochemical Cells in Lower Secondary Chemistry: A Project of Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markic, Silvija; Eilks, Ingo

2006-01-01

This paper discusses a project of Participatory Action Research (PAR) on lower secondary chemistry education. In this ongoing project, practicing teachers and university researchers in chemical education jointly carry out projects for developing and evaluating new lesson plans. The focus of the PAR group is to develop teaching/learning activities…

Grouping and Segregation of Sensory Events by Actions in Temporal Audio-Visual Recalibration.

PubMed

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2016-01-01

Perception in multi-sensory environments involves both grouping and segregation of events across sensory modalities. Temporal coincidence between events is considered a strong cue to resolve multisensory perception. However, differences in physical transmission and neural processing times amongst modalities complicate this picture. This is illustrated by cross-modal recalibration, whereby adaptation to audio-visual asynchrony produces shifts in perceived simultaneity. Here, we examined whether voluntary actions might serve as a temporal anchor to cross-modal recalibration in time. Participants were tested on an audio-visual simultaneity judgment task after an adaptation phase where they had to synchronize voluntary actions with audio-visual pairs presented at a fixed asynchrony (vision leading or vision lagging). Our analysis focused on the magnitude of cross-modal recalibration to the adapted audio-visual asynchrony as a function of the nature of the actions during adaptation, putatively fostering cross-modal grouping or, segregation. We found larger temporal adjustments when actions promoted grouping than segregation of sensory events. However, a control experiment suggested that additional factors, such as attention to planning/execution of actions, could have an impact on recalibration effects. Contrary to the view that cross-modal temporal organization is mainly driven by external factors related to the stimulus or environment, our findings add supporting evidence for the idea that perceptual adjustments strongly depend on the observer's inner states induced by motor and cognitive demands.

Grouping and Segregation of Sensory Events by Actions in Temporal Audio-Visual Recalibration

PubMed Central

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2017-01-01

Perception in multi-sensory environments involves both grouping and segregation of events across sensory modalities. Temporal coincidence between events is considered a strong cue to resolve multisensory perception. However, differences in physical transmission and neural processing times amongst modalities complicate this picture. This is illustrated by cross-modal recalibration, whereby adaptation to audio-visual asynchrony produces shifts in perceived simultaneity. Here, we examined whether voluntary actions might serve as a temporal anchor to cross-modal recalibration in time. Participants were tested on an audio-visual simultaneity judgment task after an adaptation phase where they had to synchronize voluntary actions with audio-visual pairs presented at a fixed asynchrony (vision leading or vision lagging). Our analysis focused on the magnitude of cross-modal recalibration to the adapted audio-visual asynchrony as a function of the nature of the actions during adaptation, putatively fostering cross-modal grouping or, segregation. We found larger temporal adjustments when actions promoted grouping than segregation of sensory events. However, a control experiment suggested that additional factors, such as attention to planning/execution of actions, could have an impact on recalibration effects. Contrary to the view that cross-modal temporal organization is mainly driven by external factors related to the stimulus or environment, our findings add supporting evidence for the idea that perceptual adjustments strongly depend on the observer's inner states induced by motor and cognitive demands. PMID:28154529

Implementing solutions to improve and expand telehealth adoption: participatory action research in four community healthcare settings.

PubMed

Taylor, Johanna; Coates, Elizabeth; Wessels, Bridgette; Mountain, Gail; Hawley, Mark S

2015-12-01

Adoption of telehealth has been slower than anticipated, and little is known about the service improvements that help to embed telehealth into routine practice or the role of frontline staff in improving adoption. This paper reports on participatory action research carried out in four community health settings using telehealth for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Chronic Heart Failure. To inform the action research, in-depth case studies of each telehealth service were conducted (May 2012-June 2013). Each service was then supported by researchers through two cycles of action research to implement changes to increase adoption of telehealth, completed over a seven month period (July 2013-April 2014). The action research was studied via observation of multi-stakeholder workshops, analysis of implementation plans, and focus groups. Action research participants included 57 staff and one patient, with between eight and 20 participants per site. The case study findings were identified as a key source of information for planning change, with sites addressing common challenges identified through this work. For example, refining referral criteria; standardizing how and when patients are monitored; improving data sharing; and establishing evaluation processes. Sites also focused on raising awareness of telehealth to increase adoption in other clinical teams and to help secure future financial investment for telehealth, which was required because of short-term funding arrangements. Specific solutions varied due to local infrastructures, resources, and opinion, as well as previous service developments. Local telehealth champions played an important role in engaging multiple stakeholders in the study. Action research enabled services to make planned changes to telehealth and share learning across multiple stakeholders about how and when to use telehealth. However, adoption was impeded by continual changes affecting telehealth and wider service provision

Multilingual Affordances in a Swedish Preschool: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ljunggren, Åsa

2016-01-01

This article summarizes the work and the main findings of an action research project that was conducted in an early childhood education and care setting in the city of Malmö, Sweden in the autumn of 2013 and spring 2014. Rönnerman's model (Aktionsforskning i praktiken: förskola och skola på vetenskaplig grund [Action research in practice:…

Action Research Study. A Framework To Help Move Teachers toward an Inquiry-Based Science Teaching Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staten, Mary E.

This action research study developed a framework for moving teachers toward an inquiry-based approach to teaching science, emphasizing elements, strategies, and supports necessary to encourage and sustain teachers' use of inquiry-based science instruction. The study involved a literature review, participant observation, focus group discussions,…

Introduction to the Special Series on Participatory Action Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Hyun-Sook; Meyer, Luanna; Goetz, Lori

1998-01-01

This introductory article discusses the benefits of participatory action research (PAR), including the empowerment of participants in research and the research process, the difficulties PAR presents, and summarizes following articles in a special series on the facets of PAR. (CR)

Indigenous Storytelling and Participatory Action Research

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Storytelling, in its various forms, has often been described as a practice with great emancipatory potential. In turn, Indigenous knowledge shows great promise in guiding a participatory action research (PAR) methodology. Yet these two approaches are rarely discussed in relation to one another, nor, has much been written in terms of how these two approaches may work synergistically toward a decolonizing research approach. In this article, I report on a community-driven knowledge translation activity, the Peoples’ International Health Tribunal, as an exemplar of how narrative and PAR approaches, guided by local Indigenous knowledge, have great potential to build methodologically and ethically robust research processes. Implications for building globally relevant research alliances and scholarship are further discussed, particularly in relation to working with Indigenous communities. PMID:28462305

Strategic Approaches to Practice: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burwell, Kim; Shipton, Matthew

2013-01-01

The importance of personal practice for instrumentalists and vocalists is well established among researchers, and axiomatic for practitioners. This paper reports on a phase of an action research project, investigating student approaches to personal practice. Following a preliminary questionnaire study, a residential clinic was conducted by…

Photovoice Participatory Action Research for the Communication Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Lance Brendan

2017-01-01

Courses: Qualitative research methods, health communication, organizational communication, or any course that could incorporate advocacy or social change into the content area. Objectives: On completion of this assignment, students will (1) understand why and how action research is undertaken; (2) develop skill in perceiving and representing the…

Exploring teacher's perceptions of concept mapping as a teaching strategy in science: An action research approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marks Krpan, Catherine Anne

In order to promote science literacy in the classroom, students need opportunities in which they can personalize their understanding of the concepts they are learning. Current literature supports the use of concept maps in enabling students to make personal connections in their learning of science. Because they involve creating explicit connections between concepts, concept maps can assist students in developing metacognitive strategies and assist educators in identifying misconceptions in students' thinking. The literature also notes that concept maps can improve student achievement and recall. Much of the current literature focuses primarily on concept mapping at the secondary and university levels, with limited focus on the elementary panel. The research rarely considers teachers' thoughts and ideas about the concept mapping process. In order to effectively explore concept mapping from the perspective of elementary teachers, I felt that an action research approach would be appropriate. Action research enabled educators to debate issues about concept mapping and test out ideas in their classrooms. It also afforded the participants opportunities to explore their own thinking, reflect on their personal journeys as educators and play an active role in their professional development. In an effort to explore concept mapping from the perspective of elementary educators, an action research group of 5 educators and myself was established and met regularly from September 1999 until June 2000. All of the educators taught in the Toronto area. These teachers were interested in exploring how concept mapping could be used as a learning tool in their science classrooms. In summary, this study explores the journey of five educators and myself as we engaged in collaborative action research. This study sets out to: (1) Explore how educators believe concept mapping can facilitate teaching and student learning in the science classroom. (2) Explore how educators implement concept

International health research monitoring: exploring a scientific and a cooperative approach using participatory action research

PubMed Central

Chantler, Tracey; Cheah, Phaik Yeong; Miiro, George; Hantrakum, Viriya; Nanvubya, Annet; Ayuo, Elizabeth; Kivaya, Esther; Kidola, Jeremiah; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Parker, Michael; Njuguna, Patricia; Ashley, Elizabeth; Guerin, Philippe J; Lang, Trudie

2014-01-01

Objectives To evaluate and determine the value of monitoring models developed by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Research Unit and the East African Consortium for Clinical Research, consider how this can be measured and explore monitors’ and investigators’ experiences of and views about the nature, purpose and practice of monitoring. Research design A case study approach was used within the context of participatory action research because one of the aims was to guide and improve practice. 34 interviews, five focus groups and observations of monitoring practice were conducted. Setting and participants Fieldwork occurred in the places where the monitoring models are coordinated and applied in Thailand, Cambodia, Uganda and Kenya. Participants included those coordinating the monitoring schemes, monitors, senior investigators and research staff. Analysis Transcribed textual data from field notes, interviews and focus groups was imported into a qualitative data software program (NVIVO V. 10) and analysed inductively and thematically by a qualitative researcher. The initial coding framework was reviewed internally and two main categories emerged from the subsequent interrogation of the data. Results The categories that were identified related to the conceptual framing and nature of monitoring, and the practice of monitoring, including relational factors. Particular emphasis was given to the value of a scientific and cooperative style of monitoring as a means of enhancing data quality, trust and transparency. In terms of practice the primary purpose of monitoring was defined as improving the conduct of health research and increasing the capacity of researchers and trial sites. Conclusions The models studied utilise internal and network wide expertise to improve the ethics and quality of clinical research. They demonstrate how monitoring can be a scientific and constructive exercise rather than a threatening process. The value of cooperative relations needs to be given

Thinking Like Researchers: Action Research and Its Impact on Novice Teachers' Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Janine; Clayton, Courtney; Broome, John

2018-01-01

This project investigated the effects of novice teachers' responses to an action research project conducting during the student-teaching semester. This study drew on a framework that considered the participants' process of research, practice of teaching, and identity as a researcher and utilized a qualitative, multiple case-study approach with an…

Building capacity for knowledge translation in occupational therapy: learning through participatory action research.

PubMed

Bennett, Sally; Whitehead, Mary; Eames, Sally; Fleming, Jennifer; Low, Shanling; Caldwell, Elizabeth

2016-10-01

There has been widespread acknowledgement of the need to build capacity in knowledge translation however much of the existing work focuses on building capacity amongst researchers rather than with clinicians directly. This paper's aim is to describe a research project for developing a knowledge translation capacity building program for occupational therapy clinicians. Participatory action research methods were used to both develop and evaluate the knowledge translation capacity-building program. Participants were occupational therapists from a large metropolitan hospital in Australia. Researchers and clinicians worked together to use the action cycle of the Knowledge to Action Framework to increase use of knowledge translation itself within the department in general, within their clinical teams, and to facilitate knowledge translation becoming part of the department's culture. Barriers and enablers to using knowledge translation were identified through a survey based on the Theoretical Domains Framework and through focus groups. Multiple interventions were used to develop a knowledge translation capacity-building program. Fifty-two occupational therapists participated initially, but only 20 across the first 18 months of the project. Barriers and enablers were identified across all domains of the Theoretical Domains Framework. Interventions selected to address these barriers or facilitate enablers were categorised into ten different categories: educational outreach; teams working on clinical knowledge translation case studies; identifying time blocks for knowledge translation; mentoring; leadership strategies; communication strategies; documentation and resources to support knowledge translation; funding a knowledge translation champion one day per week; setting goals for knowledge translation; and knowledge translation reporting strategies. Use of these strategies was, and continues to be monitored. Participants continue to be actively involved in learning and

Creative Pedagogies and Collaboration: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuntz, Aaron M.; Presnall, Marni M.; Priola, Maria; Tilford, Amy; Ward, Rhiannon

2013-01-01

This action research study involves nine elementary school teacher-researchers, one university faculty member, and one graduate student engaged in developing creative pedagogical practices in one elementary school in an urban school in Alabama, USA. Participants found that a teacher's experience of agency and their ability to work creatively…

Developmental Advising for Marginalized Community College Students: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Terrica S.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this action research study was to understand, evaluate, and improve the developmental advising practices used at a Washington State community college. This action research study endeavored to strengthen the developmental advising model originally designed to support the college's marginalized students. Guiding questions for the…

Improving emergency care pathways: an action research approach.

PubMed

Endacott, Ruth; Cooper, Simon; Sheaff, Rod; Padmore, Jacqueline; Blakely, Gillian

2011-03-01

Clinicians and managers across specialities are under pressure to review treatment and referral pathways to enable evidence-based practice, improve patient flow and provide a seamless service. This study outlines the processes and outcomes of an action research study conducted to reduce inappropriate attendances and unplanned pressures on Emergency Department (ED) staff in an English hospital during 2006-2008. Action research, comprising three action/reflection cycles conducted with participants, was used. Data were collected using retrospective patient record review (n=35,200) interviews with staff members (n=28), observation of patient pathways (n=38 patients) and measurement of team climate (n=31) with literature reviews also informing each cycle of data collection. ED attendance and hospital emergency admission data were largely similar to the national picture with regards to time/day of attendance and seasonal variation. However, in the 'adult majors' subgroup, mean attendance on a Monday was significantly higher than the rest of the week (p<0.001) and 36% were self-referrals. Observation data revealed that patients were informally assessed by reception staff and directed to majors or minors; this practice was replaced by reinstatement of triage. Patients identified as 'inappropriate' were managed inconsistently, irrespective of department workload. ED attendance decreased as the project progressed and the number of attendees resulting in hospital admission rose slightly. Study data suggest that inappropriate attendances decreased; however, data collection exposed gaps in the existing management information systems and inconsistencies in working practices in the ED. Action research can have a practical value besides contributing to knowledge.

From Reluctant Teacher to Empowered Teacher-Researcher: One Teacher's Journey toward Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esposito, Jennifer; Smith, Shayla

2006-01-01

The focus of this paper will be one of the authors' transformation from reluctant teacher-researcher to empowered teacher-researcher. The authors will describe Shayla's journey through action research because it was this journey from circumspection to empowerment that strengthened her in ways that she had not foreseen or anticipated. It allowed…

Freshman year computer engineering students' experiences for flipped physics lab class: An action research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akı, Fatma Nur; Gürel, Zeynep

2017-02-01

The purpose of this research is to determine the university students' learning experiences about flipped-physics laboratory class. The research has been completed during the fall semester of 2015 at Computer Engineering Department of Istanbul Commerce University. In this research, also known as a teacher qualitative research design, action research method is preferred to use. The participants are ten people, including seven freshman and three junior year students of Computer Engineering Department. The research data was collected at the end of the semester with the focus group interview which includes structured and open-ended questions. And data was evaluated with categorical content analysis. According to the results, students have some similar and different learning experiences to flipped education method for physics laboratory class.

Participatory Action Research and Environmental Learning: Implications for Resilient Forests and Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballard, Heidi L.; Belsky, Jill M.

2010-01-01

How can a participatory approach to research promote environmental learning and enhance social-ecological systems resilience? Participatory action research (PAR) is an approach to research that its' supporters claim can foster new knowledge, learning, and action to support positive social and environmental change through reorienting the standard…

The positive and negative framing of affirmative action: a group dominance perspective.

PubMed

Haley, Hillary; Sidanius, Jim

2006-05-01

Using a sample of 328 White, Latino, and Black Los Angeles County adults, the authors examined the tendency to employ various affirmative action "frames" (e.g., affirmative action as a "tie-breaking" device or as a quota-based policy). All three groups agreed about which frames cast affirmative action in a positive light and which cast it in a negative light. Although minorities had a tendency to frame affirmative action in terms that most people find morally acceptable, Whites had a tendency to frame affirmative action in terms most people find unacceptable. In addition, compared to minorities, Whites were less supportive of affirmative action regardless of how it was framed. LISREL modeling also was employed to test two competing models regarding predictors of the tendency to use frames that one personally finds to be relatively negative versus positive. Consistent with the expectations of social dominance theory and a motivated cognition perspective, the authors found that social dominance orientation (SDO) had significant net direct and indirect effects on one's framing of affirmative action.

Critical Issues in Research Design in Action Research in an SME Development Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGrath, Helen; O'Toole, Thomas

2012-01-01

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to develop guidelines on the critical issues to consider in research design in an action research (AR) environment for SME network capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The issues in research design for AR studies are developed from the authors' experience in running learning sets but, in…

The Action Observation System when Observing Hand Actions in Autism and Typical Development.

PubMed

Pokorny, Jennifer J; Hatt, Naomi V; Colombi, Costanza; Vivanti, Giacomo; Rogers, Sally J; Rivera, Susan M

2015-06-01

Social impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be in part due to difficulty perceiving and recognizing the actions of others. Evidence from imitation studies, which involves both observation and execution of an action, suggests differences, in individuals with ASD, between the ability to imitate goal-directed actions involving objects (transitive actions) and the ability to imitate actions that do not involve objects (intransitive actions). In the present study, we examined whether there were differences in how ASD adolescents encoded transitive and intransitive actions compared to typically developing (TD) adolescents, by having participants view videos of a hand reaching across a screen toward an object or to where an object would be while functional magnetic resonance images were collected. Analyses focused on areas within the action observation network (AON), which is activated during the observation of actions performed by others. We hypothesized that the AON would differentiate transitive from intransitive actions only in the ASD group. However, results revealed that object presence modulated activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus of the TD group, a differentiation that was not seen in the ASD group. Furthermore, there were no significant group differences between the TD and ASD groups in any of the conditions. This suggests that there is not a global deficit of the AON in individuals with ASD while observing transitive and intransitive actions. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Teachers' Voices 2: Teaching Disparate Learner Groups.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Anne, Ed.; Hood, Susan, Ed.

The collection of papers was written by teacher researchers from an adult migrant English program, and consists of reports and discussions of action research on teaching heterogeneous learner groups. Papers include: "Disparate Groups: Exploring Diversity in Practice through Collaborative Action Research" (Anne Burns, Susan Hood); "A Profile of…

Theme and Variations: One Middle School's Interpretation of Mandated Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheridan-Thomas, Heather K.

2006-01-01

In the current climate of accountability, action research is one way for teachers to evaluate instructional changes designed to improve assessment results. It may become increasingly common for administrators to mandate teacher involvement in action research, yet few studies have been conducted in such settings. This article focuses on one middle…

Aristotelian Action Research: Its Value for Studying Character Education in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanderse, Wouter

2016-01-01

This article explores what it means for teachers to engage in and evaluate students' character education, by examining the connections between action research and Aristotelian virtue ethics. These connections are explored in two ways. Firstly, the article examines what perspective action research has on how moral education, understood in an…

The Case for Pedagogical Action Research in Psychology Learning and Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norton, Lin

2014-01-01

It is just over 12 years since "Psychology Teaching Review"'s first Special Issue on action research psychology. In the guest editorial for that issue Lin Norton suggested that pedagogical action research can be controversial, and that for some academic psychologists it appears to be more than curriculum development rather than…

Using Action Research to Foster Positive Social Values

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benton, Jean

2005-01-01

"Using Action Research to Foster Positive Social Values" provides teachers with a unique framework in which to consider classroom violence. It uses actual case studies and working models done through classroom research to produce more effective classrooms that foster positive social values. The author lays out a theoretical framework for: (1)…

Content Analysis of Master Theses and Dissertations Based on Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durak, Gürhan; Yünkül, Eyup; Cankaya, Serkan; Akpinar, Sükran; Erten, Emine; Inam, Nazmiye; Taylan, Ufuk; Tastekin, Eray

2016-01-01

Action Research (AR) is becoming popular in the field of education, and according to literature, it could be stated that AR studies have positive influence on practice in education. The present study aims at conducting content analysis of action research (AR) master theses and doctoral dissertations submitted at the level of Turkish higher…

Suicide prevention by online support groups: an action theory-based model of emotional first aid.

PubMed

Gilat, Itzhak; Shahar, Golan

2009-01-01

In the last two decades, online support groups have become a valuable source of help for individuals in suicidal crisis. Their attractiveness is attributed to features that enhance help-seeking and self-disclosure such as availability, anonymity, and use of written communication. However, online support groups also suffer from limitations and potential risks as agents of suicide prevention. The Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid (ERAN) has developed a practical model that seeks to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of online suicide prevention. The model applies the Action Theory concepts whereby individuals shape their own environment. The present paper presents the model, which is based on an online support group combined with personal chat and a telephonic help line. The online support group is moderated by paraprofessionals who function as both process regulators and support providers. The principles and practice of the model are described, the theoretical rationale is presented, and directions for future research are suggested.

Health education with older adults: action research with primary care professionals.

PubMed

Mendonça, Francielle Toniolo Nicodemos Furtado de; Santos, Álvaro da Silva; Buso, Ana Luisa Zanardo; Malaquias, Bruna Stephanie Sousa

2017-01-01

To assess the development and implementation of permanent education action. Quantitative-qualitative research based on action research in three phases (diagnosis of reality, implementation of activity and evaluation), performed with health professionals and managers of basic health units. The evaluation was on the perception of changes immediately following the activity and after 120 days. In the first phase, 110 professionals took part, 36.4% of whom indicated the existence of groups for older adults at work. In the second phase, 98 professionals participated, pointing out interferences of the group in the life of older adults, items of importance and facilitation in forming groups and developing reality-based activities. The third phase showed, in the quantitative analysis, positive impact of the training, and in the qualitative analysis, reassessment of groups, greater knowledge and confidence in managing groups and increased respect for older adults. Permanent education opens pathways for the construction of differentiated care for older adults based on respect and health promotion. Avaliar o desenvolvimento e implementação de uma ação de educação permanente. Pesquisa quantitativo-qualitativa baseada na pesquisa-ação em 3 fases (diagnóstico da realidade, implementação de atividade e avaliação), realizada com profissionais de saúde e gerentes de unidades básicas. A avaliação se deu pela percepção de mudanças imediatamente à atividade e após 120 dias. Na 1ª fase, participaram 110 profissionais, dos quais 36,4% apontaram a existência de grupos para idosos no trabalho. Na 2ª fase, participaram 98 profissionais, que apontaram interferências do grupo na vida do idoso, itens de importância e facilitação para construção de grupos e atividade baseada na realidade. A 3ª fase mostrou, na análise quantitativa, impacto positivo do treinamento; e, na qualitativa, releitura dos grupos e manejo com mais conhecimento, segurança e respeito ao

Using action research to develop midwives' skills to support women with perinatal mental health needs.

PubMed

Madden, Deirdre; Sliney, Annmarie; O'Friel, Aoife; McMackin, Barbara; O'Callaghan, Bernie; Casey, Kate; Courtney, Lisa; Fleming, Valerie; Brady, Vivienne

2018-02-01

The aim of the research was to identify and develop midwives' skills to support women with mental health needs during pregnancy, using an action research approach. A review of perinatal mental health services in a large Dublin maternity unit revealed a high number of referred women who 'did not attend' the perinatal mental health service with few guidelines in place to support midwives in identifying and referring women for specialist help. Action research using cooperative inquiry involved a mental health nurse specialist and a team of midwives, who were drawn to each other in mutual concern about an area of practice. Data were gathered from three Cooperative Inquiry meetings, which incorporated one main Action Research Cycle of constructing, planning, taking and evaluating action. Data were analysed using a thematic content analysis framework. Participants experienced varying levels of uncertainty about how to support women with perinatal mental health needs. Cooperative inquiry supported participants in making sense of how they understood perinatal mental health and how they managed challenges experienced when caring for women with perinatal mental health issues. Participants developed a referral pathway, highlighted the significance of education to support women with perinatal mental health issues and identified the value of using open questions to promote conversation with pregnant women about mental health. Midwives value education and support to identify and refer women at risk of perinatal mental health issues. Cooperative inquiry, with a focus on action and shared reflection, facilitated the drawing together of two professional groups with diverse knowledge bases to work together to develop practice in an area of mutual concern. Perinatal mental health is a significant public health issue and midwives need support to make psychosocial assessments and to negotiate access to specialist services where available and when required. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons

Enhancing School Asthma Action Plans: Qualitative Results from Southeast Minnesota Beacon Stakeholder Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egginton, Jason S.; Textor, Lauren; Knoebel, Erin; McWilliams, Deborah; Aleman, Marty; Yawn, Barbara

2013-01-01

Background: This study explores ways southeast Minnesota schools currently address asthma problems, identifies areas for improvement, and assesses the potential value of asthma action plans (AAPs) in schools. Methods: Focus groups were used to query stakeholder groups on asthma care in schools. Groups were held separately for elementary school…

Teacher to Researcher: Reflections on a New Action Research Program for University EFL Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Anne; Westmacott, Anne

2018-01-01

One of the current challenges facing many universities is how to support teachers in becoming researchers. This article discusses the experiences at a small private Chilean university of a new action research programme that was developed as a vehicle for helping teachers to become involved in research and write a research publication for…

Teaching Action Research: The Role of Demographics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mcmurray, Adela J.

2006-01-01

This article summarizes a longitudinal study of employed MBA students with particular emphasis on findings involving their choice of action research model to implement personal and organizational change in their environment. A multi-method approach merging both quantitative and qualitative techniques was utilized. A questionnaire consisting of…

Towards a Collaborative Action Research in Spain to Improve Teaching Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernández-Díaz, Elia; Calvo, Adelina; Rodríguez-Hoyos, Carlos

2014-01-01

This article describes a collaborative action research process in pre-school and primary education in Spain during a four-year period (2006-2010). The aim was the need to promote a level of reflection among the participants as to their teaching practice. The methodology used was a technologically mediated action research process. The results are…

Exploring Scientific, Artistic, Moral and Technical Reflection in Teacher Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luttenberg, Johan; Oolbekkink-Marchand, Helma; Meijer, Paulien

2018-01-01

Reflection in action research is a complicated matter because of the many domains of reflection and most significantly, the lack of understanding of these domains of reflection in action research and how these are supported. In this paper, we propose a framework based on four domains of reflection, namely, scientific, artistic, moral and technical…

Idea and Action: Action Research and the Development of Conceptual Change Teaching of Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tabachnick, B. Robert; Zeichner, Kenneth M.

1999-01-01

Describes and analyzes an action-research seminar for prospective elementary and secondary teachers in terms of how it facilitated prospective teachers' learning to teach for conceptual change. Contains 37 references. (Author/WRM)

2006 Annual Operations Report for INTEC Operable Unit 3-13, Group 1, Tank Farm Interim Action

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D. E. Shanklin

2007-02-14

This annual operations report describes the requirements followed and activities conducted to inspect, monitor, and maintain the items installed during performance of the Waste Area Group 3, Operable Unit 3-13, Group 1, Tank Farm Interim Action, at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center. This report covers the time period from January 1 through December 31, 2006, and describes inspection and monitoring activities for the surface-sealed areas within the tank farm, concrete-lined ditches and culverts in and around the tank farm, the lift station, and the lined evaporation pond. These activities are intended to assure that the interim action ismore » functioning adequately to meet the objectives stated in the Operable Unit 3-13, Record of Decision for the Group 1, Tank Farm Interim Action (DOE/ID-10660) as described in the Group 1 Remedial Design/Remedial Action Work Plan (DOE/ID-10772).« less

Social Values Reflections through the Use of EFL Storytelling: An Action Research with Primary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gómez Combariza, Claudia Milena; Rodríguez Chapetón, María Ximena; Rojas Rincón, Vanessa Alejandra

2013-01-01

This article reports on the results of an action research project carried out with a group of third graders at a public school in Bogotá. The project aimed to gain insights into the use of English as foreign language storytelling and to analyze the way in which students reflect upon their own social values. The findings suggest that the use of…

Towards a Reflection Repertoire: Using a Thinking Tool to Understand Tensions in an Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aas, Marit

2014-01-01

Most action researchers agree that action research consists of cycles of planning, acting, reflecting, and taking further action. However, in action research literature, there is something missing. The nature of reflection in the action research process, including its relationship with the tensions that arise while discussing purposes, processes,…

After epidemiological research: what next? Community action for health promotion.

PubMed

Cwikel, J G

1994-01-01

The underlying purpose of all epidemiological research is ultimately to use inferences in order to prevent disease and promote health and well-being. Effective skills in translating results into appropriate policy, programs, and interventions are inherently tricky, and often politically controversial. Generally they are not taught to epidemiologists formally, even though they are a traditionally part of public health practice. To move from findings to policy change requires that the informed and committed epidemiologist should known how to: (1) organize affected parties to negotiate successfully with government and industry; (2) activate populations at risk to protect their health (3) communicate responsibly with lay persons about their health risks so as to encourage effective activism; (4) collaborate with other professionals to achieve disease prevention and health promotion goals. The paper presents and discusses four case studies to illustrate these strategies: (1) the grass-roots social action that was the response of the community to the environmental contamination at Love Canal, New York; (2) mobilization of recognized leaders within the gay community to disseminate HIV risk reduction techniques; (3) collaboration with an existing voluntary organization interested in community empowerment through health promotion in a Chicago slum by using existing hospital, emergency room admissions, and local motor vehicle accident data; (4) a self-help group, MADD (mothers against drunk driving) which fought to change public policy to limit and decrease drunk driving. In addition, the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and responsible communication with the public is emphasized. Factors that limit the ability of the epidemiologist to move into public health action are discussed, including who owns the research findings, what is the degree of scientific uncertainty, and the cost-benefit balance of taking affirmative public action. Putting epidemiological

Work-based learning: a leadership development example from an action research study of shared governance implementation.

PubMed

Williamson, Tracey

2005-11-01

An empowering action research study was undertaken to evaluate and strengthen the implementation of shared governance. One aim was to identify factors that acted as aids or barriers to effective decision-making by clinical leaders. As a work-based learning approach, action research was expected to lead to integration of learning into practice by researcher and participants alike. Shared governance replaces traditional hierarchies and requires and develops clinical leaders. Strategies are needed to maximize learning from introduction of such initiatives at the individual, group and organizational level. Participant-observations and interviews were undertaken with shared governance council members from one model in north-west England. Leadership skills and knowledge and shared governance practices were significantly enhanced. Preparation for council roles was considered inadequate. Increased structured time for reflection and action planning was indicated. Implementation of shared governance has succeeded in developing leadership capacity. Evaluation findings have led to improvements in the overall shared governance model. Action research has been found to have great utility at optimizing work-based learning. Nurse Managers need to develop their coaching and facilitating skills and recognize there is no "quick fix" for developing clinical leaders. Implications include the need to support learners in identifying and implementing changes arising from work-based learning activities, the significant resource implications and the need to optimize the organizational climate if work-based learning approaches to leadership and management development are to succeed.

Exploring the Experiences of Faculty-Led Teams in Conducting Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Qi; Amundsen, Cheryl

2015-01-01

Action research has been suggested as a useful way to support university faculty to improve teaching and learning. However, there seems to be little knowledge about how faculty (and those who work with them) experience the process of doing action research. In order to explore team members' in-depth experience about what they learned and how they…

Exploring Action Research as an Enduring Experience of Professional Development for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hummel, Robin Ellen

2017-01-01

This study was an inquiry into the influence of action research on teachers' practice and an exploration of the idea that teaching is synonymous with learning. After 14 participants engaged in individual action research projects that were facilitated by the researcher, the qualitative method of narrative inquiry was used to gather data from the…

Action Research as a Practice-Based Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemmis, Stephen

2009-01-01

Action research changes people's practices, their understandings of their practices, and the conditions under which they practice. It changes people's patterns of "saying", "doing" and "relating" to form new patterns--new ways of life. It is a meta-practice: a practice that changes other practices. It transforms the…

21 CFR 1301.32 - Action on applications for research in Schedule I substances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Action on applications for research in Schedule I... REGISTRATION OF MANUFACTURERS, DISTRIBUTORS, AND DISPENSERS OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES Action on Application for Registration: Revocation Or Suspension of Registration § 1301.32 Action on applications for research in...

Identical phase oscillators with global sinusoidal coupling evolve by Mobius group action.

PubMed

Marvel, Seth A; Mirollo, Renato E; Strogatz, Steven H

2009-12-01

Systems of N identical phase oscillators with global sinusoidal coupling are known to display low-dimensional dynamics. Although this phenomenon was first observed about 20 years ago, its underlying cause has remained a puzzle. Here we expose the structure working behind the scenes of these systems by proving that the governing equations are generated by the action of the Mobius group, a three-parameter subgroup of fractional linear transformations that map the unit disk to itself. When there are no auxiliary state variables, the group action partitions the N-dimensional state space into three-dimensional invariant manifolds (the group orbits). The N-3 constants of motion associated with this foliation are the N-3 functionally independent cross ratios of the oscillator phases. No further reduction is possible, in general; numerical experiments on models of Josephson junction arrays suggest that the invariant manifolds often contain three-dimensional regions of neutrally stable chaos.

Developing preceptorship through action research: Part 1.

PubMed

Hilli, Yvonne; Melender, Hanna-Leena

2015-09-01

Clinical preception in practice plays a significant role in both registered and practical nurse studies. As such, the cooperation between the faculty and working life is important to narrow the theory-practice gap, with emphasis being placed on a student-oriented approach promoting self-direction and lifelong learning. The aim of this project was to develop the preceptorship at five different units within the health-care sector in western Finland by implementing an action research (AR) approach. This article is the first of a two-part article on the project, focusing on a cultural analysis and the development of preception models conducted within the project. The five units participating in the study were the following: a long-term care ward in the community, a ward for people with dementia, a geriatric ward, a medical ward and a surgical ward representing specialised care. The starting point of the study was a cultural analysis, which was made in all the five units to obtain a 'bottom-up' perspective. In each of the five units 3-5 nurses were appointed to become members of the core groups. This meant that all the units would start from the perspective of their own working environment when creating a preception model that would fit into their particular workplace. During this process, the participants received continuous support from the researchers. Several workshops and seminars were also arranged to further support the core groups and staff. The models were implemented and tested during the academic year 2010-2011 followed by an evaluation of the project. The evaluation results will be presented in the second part of the two-part article. The project showed that reflective practice and critical thinking can be improved through an AR approach. © 2015 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Building a bridge for nursing education and clinical care in Taiwan--using action research and Confucian tradition to close the gap.

PubMed

Yang, Wan-Ping; Chao, Co-Shi Chantal; Lai, Wei-Shu; Chen, Ching-Huey; Shih, Ya Lan; Chiu, Ge-Lin

2013-03-01

Nursing workplaces in Taiwan are unable to retain talent. An examination of this problem has revealed that the causes of this phenomenon are that nursing education fails to cultivate the skills that meet workplace requirements and that there are gap between nursing education and clinical practice. This paper is an action research that aims is to design educational programs that can close the gap between nursing education and clinical practice in Taiwan. In this action research project, 4 action cycles were used to design educational programs including concept mapping and focused discussion strategies. Participants were invited to join the research in three teaching hospitals and one university. Two groups of participants, student nurses (SN) and nursing staff personnel (NS), were sampled and invited to participate in the research. Participant observation, focus groups, and qualitative interviews were used to collect data. Qualitative data were not only profiled by content analysis, but they were also compared continuously between the two groups as well as between the 4 cycles. The qualitative data collected for the 135 participants were analysed. The themes of an effective nursing program were summarized. Many fundamental values of traditional Chinese education have gradually faded due to the Westernization of education. In this study, we discovered that Western educational models may play a critical role in improving traditionally taught nursing education programs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facilitating a Culture of Relational Trust in School-Based Action Research: Recognising the Role of Middle Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards-Groves, Christine; Grootenboer, Peter; Ronnerman, Karin

2016-01-01

Practices such as formal focused professional dialogue groups, coaching conversations, mentoring conversations and professional learning staff meetings have been taken up in schools and pre-schools as part of long-term action research and development activities to improve the learning and teaching practices. The development of relational trust has…

A solution to the collective action problem in between-group conflict with within-group inequality

PubMed Central

Gavrilets, Sergey; Fortunato, Laura

2014-01-01

Conflict with conspecifics from neighbouring groups over territory, mating opportunities and other resources is observed in many social organisms, including humans. Here we investigate the evolutionary origins of social instincts, as shaped by selection resulting from between-group conflict in the presence of a collective action problem. We focus on the effects of the differences between individuals on the evolutionary dynamics. Our theoretical models predict that high-rank individuals, who are able to usurp a disproportional share of resources in within-group interactions, will act seemingly altruistically in between-group conflict, expending more effort and often having lower reproductive success than their low-rank group-mates. Similar behaviour is expected for individuals with higher motivation, higher strengths or lower costs, or for individuals in a leadership position. Our theory also provides an evolutionary foundation for classical equity theory, and it has implications for the origin of coercive leadership and for reproductive skew theory. PMID:24667443

Identifying the Priorities and Practices of Virtual School Educators Using Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawson, Kara; Dana, Nancy Fichtman; Wolkenhauer, Rachel; Krell, Desi

2013-01-01

This study examined the nature of thirty virtual educators' action research questions during a yearlong action research professional development experience within a large, state-funded virtual school. Virtual educators included instructional personnel (i.e., individuals responsible for teaching virtual courses) and noninstructional personnel…

Initiating Teachers' Action Research: Empowering Teachers' Voices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bognar, Branko

2013-01-01

The role of a teacher as an action researcher in Croatia is still insufficiently appreciated and promoted in initial teachers' training, school students learning and in the employed teachers' professional post-qualification development. In this country, teachers are most frequently perceived as mediators or technicians whose task is to prepare and…

Action Research Facilitated by University-School Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Rui; Lee, Icy

2015-01-01

While Action Research (AR) is promoted as a powerful route for teachers' professional development, different contextual challenges may arise during the process; teachers may be helped to overcome these challenges with the guidance of external facilitators. Drawing on data from interviews and the teachers' AR reports, this article explores how two…

Indigenizing Teacher Education: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitchen, Julian; Raynor, Marg

2013-01-01

This action research report focuses on a new elective course entitled "Indigenizing Education: Education for/about Aboriginal Peoples" that was developed and taught by two teacher educators--one Euro-Canadian and the other Metis. The purpose of the course was to increase understanding of Indigenous peoples and of the impact of…

Making Meaning about Educational Experiences through Participatory Action Research: A Project Conducted with Adults Enrolled in a Community College Mathematics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moreno, German Alonso

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the findings of a group of co-researchers involved in a participatory action research (PAR) project conducted with adults in a developmental education program. The co-researchers were mostly individuals of Hispanic descent, who had struggled in the past with schooling. Because the educational experiences of Hispanics often…

Prejudiced interactions: implicit racial bias reduces predictive simulation during joint action with an out-group avatar.

PubMed

Sacheli, Lucia Maria; Christensen, Andrea; Giese, Martin A; Taubert, Nick; Pavone, Enea Francesco; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria; Candidi, Matteo

2015-02-17

During social interactions people automatically apply stereotypes in order to rapidly categorize others. Racial differences are among the most powerful cues that drive these categorizations and modulate our emotional and cognitive reactivity to others. We investigated whether implicit racial bias may also shape hand kinematics during the execution of realistic joint actions with virtual in- and out-group partners. Caucasian participants were required to perform synchronous imitative or complementary reach-to-grasp movements with avatars that had different skin color (white and black) but showed identical action kinematics. Results demonstrate that stronger visuo-motor interference (indexed here as hand kinematics differences between complementary and imitative actions) emerged: i) when participants were required to predict the partner's action goal in order to on-line adapt their own movements accordingly; ii) during interactions with the in-group partner, indicating the partner's racial membership modulates interactive behaviors. Importantly, the in-group/out-group effect positively correlated with the implicit racial bias of each participant. Thus visuo-motor interference during joint action, likely reflecting predictive embodied simulation of the partner's movements, is affected by cultural inter-individual differences.

Designing and Implementing Collaborative Improvement in the Extended Manufacturing Enterprise: Action Learning and Action Research (ALAR) in CO-IMPROVE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coghlan, David; Coughlan, Paul

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide a design and implementation framework for ALAR (action learning action research) programme which aims to address collaborative improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise. Design/methodology/approach: This article demonstrates the design of a programme in which action learning and action…

The Union RAP: Industry-Wide Research-Action Projects to Win Health and Safety Improvements

PubMed Central

McQuiston, Thomas H.; Lippin, Tobi Mae; Anderson, Leeann G.; Beach, M. Josie; Frederick, James; Seymour, Thomas A.

2009-01-01

Unions are ripe to engage in community-based participatory research (CBPR). We briefly profile 3 United Steelworker CBPR projects aimed at uncovering often-undocumented, industry-wide health and safety conditions in which US industrial workers toil. The results are to be used to advocate improvements at workplace, industry, and national policy levels. We offer details of our CBPR approach (Research-Action Project [RAP]) that engages workers and others in all research stages. Elements of RAPs include strategically constructed teams with knowledge of the industry and health and safety and with skills in research, participatory facilitation, and training; reciprocal training on these knowledge and skill areas; iterative processes of large and small group work; use of technology; and facilitator-developed tools and intermediate products. PMID:19890145

‘This will bring shame on our nation’: The role of anticipated group-based emotions on collective action

PubMed Central

Shepherd, Lee; Spears, Russell; Manstead, Antony S.R.

2013-01-01

In three studies we examined whether the anticipation of group-based guilt, shame and anger predicts the desire to undertake collective action against a proposed ingroup transgression. In Studies 1 (N = 179) and 2 (N = 186), the relation between appraising a proposed ingroup transgression as illegitimate and collective action was mediated (or partially mediated) by anticipated group-based shame and anger. In Study 3 (N = 128) participants with high self-investment group identification were less willing to engage in collective action against the prospective ingroup transgression when aversive anticipated group-based emotions were made salient. This effect was mediated by anticipated group-based shame. We discuss the implications of these results with regard to collective action and the morality of intergroup behavior. PMID:23690650

Contributing Meaning to Research in Developmental Disabilities: Integrating Participatory Action and Methodological Rigor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Laurie E.

2017-01-01

Action research approaches reflecting power sharing by academic and community researchers, full engagement of community partners across all study phases, and ongoing commitment to partnership and capacity building have been increasingly embraced, particularly in research affecting marginalized populations. Findings suggest action research…

Enhancing Students' Creative Writing Skills: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nasir, Laraib; Naqvi, Syeda Meenoo; Bhamani, Shelina

2013-01-01

This research aimed to improve written expression (composition) skills of 5th grade students of an elite private school. The research was designed under the paradigm of action research. A total sample of 39 students' from the same grade was chosen for the study. The baseline assessment was carried out to explore the pre-intervention writing skill…

Building Capacity through Action Research Curricula Reviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Vanessa; Coombe, Leanne; Robinson, Priscilla

2015-01-01

In Australia, graduates of Master of Public Health (MPH) programmes are expected to achieve a set of core competencies, including a subset that is specifically related to Indigenous health. This paper reports on the methods utilised in a project which was designed using action research to strengthen Indigenous public health curricula within MPH…

Introducing a new COST Action: ES1306: Connecting European Connectivity Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keesstra, Saskia; Cerda, Artemi; Parsons, Tony; Vericat, Damià; Wainwright, John; Heckmann, Tobias; Mueller, Eva; Poeppl, Ronald; Brazier, Richard; Nunes, Joao; Brardinoni, Francesco; Marques, Maria Jose

2014-05-01

In November 2013 a new COST Action entitled 'Connecting European Connectivity Research' was approved by the European Union. This Action aims to connect researchers across Europe (and beyond) that study the concept of water and sediment connectivity. Successful prediction of pathways of storm runoff generation and associated soil erosion is of considerable societal importance, including off-site impacts such as water quality and the provision of related ecosystem services. Recently, the role of connectivity in controlling runoff and erosion has received significant and increasing scientific attention, though in a disparate and uncoordinated way. There is a wealth of experience and expertise in connectivity across Europe that could be harnessed to ensure that the potential already demonstrated in key studies can be more widely fulfilled; to move forward along agreed lines and identify emerging goals, and to benefit from cross-fertilization of ideas from the fields of Hydrology, Soil Science, Geomorphology and Ecology. The key benefit of this Action will be to establish connectivity as a research paradigm. The Action will then permit transfer of current understanding into useable science, by developing it's conceptual basis and transferring it into a series of monitoring and modelling tools that will provide the platform for indices that will inform holistic management of catchment systems. In this presentation we want to show you the planned actions of this new COST Action.

A Signature Pedagogy for Leadership Education: Preparing Principals through Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sappington, Neil; Baker, Paul J.; Gardner, Dianne; Pacha, Joe

2010-01-01

This study proposes participatory action research as a signature pedagogy for principal preparation programs. Signature pedagogies bring professional knowledge and core values together in distinctive teaching and learning arrangements. A rationale and learning results are presented that describe key components of action research intended to help…

Co-Teaching an Online Action Research Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Brent G.; Linder VanBerschot, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Two instructors report our experience co-teaching an action research (AR) required as part of an e-learning master's degree. Adopting a practice-centered stance we focus on the course activities of participants (instructors and students), with particular attention to the careful crafting of course elements with the goal of achieving an…

Conceptualizing Indicator Domains for Evaluating Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piggot-Irvine, Eileen; Rowe, Wendy; Ferkins, Lesley

2015-01-01

The focus of this paper is to share thinking about meta-level evaluation of action research (AR), and to introduce indicator domains for assessing and measuring inputs, outputs and outcomes. Meta-level and multi-site evaluation has been rare in AR beyond project implementation and participant satisfaction. The paper is the first of several…

Participatory action research: considerations for ethical review.

PubMed

Khanlou, N; Peter, E

2005-05-01

This paper addresses the distinctive nature of participatory action research (PAR) in relation to ethical review requirements. As a framework for conducting research and reducing health disparities, PAR is gaining increased attention in community and public health research. As a result, PAR researchers and members of Research Ethics Boards could benefit from an increased understanding of the array of ethical concerns that can arise. We discuss these concerns in light of commonly held ethical requirements for clinical research (social or scientific value, scientific validity, fair subject/participant selection, favourable risk-benefit ratio, independent review, informed consent, and respect for potential and enrolled participants) and refer to guidelines specifically developed for participatory research in health promotion. We draw from our community-based experiences in mental health promotion research with immigrant and culturally diverse youth to illustrate the ethical advantages and challenges of applying a PAR approach. We conclude with process suggestions for Research Ethics Boards.

Utilizing Action Research to Improve Counseling Education Course Work for Culturally Diverse Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Vries, Sabina; McDonald, Deirdre; Mayorga, Mary G.

2017-01-01

This article informs counselor educators and psychologists on how to utilize action research to evaluate diverse students, course work, and to improve classroom instruction. A paucity exists in research investigating educational needs of diverse counseling students. The present action research study examined educational experiences of diverse…

Integrating Geospatial Technologies, Action Research, and Curriculum Theory to Promote Ecological Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agnello, Mary Frances; Carpenter, Penny

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine and report on the impact of integrating geospatial technology and ecological literacy into an educational leadership Master's class block comprised of action research and curriculum theory. Design/methodology/approach: Action and teacher research informed by environmental issues framed an action…

The Contribution of Pragmatism to Understanding Educational Action Research: Value and Consequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammond, Michael

2013-01-01

This paper argues that action research finds a rationale in the pragmatic position that knowledge is provisional and generated through a transaction between agent and environment. Action research finds a further methodological rationale in the pragmatic view that knowledge is generated within indeterminate situations, requires habits of reflection…

Literate Bodies: Multigenerational Participatory Action Research and Embodied Methodologies as Critical Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Madeline

2012-01-01

The recent study Polling for Justice (PFJ) used a multigenerational participatory action research approach with embodied methodologies to document youth experiences of education, criminal justice, and public health in New York City. Through an exploration of the PFJ project, this column demonstrates how participatory action research and embodied…

Discomfort as a Means of Pre-Service Teachers' Professional Development--An Action Research as Part of the "Research Literacy" Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amir, Aliza; Mandler, Daphna; Hauptman, Sara; Gorev, Dvora

2017-01-01

This paper focus on defining a research question while conducting action research among third-year students attending a course on Research Literacy at a teacher education college. This paper discusses the process of preparing for and conducting action research among third-year students attending a course on Research Literacy at a teacher education…

Is There an "F" in Your PAR? Understanding, Teaching and Doing Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lorenzetti, Liza; Walsh, Christine Ann

2014-01-01

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is increasingly recognized within academic research and pedagogy. What are the benefits of including feminism within participatory action research and teaching? In responding to this question, we discuss the similarities and salient differences between PAR and feminist informed PAR (FPAR). There are eight themes…

Applications of Participatory Action Research with Students Who Have Disabilities. ERIC/OSEP Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warger, Cynthia; Burnette, Jane

This brief paper defines participatory action research, reviews the literature on its use, and offers examples of how researchers and practitioners are applying principles of participatory action research data to select effective practices and support change and innovation in schools. Generation of data-based strategies in natural environments is…

The Effects of a Participatory Action Research Intervention on Middle School Students' Understanding of Schools, Culture and Place

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassie, Jonathan Martin

2011-01-01

School violence is a complex cultural problem that affects most schools. This study used a participatory action research model involving mapmaking, photography and intercultural grouping to understand how one school's physical environment and social geography contributed to interethnic tensions on campus. The study found that mapmaking allowed…

"I'm Not so Sure…": Teacher Educator Action Research into Uncertainty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Carrie

2016-01-01

Using a framework of uncertainty that is informed by Hannah Arendt's philosophy this four-semester action research project describes the creation and analysis of an assignment that allows teacher candidates to explore their own uncertainties in regards to the teaching profession. This action research project examines the assignment and its…

Transformative Change in Higher Education through Participatory Action Research: A Capabilities Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Melanie; Loots, Sonja

2018-01-01

As a methodological approach, participatory action research (PAR), and its variant of critical action research in education, aims to further social justice and generate transformative change. Although this understanding of PAR is well rehearsed, there is still a gap in detailed explorations of the transformative impact of PAR projects in higher…

Making science accessible through collaborative science teacher action research on feminist pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capobianco, Brenda M.

The underrepresentation of women and minorities in science is an extensively studied yet persistent concern of our society. Major reform movements in science education suggest that better teaching, higher standards, and sensitivity to student differences can overcome long-standing obstacles to participation among women and minorities. In response to these major reform movements, researchers have suggested teachers transform their goals, science content, and instructional practices to make science more attractive and inviting to all students, particularly young women and minorities (Barton, 1998; Brickhouse, 1994; Mayberry & Rees, 1999; Rodriguez, 1999; Roychoudhury, Tippins, & Nichols, 1995). One of the more dominant approaches currently heralded is the use of feminist pedagogy in science education. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways eleven middle and high school science teachers worked collaboratively to engage in systematic, self-critical inquiry of their own practice and join with other science teachers to engage in collaborative conversations in effort to transform their practice for a more equitable science education. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews, whole group discussions, classroom observations, and review of supporting documents. Data analysis was based on grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and open coding (Miles and Huberman, 1994). This study described the collective processes the science teachers and university researcher employed to facilitate regular collaborative action research meetings over the course of six months. Findings indicated that engaging in collaborative action research allowed teachers to gain new knowledge about feminist science teaching, generate a cluster of pedagogical possibilities for inclusive pedagogy, and enhance their understanding for science teaching. Additional findings indicated dilemmas teachers experienced including resistance to a feminist agenda and concerns for validity in action

Using participatory action research to foster nurse leadership in Australian rural hospitals.

PubMed

Bish, Melanie; Kenny, Amanda; Nay, Rhonda

2013-09-01

This paper outlines the processes and results of a participatory action research study undertaken to identify issues that may impact on strategies to foster nurse leadership in rural hospitals. Five Directors of Nursing from rural regions of Victoria, Australia participated. The group activities involved discussion and analysis of previous research, a review of current literature and critical reflection of the leadership performance of their organization. The analysis identified five key themes; dispel the myths, adopt big-picture thinking, connect with colleagues, reflect on your own conduct, and create organizational buy-in. It is essential to have an awareness of contextual challenges, an understanding of the importance of your own conduct as a visible leader, and the need for effective communication to inform the development of strategies that may be used to foster nurse leadership in rural hospitals. The platform to discuss and critically analyze leadership saw a group consensus that affirmed the need for any approach to nursing leadership to be tailored to the individual healthcare organization. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

21 CFR 1301.32 - Action on applications for research in Schedule I substances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Action on applications for research in Schedule I... Registration: Revocation Or Suspension of Registration § 1301.32 Action on applications for research in Schedule I substances. (a) In the case of an application for registration to conduct research with...

Teacher Identity Development through Action Research: A Chinese Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Rui; Burns, Anne

2017-01-01

This study explores how two language teachers constructed and reconstructed their professional identities through their action research (AR) facilitated by university researchers in China. Informed by the theory of 'community of practice', the findings of the study show that AR exerted a transformative impact on the teachers' identity development.…

The Role of Action Research in Empowering Teachers to Change Their Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradley-Levine, Jill; Smith, Joshua; Carr, Kari

2009-01-01

Universities need to work with teachers to dispel the belief that research is disconnected from practice and teachers must be open to the benefits of action inquiry. This study examined the process and impact of conducting action research on teachers' perceptions of practice and professionalism. Twelve teachers enrolled in a master's level course…

Including Everyone in Research: The Burton Street Research Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abell, Simon; Ashmore, Jackie; Wilson, Dorothy; Beart, Suzie; Brownley, Peter; Butcher, Adam; Clarke, Zara; Combes, Helen; Francis, Errol; Hayes, Stefan; Hemmingham, Ian; Hicks, Kerry; Ibraham, Amina; Kenyon, Elinor; Lee, Darren; McClimens, Alex; Collins, Michelle; Newton, John; Wilson, Dorothy

2007-01-01

In our paper we talk about what it is like to be a group of people with and without learning disabilities researching together. We describe the process of starting and maintaining the research group and reflect on the obstacles that we have come across, and the rewards such research has brought us. Lastly we put forward some ideas about the role…

Participatory action research: involving students in parent education.

PubMed

Fowler, Cathrine; Wu, Cynthia; Lam, Winsome

2014-01-01

Competition for scarce clinical placements has increased requiring new and innovative models to be developed to meet the growing need. A participatory action research project was used to provide a community nursing clinical experience of involvement in parent education. Nine Hong Kong nursing students self-selected to participate in the project to implement a parenting program called Parenting Young Children in a Digital World. Three project cycles were used: needs identification, skills development and program implementation. Students were fully involved in each cycle's planning, action and reflection phase. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to inform the project. The overall outcome of the project was the provision of a rich and viable clinical placement experience that created significant learning opportunities for the students and researchers. This paper will explore the student's participation in this PAR project as an innovative clinical practice opportunity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Action Researchers Encountering Ethical Review: A Literature Synthesis on Challenges and Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fouché, Christa B.; Chubb, Laura A.

2017-01-01

Action research (AR) comprises a diverse family of methodologies. Common amongst most types of AR are both an emergent design--leading to action or change--and participation or community involvement. While this type of research has expanded considerably since the early 2000s, the criteria used for ethical review have apparently been slow to adapt…

Action Research on the Application of Variation Theory in Mathematics Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bragg, Leicha A.

2017-01-01

This article reports on action research that was undertaken while teaching a mathematics education subject to a series of cohorts of final-year primary pre-service teachers at a university in Australia. My aim was to increase the understanding of an assessment task, as well as its intrinsic value. Each action research cycle involved the…

Using an action research process in pharmacy practice research--a cooperative project between university and internship pharmacies.

PubMed

Sørensen, Ellen Westh; Haugbølle, Lotte Stig

2008-12-01

Action research (AR) is a common research-based methodology useful for development and organizational changes in health care when participant involvement is key. However, AR is not widely used for research in the development of pharmaceutical care services in pharmacy practice. To disseminate the experience from using AR methodology to develop cognitive services in pharmacies by describing how the AR process was conducted in a specific study, and to describe the outcome for participants. The study was conducted over a 3-year period and run by a steering group of researchers, pharmacy students, and preceptors. The study design was based on AR methodology. The following data production methods were used to describe and evaluate the AR model: documentary analysis, qualitative interviews, and questionnaires. Experiences from using AR methodology and the outcome for participants are described. A set of principles was followed while the study, called the Pharmacy-University study, was being conducted. These principles are considered useful for designing future AR studies. Outcome for participating pharmacies was registered for staff-oriented and patient-oriented activities. Outcome for students was practice as project leaders and enhancement of clinical pharmacy-based skills. Outcome for researchers and the steering group conducting the study was in-depth knowledge of the status of pharmacies in giving advice to patient groups, and effective learning methods for students. Developing and implementing cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS) involves wide-reaching changes that require the willingness of pharmacy and staff as well as external partners. The use of AR methodology creates a platform that supports raising the awareness and the possible inclusion of these partners. During this study, a set of tools was developed for use in implementing CPS as part of AR.

Scientist-Teacher Partnerships as Professional Development: An Action Research Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Willcuts, Meredith H.

The overall purpose of this action research study was to explore the experiences of ten middle school science teachers involved in a three-year partnership program between scientists and teachers at a Department of Energy national laboratory, including the impact of the program on their professional development, and to improve the partnership program by developing a set of recommendations based on the study’s findings. This action research study relied on qualitative data including field notes recorded at the summer academies and data from two focus groups with teachers and scientists. Additionally, the participating teachers submitted written reflections in science notebooks, participatedmore » in open-ended telephone interviews that were transcribed verbatim, and wrote journal summaries to the Department of Energy at the end of the summer academy. The analysis of the data, collaboratively examined by the teachers, the scientists, and the science education specialist acting as co-researchers on the project, revealed five elements critical to the success of the professional development of science teachers. First, scientist-teacher partnerships are a unique contribution to the professional development of teachers of science that is not replicated in other forms of teacher training. Second, the role of the science education specialist as a bridge between the scientists and teachers is a unique and vital one, impacting all aspects of the professional development. Third, there is a paradox for classroom teachers as they view the professional development experience from two different lenses – that of learner and that of teacher. Fourth, learning for science teachers must be designed to be constructivist in nature. Fifth, the principles of the nature of science must be explicitly showcased to be seen and understood by the classroom teacher.« less

Perspectives from Teachers' Classrooms. Action Research. Science FEAT (Science for Early Adolescence Teachers).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spiegel, Samuel A., Ed.; And Others

Action research is one of the more increasingly popular and innovative techniques for engaging teachers in shaping change in the classroom. The research in this monograph was conducted by teachers in classrooms in Florida and Georgia. Papers were selected from 65 action research papers written in fulfillment of one of the requirements of the…

Studying Studies on Teacher Reflection and Action: An Appraisal of Research Contributions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcos, Juan Jose Mena; Tillema, Harm

2006-01-01

For decades a substantial body of research on teacher reflection and action has been conducted. This research contains a wealth of information on teachers' thinking about their daily work in classrooms. But what do these studies tell us about the linkage between thought and action in actual teaching? How do they contribute to our understanding, or…

An Investigation of Preschool Teachers' Ways of Seeing Action Research Using Phenomenography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Ho Cheong

2016-01-01

One of the purposes of introducing the use of action research in schools is to bring about educational change in policy and practice. To make this happen, it is of paramount importance to look into how teachers actually see action research. We, the writers of this paper, are teacher educators, teaching preschool teachers courses related to action…

Exploring the Connections between Action Research and Teacher Leadership: A Reflection on Teacher-Leader Research for Confronting New Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolkenhauer, Rachel; Hill, Ashley Pennypacker; Dana, Nancy Fichtman; Stukey, Marisa

2017-01-01

This reflective article examines the relationship between teachers' engagement in action research and their ability to lead within their schools. As part of "The New Educator's" special issue, "Developing an Inquiry Stance toward Instructional Improvement: Teacher-Leader Action Research," this article demonstrates the…

The Effect of Models, Reference Groups, and Social Responsibility Norms Upon Participation in Prosocial Action Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, David W.; Neale, Daniel C.

1970-01-01

A sample of undergraduate students and members of a social action project did not differ on the Berkowitz and Daniels social responsibility scale. Participation in prosocial action is related to perceived reference group norms and to perceived exposure to prosocial action models both within and outside the family." (Author/DB)

Pathways to Co-Impact: Action Research and Community Organising

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banks, Sarah; Herrington, Tracey; Carter, Kath

2017-01-01

This article introduces the concept of "co-impact" to characterise the complex and dynamic process of social and economic change generated by participatory action research (PAR). It argues that dominant models of research impact tend to see it as a linear process, based on a donor-recipient model, occurring at the end of a project…

Values-Based Self-Reflective Action Research for Promoting Gender Equality: Some Unexpected Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Lesley

2014-01-01

The idea of using values as a means of guiding our research decisions and judging the validity of our claims of knowledge is well established in literature on the self-reflective genre of action research. Values in action research should always result in virtuous behaviour--to promote the general social good. However, ideas of what constitutes the…

Knowledge and Transformative Social Action: The Encounter of Selected Traditions of Participatory (Action) Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Streck, Danilo Romeu

2014-01-01

The argument in this paper is that action and participatory research developed within the context of social and political movements aimed at promoting democratic relationships and institutions represents a methodological strategy for deconstructing and reconstructing the hegemonic perspective of knowledge and knowledge production. After a brief…

Cultivating the power of partnerships in feminist participatory action research in women's health.

PubMed

Ponic, Pamela; Reid, Colleen; Frisby, Wendy

2010-12-01

Feminist participatory action research integrates feminist theories and participatory action research methods, often with the explicit intention of building community-academic partnerships to create new forms of knowledge to inform women's health. Despite the current pro-partnership agenda in health research and policy settings, a lack of attention has been paid to how to cultivate effective partnerships given limited resources, competing agendas, and inherent power differences. Based on our 10+ years individually and collectively conducting women's health and feminist participatory action research, we suggest that it is imperative to intentionally develop power-with strategies in order to avoid replicating the power imbalances that such projects seek to redress. By drawing on examples from three of our recent feminist participatory action projects we reflect on some of the tensions and complexities of attempting to cultivate power-with research partnerships. We then offer skills and resources needed by academic researchers to effectively harness the collective resources, agendas, and knowledge that each partner brings to the table. We suggest that investing in the process of cultivating power-with research partnerships ultimately improves our collective ability to understand and address women's health issues. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

How action researchers use anxiety to facilitate change in health care.

PubMed

Evans, Nicola; Hopkinson, Jane

2016-06-01

The aim of this paper is to report on the role of an action researcher in a study investigating the change process in a health service context where a new assessment clinic was developed to manage the excessive waiting list for that service. For effective organisational change in health, there is a suggestion that change agents need to be emotionally intelligent; recognising the emotional state of individuals, reconciling that with the organisational drivers and making an assessment of readiness for organisational change. Anxiety features throughout this literature and there is a suggestion that being aware of anxiety and managing anxiety is within the emotionally intelligent change agent's repertoire, but there is a gap in the literature that explains this relationship in detail. Data were generated to investigate the discrete nature of the role of the action researcher during this organisational change that spanned two years, through three methods: participant observations in the field captured in field notes (n = 72); observations of team meetings that had been recorded and transcribed (n = 13); interviews with key informants pre- and postintervention (n = 14); a reflexive diary one document of 8920 words (n = 1). The data illuminating the interaction between the action researcher and participants were synthesised into two broad themes: how the action researcher introduced anxiety into the system; how the action researcher facilitated the participants to tolerate change anxiety. The findings from this study can be applied in clinical practice where change in practice is planned. Part of the requirement of a change agent in the NHS might be to be sufficiently emotionally literate to understand anxiety in the participant system and manage it to effect change. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Planning for Action Research: Looking at Practice through a Different Lens

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hahn, Heidi A.

2012-08-03

It has been my experience that behavioral science practitioners, including myself, often 'back into' action research. That is, we start out doing a process improvement or intervention and discover something along the way - generalizable knowledge - that seems worthwhile to share with our community of practice. What if, instead of looking at these projects from the point of view of practitioners, we looked at them as research from the outset? Would that change the outcome or generate additional knowledge? This paper compares and contrasts process improvement and action research methods, and illustrates how use of a research 'lens' canmore » enhance behavioral science interventions and the knowledge that may result from them.« less

Emotions and Reflexivity in Feminised Education Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burman, Erica

2006-01-01

The paper addresses contemporary relations between emotions, gender and feminist action research. Starting from analysis of the increasing emotionalisation of everyday life, it explores the quasi-feminist--or what the author calls "feminised"--forms of incitement to reflexive confession that are increasingly gaining favour within professional and…

How to Ensure Ethicality of Action Research in the Classroom?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peltokorpi, Eeva-Liisa; Määttä, Kaarina; Uusiautti, Satu

2012-01-01

During the past few years, child research has increased both when it comes to various disciplines and various methods. The purpose of this article is to discuss those common, special ethical viewpoints that the researcher has to take into consideration when conducting action research in the classroom. The article is based on the…

Action Research: An Educational Leader's Guide to School Improvement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glanz, Jeffrey

Useful as a classroom text and self-teaching tool, this book outlines the process of designing and reporting action research projects in schools. The underlying assumption of the book is that research is not a domain that belongs only to academics, but is a powerful approach that can be used by practitioners to contribute to school renewal and…

Linking Participatory Action Research, Global Education, and Social Justice: Emerging Issues from Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaukko, Mervi; Fertig, Michael

2016-01-01

This article focuses on the practical, ontological, and epistemological similarities and differences between global education and participatory action research (PAR). The paper starts by presenting classical definitions of action research, highlighting their similarities with the ideas of global education. Considering the aim of global education…

Reducing inequalities in health and access to health care in a rural Indian community: an India-Canada collaborative action research project.

PubMed

Haddad, Slim; Narayana, Delampady; Mohindra, Ks

2011-11-08

Inadequate public action in vulnerable communities is a major constraint for the health of poor and marginalized groups in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The south Indian state of Kerala, known for relatively equitable provision of public resources, is no exception to the marginalization of vulnerable communities. In Kerala, women's lives are constrained by gender-based inequalities and certain indigenous groups are marginalized such that their health and welfare lag behind other social groups. The goal of this socially-engaged, action-research initiative was to reduce social inequalities in access to health care in a rural community. Specific objectives were: 1) design and implement a community-based health insurance scheme to reduce financial barriers to health care, 2) strengthen local governance in monitoring and evidence-based decision-making, and 3) develop an evidence base for appropriate health interventions. Health and social inequities have been masked by Kerala's overall progress. Key findings illustrated large inequalities between different social groups. Particularly disadvantaged are lower-caste women and Paniyas (a marginalized indigenous group), for whom inequalities exist across education, employment status, landholdings, and health. The most vulnerable populations are the least likely to receive state support, which has broader implications for the entire country. A community based health solidarity scheme (SNEHA), under the leadership of local women, was developed and implemented yielding some benefits to health equity in the community-although inclusion of the Paniyas has been a challenge. The Canadian-Indian action research team has worked collaboratively for over a decade. An initial focus on surveys and data analysis has transformed into a focus on socially engaged, participatory action research. Adapting to unanticipated external forces, maintaining a strong team in the rural village, retaining human resources capable of analyzing

Action Research Projects in Pre-Service Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clayton, Courtney; Meadows, George

2013-01-01

Classroom-centered Action Research Projects are an integral component of the M.S. in Elementary Education Program at the University's (pseudonym) College of Education. This article provides a summary and discussion of the projects completed by students in the Science, Technology, Literacy and English Language Learner Specializations of the…

Montage: Improvising in the Land of Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Windle, Sheila; Sefton, Terry

2011-01-01

This paper and its appended multi-media production describe the rationale and process of creating and presenting a "digitally saturated" (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003), multi-layered, synchronous "montage" (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003) of educational Action Research findings. The authors contend that this type of presentation, arising from the fusion of…

Carrying Out Collaborative Action Research in a Practicum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Belinda

2013-01-01

To help in-service English teachers improve their teaching practices and pupils' learning opportunities through an enquiry-oriented and cooperative approach, the author carried out collaborative action research during a practicum in a teacher education course at a university in Hong Kong. This article describes how the collaborative research…

Action Research as Instructional Supervision: Suggestions for Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glanz, Jeffrey

2005-01-01

Supervision based on collaboration, participative decision making, and reflective practice is the hallmark of a viable school improvement program that is designed to promote teaching and learning. Action research has gradually emerged as an important form of instructional supervision to engage teachers in reflective practice about their teaching…

Motivating an Action Design Research Approach to Implementing Online Training in an Organisational Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogerson, Christine; Scott, Elsje

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of Action Design Research (ADR), a combination of Action Research and Design Science Research, as a methodology to examine how the implementation of e-learning will affect the learning outcomes for staff training in an organisational context. The research involves an intervention in the…

An ergonomics action research demonstration: integrating human factors into assembly design processes.

PubMed

Village, J; Greig, M; Salustri, F; Zolfaghari, S; Neumann, W P

2014-01-01

In action research (AR), the researcher participates 'in' the actions in an organisation, while simultaneously reflecting 'on' the actions to promote learning for both the organisation and the researchers. This paper demonstrates a longitudinal AR collaboration with an electronics manufacturing firm where the goal was to improve the organisation's ability to integrate human factors (HF) proactively into their design processes. During the three-year collaboration, all meetings, workshops, interviews and reflections were digitally recorded and qualitatively analysed to inform new 'actions'. By the end of the collaboration, HF tools with targets and sign-off by the HF specialist were integrated into several stages of the design process, and engineers were held accountable for meeting the HF targets. We conclude that the AR approach combined with targeting multiple initiatives at different stages of the design process helped the organisation find ways to integrate HF into their processes in a sustainable way. Researchers acted as a catalyst to help integrate HF into the engineering design process in a sustainable way. This paper demonstrates how an AR approach can help achieve HF integration, the benefits of using a reflective stance and one method for reporting an AR study.

Online professional development for digitally differentiated nurses: An action research perspective.

PubMed

Green, J K; Huntington, A D

2017-01-01

Professional development opportunities for nurses are increasingly being offered in the online environment and therefore it is imperative that learning designers, nurse educators and healthcare organisations consider how best to support staff to enable Registered Nurses to capitalise on the resources available. Research participants explored educational strategies to support digitally differentiated nurses' engagement with professional development activities in an online environment through a participatory action research project that collected data over a 16 month period through six focus groups before being analysed thematically. The reality of work-based, e-learning while managing clinical workloads can be problematic however specific measures, such as having a quiet space and computer away from the clinical floor, access to professional development resources from anywhere and at any time, can be effective. A 'one-size-fits-all' approach to resources offered will not meet the needs of diverse staffing groups whereas heutagogical learning offers tangible benefits to Registered Nurses seeking professional development opportunities in this context. Apparent proficiency with technological skills may not reflect a Registered Nurse's actual ability in this environment and face-to-face support offered regularly, rather than remedially, can be beneficial for some staff. Implementing specific strategies can result in successful transition to the online environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated grouping of action potentials of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

PubMed

Gorospe, Giann; Zhu, Renjun; Millrod, Michal A; Zambidis, Elias T; Tung, Leslie; Vidal, Rene

2014-09-01

Methods for obtaining cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are improving at a significant rate. However, the characterization of these cardiomyocytes (CMs) is evolving at a relatively slower rate. In particular, there is still uncertainty in classifying the phenotype (ventricular-like, atrial-like, nodal-like, etc.) of an hESC-derived cardiomyocyte (hESC-CM). While previous studies identified the phenotype of a CM based on electrophysiological features of its action potential, the criteria for classification were typically subjective and differed across studies. In this paper, we use techniques from signal processing and machine learning to develop an automated approach to discriminate the electrophysiological differences between hESC-CMs. Specifically, we propose a spectral grouping-based algorithm to separate a population of CMs into distinct groups based on the similarity of their action potential shapes. We applied this method to a dataset of optical maps of cardiac cell clusters dissected from human embryoid bodies. While some of the nine cell clusters in the dataset are presented with just one phenotype, the majority of the cell clusters are presented with multiple phenotypes. The proposed algorithm is generally applicable to other action potential datasets and could prove useful in investigating the purification of specific types of CMs from an electrophysiological perspective.

Automated Grouping of Action Potentials of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

PubMed Central

Gorospe, Giann; Zhu, Renjun; Millrod, Michal A.; Zambidis, Elias T.; Tung, Leslie; Vidal, René

2015-01-01

Methods for obtaining cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are improving at a significant rate. However, the characterization of these cardiomyocytes is evolving at a relatively slower rate. In particular, there is still uncertainty in classifying the phenotype (ventricular-like, atrial-like, nodal-like, etc.) of an hESC-derived cardiomyocyte (hESC-CM). While previous studies identified the phenotype of a cardiomyocyte based on electrophysiological features of its action potential, the criteria for classification were typically subjective and differed across studies. In this paper, we use techniques from signal processing and machine learning to develop an automated approach to discriminate the electrophysiological differences between hESC-CMs. Specifically, we propose a spectral grouping-based algorithm to separate a population of cardiomyocytes into distinct groups based on the similarity of their action potential shapes. We applied this method to a dataset of optical maps of cardiac cell clusters dissected from human embryoid bodies (hEBs). While some of the 9 cell clusters in the dataset presented with just one phenotype, the majority of the cell clusters presented with multiple phenotypes. The proposed algorithm is generally applicable to other action potential datasets and could prove useful in investigating the purification of specific types of cardiomyocytes from an electrophysiological perspective. PMID:25148658

Public Presentation versus Private Actions in Psychotherapy Research, Training and Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMullen, Linda M.

1995-01-01

Reacts to Martin's (1995) essay concerning scientism in psychotherapy. Contends that the image psychotherapists' present to the public is often quite different from private actions, and that a focus of these private actions might reveal not only a less scientific endeavor, but also a paradigm for future research. (JPS)

Transforming Language Ideologies through Action Research: A Case Study of Bilingual Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Eunah

2012-01-01

This qualitative case study explored a third grade bilingual teacher's transformative language ideologies through participating in a collaborative action research project. By merging language ideologies theory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and action research, I was able to identify the analytic focus of this study. I analyzed…

A Collaborative Action Research Project towards Embedding ESD within the Higher Education Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cebrián, Gisela

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to present a collaborative action research project conducted at the University of Southampton with the aim to promote curriculum and professional development in education for sustainable development (ESD) and learn from everyday practices of academics. Design/methodology/approach: An action research approach guided by…

A Collaborative Action Research Approach to Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bleicher, Robert E.

2014-01-01

The field of professional development is moving towards the notion of professional learning, highlighting the active learning role that teachers play in changing their knowledge bases, beliefs and practice. This article builds on this idea and argues for creating professional learning that is guided by a collaborative action research (CAR)…

Minesweeper and Hypothetical Thinking Action Research & Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Jacob J.

2010-01-01

This Action Research project and Pilot Study was designed and implemented to improve students' hypothetical thinking abilities by exploring the possibility that learning and playing the computer game Minesweeper may inherently help improve hypothetical thinking. One objective was to use educational tools to make it easier for students to learn the…

Using Action Research to Improve Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahrens, Christie L.; Brant, Mary Ellen; Lee, E. Suzanne

2007-01-01

Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois offers a Master of Arts in Teaching and Leadership (MATL) degree program for certified teachers in the state of Illinois. This professional development program is provided through a partnership with Pearson Achievement Solutions. The program employs an action research model to guide teachers in…

Learning Networks--Enabling Change through Community Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bleach, Josephine

2016-01-01

Learning networks are a critical element of ethos of the community action research approach taken by the Early Learning Initiative at the National College of Ireland, a community-based educational initiative in the Dublin Docklands. Key criteria for networking, whether at local, national or international level, are the individual's and…

Practicum in adapted physical activity: a Dewey-inspired action research project.

PubMed

Standal, Øyvind; Rugseth, Gro

2014-07-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate what adapted physical activity (APA) students learn from their practicum experiences. One cohort of APA students participated, and data were generated from an action research project that included observations, reflective journals, and a focus group interview. The theoretical framework for the study was Dewey's and Wackerhausen's theories of reflections. The findings show the objects of students' reflections, the kind of conceptual resources they draw on while reflecting, and their knowledge interests. In addition, two paradoxes are identified: the tension between reflecting from and on own values, and how practicum as a valued experience of reality can become too difficult to handle. In conclusion, we reflect on how practicum learning can be facilitated.

Facilitating the implementation and efficacy of health-promoting schools via an action-research approach in Taiwan.

PubMed

Chang, Fong-Ching; Liu, Chieh-Hsing; Liao, Li-Ling; Niu, Yu-Zhen; Cheng, Chi-Chia; Chou, Hsin-Pei; Chang, Tzu-Chau

2014-06-01

Taiwan launched its evidence-based health-promoting school (HPS) program via an action-research approach in 2010. The program featured a collaborative partnership between schools, local education authorities and university support networks. This study was focused on examining whether an HPS action-research approach was effective in advancing HPS implementation, perceived HPS impact and perceived HPS efficacy in Taiwan. In 2011, questionnaires were sent to 900 sample schools in Taiwan. A total of 621 schools returned the questionnaire, including 488 primary schools and 133 middle schools. The response rate was 69%. This study compared the difference in HPS implementation status, perceived HPS impact and perceived HPS efficacy between those schools that had implemented action-research HPS (138 schools) and those that had not (483 schools). The univariate analysis results indicated that the HPS implementation levels for components that included school health policies, physical environment, social environment, teaching activities and school-community relations were significantly higher in action-research schools than in non-action-research schools. Teachers in action-research schools reported significantly higher levels of HPS impact and HPS efficacy than non-action-research schools. The multivariate analysis results indicated that after controlling for school level and HPS funding, the HPS action-research approach was significantly positively related to greater levels of HPS implementation, perceived HPS impact and perceived HPS efficacy.

Teaching Formative Assessment Strategies to Preservice Teachers: Exploring the Use of Handheld Computing to Facilitate the Action Research Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Kristin Redington; Cunningham, Ann C.

2009-01-01

Appropriate classroom assessment now tends to utilize formative measures with greater frequency, especially in the early grades and with learner groups at risk of not passing state-mandated standardized tests. Within the authentic context of an action research project, teacher candidates were given handheld computers equipped with data-collection…

Acceptable Risk? The Nuclear Age in the United States. Study/Action Guide [and] Companion to Study/Action Guide for Congregations and Religious Groups.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, PA. National Action/Research on the Military Industrial Complex.

A study-action guide and a companion guide are intended to help citizens explore some of the challenging dilemmas of U.S. nuclear policy. The two guides place strong emphasis on group discussion and participation as well as action citizens might want to take to bring about a non-nuclear world. The companion guide is intended for congregations and…

2005 Annual Operations Report for INTEC Operable Unit 3-13, Group 1, Tank Farm Interim Action

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D. Shanklin

2006-07-19

This annual operations report describes the requirements followed and activities conducted to inspect, monitor, and maintain the items installed during performance of the Waste Area Group 3, Operable Unit 3-13, Group 1, Tank Farm Interim Action, at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center. This report describes inspection and monitoring activities fro the surface-sealed areas within the tank farm, concrete-lined ditches and culverts in and around the tank farm, the lift station, and the lined evaporation pond. These activities are intended to assure that the interim action is functioning adequately to meet the objectives stated in the Operable Unit 3-13,more » Record of Decision for the Group 1, Tank Farm Interim Action, (DOE/ID-10660) and as amended by the agreement to resolve dispute, which was effective in February 2003.« less

The Practical Integration of Action Research into Building Climate Literacy and Partnership with Key Influentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estrada, M.

2015-12-01

Climate Education Partners (CEP) has been using an action research approach to build climate literacy and partnership with key influential (KI) leaders in the San Diego community. After identifying 6 key sectors that either (a) could reduce green house gas emissions and adapt to impacts, or (b) would be highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, we conducted 89 interviews with KIs from the San Diego region -- including elected officials, academics, laborers, and representatives from local businesses, non-profits, ethnic and cultural communities, faith-based groups, and special interest groups -- to assess their science knowledge and opinions about climate change and the impacts of climate change. Other questions asked were about KIs' personal efficacy, identity, values and engagement in pro-environmental behaviors related to climate change. The results of the interviews contributed to CEP's action research approach in two ways: 1) it provided critical data regarding which leaders wanted further engagement with CEP and what that engagement should entail (e.g., being a connector to other leaders, a spokesperson, or a participant in future educational activities), and 2) it provided key information about the extent to which "knowledge deficit" is related to use of climate change knowledge to inform engagement in mitigation and adaptive behaviors. Practically, the results were used to create a database that is being used to inform the contact and education of KIs. We were able to show, consistent with previous research and identity theory, that liberal leaders were more likely than conservatives to believe in, feel concern for, and be knowledgeable about climate change. However, engagement in mitigation behaviors- specifically making decisions that would reduce electricity, gas, or water use- were similar for both groups. These results are being used to create resources and direct climate education activities going forward.

Action Research in Professional Work: Developing New Practices through Design, Dialogue or Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lahn, Leif Chr.

This paper examines action research that has been carried out in organizations consisting of predominantly highly educated personnel. The paper revolves around discussion of the Scandinavian model of action research, asking to what degree this model, which has been developed within the framework of industrial democracy, might also serve as a…

Too Hard, Too Soft or Just about Right: Paradigms in Music Teachers' Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cain, Tim

2012-01-01

This article considers some paradigms of educational research, and their relation to teachers' action research in their classrooms or studios. The positivist/scientific paradigm and the interpretive/naturalist paradigm are examined, with reference to two cases of music teachers' action research studies. These studies are found to be flawed because…

Conducting Research With Community Groups.

PubMed

Doornbos, Mary Molewyk; Ayoola, Adejoke; Topp, Robert; Zandee, Gail Landheer

2015-10-01

Nurse scientists are increasingly recognizing the necessity of conducting research with community groups to effectively address complex health problems and successfully translate scientific advancements into the community. Although several barriers to conducting research with community groups exist, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has the potential to mitigate these barriers. CBPR has been employed in programs of research that respond in culturally sensitive ways to identify community needs and thereby address current health disparities. This article presents case studies that demonstrate how CBPR principles guided the development of (a) a healthy body weight program for urban, underserved African American women; (b) a reproductive health educational intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women; and (c) a pilot anxiety/depression intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women. These case studies illustrate the potential of CBPR as an orientation to research that can be employed effectively in non-research-intensive academic environments. © The Author(s) 2015.

Conducting Research with Community Groups

PubMed Central

Doornbos, Mary Molewyk; Ayoola, Adejoke; Topp, Robert; Zandee, Gail Landheer

2016-01-01

Nurse scientists are increasingly recognizing the necessity of conducting research with community groups to effectively address complex health problems and successfully translate scientific advancements into the community. While several barriers to conducting research with community groups exist, community based participatory research (CBPR) has the potential to mitigate these barriers. CBPR has been employed in programs of research that respond in culturally sensitive ways to identify community needs and thereby address current health disparities. This manuscript presents case studies that demonstrate how CBPR principles guided the development of: (a) a healthy body weight program for urban, underserved African-American women, (b) a reproductive health educational intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women, and (c) a pilot anxiety/depression intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women. These case studies illustrate the potential of CBPR as an orientation to research that can be employed effectively in non-research intensive academic environments. PMID:25724557

Researching Multilingualism and Superdiversity: Grassroots Actions and Responsibilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Li

2014-01-01

The articles in this thematic issue document studies of grassroots actions in promoting multilingualism across different sectors of society as well as in different social and professional domains. In doing so, the contributors raise issues of the relevance of the notion of community in the age of superdiversity and the researcher's…

Initiating an Action Research Programme for University EFL Teachers: Early Experiences and Responses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Anne; Westmacott, Anne; Ferrer, Antonieta Hidalgo

2016-01-01

Accounts of how teacher educators begin to plan, develop, and support action research programmes for language teachers are rare, as are descriptions of the responses of the teachers who participate. This article documents and analyses the initial processes of introducing and supporting a new programme of action research for language teachers at…

Elucidating the power in empowerment and the participation in participatory action research: a story about research team and elementary school change.

PubMed

Dworski-Riggs, Deanne; Langhout, Regina Day

2010-06-01

Community psychologists are increasingly using Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a way to promote social justice by creating conditions that foster empowerment. Yet, little attention has been paid to the differences between the power structure that PAR advocates and the local community power structures. This paper seeks to evaluate the level of participation in a PAR project for multiple stakeholder groups, determine how PAR was adjusted to better fit community norms, and whether our research team was able to facilitate the emergence of PAR by adopting an approach that was relevant to the existing power relations. We conclude that power differences should not be seen as roadblocks to participation, but rather as moments of opportunity for the researchers to refine their methods and for the community and the community psychologist to challenge existing power structures.

Focus on Cultural Issues in Research: Developing and Implementing Native American Postcolonial Participatory Action Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stone, Joseph B.