The issues involved in conducting educational research are addressed. Some suggestions for methodology that can be used are suggested. Concerns about attempting to carry out investigations that follow the positivist model are discussed. (KR)

To determine the organizational and environmental variables that superintendents perceive as critical to an administrative restructuring process, an action research approach was used to gather data through semistructured interviews with selected Western Pennsylvania school superintendents. The most valuable skill for superintendents in effecting…

Demonstrates use of action research in project to mobilize youths and adults living in rapidly changing, culturally pluralistic, low-income suburban community to confront impact of drug and alcohol abuse in context of mutual respect and support. Explains how group of youths, in partnership with professionals, surveyed their contemporaries with…

A deficiency approach to training is inadequate. A proactive approach views training as deliberate organizational strategy that involves organizational scanning, focus/data collection, data interpretation, and action. This action research method anticipates future trends and prepares people for the challenges. (SK)

Reflects on a researcher's journey while embarking on a study that was political in its intentions and participatory in its orientation. Discusses a doctoral-research study that was a critical ethnography of a school and community engaged in a socially critical approach to environmental education. (Author/CCM)

Discusses the need for research on human performance technology (HPT) among practitioners, not just academics. Describes quantitative and qualitative research methodologies for HPT research and considers the HPT practitioner as action researcher. Contains 11 references. (LRW)

Explores the processes, impacts, and implications of initiating elementary preservice teachers into the realm of teacher-as-researcher. (Author/CCM)

About 30% of U.S. students leave primary grades without basic reading competence and cannot fully profit from secondary education. A San Diego high school developed a multidimensional reading course that stresses building vocabulary through natural language and reading, reading at school and at home, listening to teachers read, practicing phonetic…

Describes an action research project on block scheduling undertaken in Seattle/Puget Sound area high schools. Notes how block scheduling challenges conventional high school structures. Identifies nine key elements of a new model of high school and high school teaching encouraged by block period structures. (SR)

Makes use of action research, finding it to be the most useful research method in studying the phenomenon of ritual performance in the classroom. Concludes that the ritual process may appear to be complex and formal, yet much of this community building work is performed naturally by many teachers trusting their instincts in everyday situations all…

Reports part of a qualitative research study that used participatory action research and grounded action research to show how facilitators of virtual teams build and maintain online relationships. Focuses on how virtual team facilitators use Internet-based and conventional electronic communication channels to build personal relationships with team…

Uses teachers' autobiographies and action research as data sources to present an argument for valuing subjective, reflective knowledge based on Habermas's category of cognitive interest of emancipatory knowing. Explores the process of personal empowerment and proposes a model of change that includes disturbance, alternatives, confidence, and…

Discusses the "Teaching Ideas" column in "English Journal" in terms of the way these articles work and how they might be re-envisioned. Claims the importance of the particular teaching situation must be emphasized to give a better understanding of the diversity, individuality, and attention to context that teaching English…

Projects involving mental health clients receiving occupational therapy and senior citizens engaged in capacity building illustrate steps in the participatory action research (PAR) process: issue identification and planning; investigation and action; action, reflection, and modification cycles; and knowledge creation and change. Challenges and…

Action science can play a role in virtual team development. Participants write action science cases of problematic interactions in their work and discuss them in small groups. (JOW)