Recognizing the Misperceptions

Well and good, you may say. Action research offers teachers a way to hear each other, to learn from their own and other’s experience. But there are also a few cautions to keep in mind, both ethical and practical. These mechanisms allow educators to take charge of their practice.

According to Dr. Craig Metler short video, one caution is the possibility of conflict of interest between the roles of teaching and conducting action research. A teacher’s first priorities should be welfare of his or her students: first and foremost, you want students to learn, to be motivated, to feel accepted by peers, and the like. A researcher’s first priorities, however, are to field or topic being studies. The two kinds of priorities may often overlap and support each other.

But situations can occur in which action research and teaching are less compatible and can create ethical dilemmas. The problems usually relate to one off three issues: privacy, informed consent, or freedom to participate. Each of these becomes an issue only if the results of a research project are made public, either in a journal or book, as with examples being described or shared outside the classroom. In general, any action research project may require certain choices about how to teach, though it should not interfere with basic instructional goals or prevent coverage of an important curriculum. The main point to remember is that action research is more than passive observation of students and classrooms; it also includes interventions, efforts to stimulate students to new thinking and new responses.

Mertler, C. A. (2019). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.