The purpose of the study was to explore the process of conducting action research and to describe how two groups of teachers came to understand, account for and apply their own action research plans. The processes involved in conducting action research and the degree to which teachers conducting action research can bring effective change in their own classrooms are described. The study analyzed the path of four teacher researchers conducting action research and provided insights into their understanding of the process of implementing their own action research plans. The primary research question addressed in this qualitative study during the fourteen-week period was: What is the difference in the process of conducting action research between those teachers whose action research plans were evaluated to have modeled appropriately the action research process taught to them and those teachers whose action research plans were evaluated to be divergent from the guidelines taught to them? The methods employed in this study involved the collection of qualitative data through observations, interviews, field notes, personal journals, reflections, document analysis and questionnaires. The analysis techniques included analytic induction and the constant comparative method. Using the constant comparative method together with triangulation revealed ten themes with supporting assertions that explicated the research questions. The four cases in this study demonstrated that conducting action research helped the teacher researchers provide personal and professional growth that brought effective and meaningful change in their teaching practices. This study also confirmed the findings of previous research indicating that action research contributes to the knowledge base of teaching, improves teachers' individual practice, changes their teaching and helps teachers become more reflective about their instructional practices during the inquiry. Although there were various degrees of differences between the two participant groups of teachers in the study, these differences were not extreme. Overall, it was evident that the process of action research enabled each of the participant teachers to bring about change in areas that they believed needed improvement. In this manner, action research was used as a school improvement tool and as an individual professional development alternative to bring about change and improvement. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Childhood, Reading, and Disability Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2005. / October 25, 2004. / Challenges in Teacher Research Process, Reflective Practice and Critical Thinking, Professional Development through Action Research, The Effects of Action Research, Benefits through Action Research Process, Action Research, Teacher Research Process / Includes bibliographical references. / John Hansen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Sande Milton, Outside Committee Member; Ithel Jones, Committee Member; Diana Rice, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182013 |
| Contributors | Bilgili, Yakup (authoraut), Hansen, John (professor directing dissertation), Milton, Sande (outside committee member), Jones, Ithel (committee member), Rice, Diana (committee member), Department of Childhood Education, Reading and Disability Services (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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