Scenario

An Action Research Scenario
Every teacher, library media specialist, or instructional designer has looked upon a class or school of struggling students and thought "I wonder if we could just use that piece of technology or that new technique I learned about, would it turn all this around?" But we live in the real world and there are always circumstances as to why certain technologies cannot be implemented in the classroom. First, school budgets may not have the finances to support such an endeavor. Administrators and teachers may not be supportive of learning and using a new piece of technology either because there is not enough time, they are not sure how to use it, or they are not sure if it will be effective.

Imagine just once that these real world circumstances are not an issue. The administration has given you funds and has ensured the cooperation of the staff in support of implementing this new technology. The administration has agreed to let you implement this technology for a trial period to determine if the tool is cost-effective and improves student performance. All they ask of you is to treat this trial period like an action research project. They would like for you to gather data during this period and present it to the administration after one academic year.

But before they turn you loose to tackle this project, they want to be sure it will be implemented with careful thought and planning. They would like for you (and your research team) to create an action research proposal that describes the what research is intended, how the research will be done, and why the research is intended.

Feel free to base your research sample on students and instructors that you have worked with or make one up. The study can be based on any research problem for any subject or age group, just be sure that it involves the testing of a new teaching technology or method.

Please include in your proposal:
 * An introduction which identifies the research problem
 * A review of the literature related to your study
 * The methodology and procedures (including research design, data collection procedures, and data analysis)
 * The significance of the proposed research (including suspected outcomes and relevance to education)
 * A sample budget
 * Any data gathering tools the team has created (i.e. interview guides, survey tools, etc).

The proposal can be presented as a paper, a multimedia presentation, etc. We encourage you to get creative when relaying the information about your project and demonstrate your enthusiasm about the study you've designed. Please the resources as a starting point to gather information on your research problem or to find a research design that will work for your study.