Research in action was somewhat of a new concept for me. Upon enrolling in this course, I was under the impression that this would be the usual research based class that only required us to use the standard research methods such as read and find information that you feel may be useful. Instead, this course opened my eyes to the importance of action research and how leaders can use active research to improve issues they face on campus and issues within the community. Action research is a method that allows for leaders to add knowledge to a particular topic and not just use data that has been proven by others.
Action research involves adding something new into existing data. It is a practical approach to professional inquiry in any social situation. Action research inquiry requires a systematic approach to collecting data and solving a problem. (Dana, 2009)
Action research can be viewed as a form of professional development that allows the researcher to transform knowledge into something meaningful, instead of just blindly following what the latest study seems to suggest and provides numerous benefits.
One very important component of action research is reflective writing. Reflective writing is important in active research because the goal is not to focus on what happened, but why it happened. It is to interpret how what happened connects to the past events and ideas and to develop improved practices for the future.
Creating a blog was a first for me. This method of communication allows leaders and educators to actively participate in helping improve each others action research projects. The lectures in this course were very helpful. In week 2 we were able to see interviews of practitioners who were able to use action research to improve their campuses and districts.
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