E)+Methods+&+Techniques

= = = = =__**Typical Methods and Techniques Utilized in Action Research**__=

Note: Participants decide what data collection methods will be employed


=**Complex Adaptive Issues: And the use of PAR to SOLVE them**.= E. Alana James, Ed.D. outlines the steps in PAR that enable people, groups and organizations to address complex distributed problems. media type="custom" key="7478055"

Available at: http://ccar.wikispaces.com/file/view/action_research_giffy.gif/166893299/action_research_giffy.gif = Methods : = __**Triangulation**__: collecting data about the situation from the point of view of people occupying different roles and positions within it to guide understanding of the situation from multiple perspectives.
 * The PAR methodology may use diverse methods both quantitative and qualitative to further these ends, many of which will derive from vernacular (often oral) traditions of communication and dissemination of knowledge (Hall, 1993).
 * The preferred way to communicate the practice of PAR seems to be through the description of actual cases. (Reason, 1994)

__**Video and tape recordings**__: collecting observational and auditory data for stimulating recall and a grounded discussion of alternative interpretations of events and situations.

__**Transcripts**__: recording of audio and video recordings for others’ comments, feed-back, and discussion and the process itself assists reflection about the data.

__**Photography**__: collecting visual data about situations allowing for a reciprocal analytic discussion that is open to a wider range of interpretations.

__**Field notes**__: recording observable descriptions of human acts which may explain how they function to promote and maintain certain conditions

__**Logs**__: collecting observable basic record of events, and where and when they happened.


 * __Journal__**s: collecting observable records of the ‘journey’ of personal significance

__**Diaries**__: recording a personal and private document in which the author not only documents life events and experiences but reflects about their emotional responses to them

__**Interviewing**__: collecting data via "structured", "unstructured" and/or "semi-structured" interviews in which participants respond to pre-determined questions and/or free responses. Involving triangulation, the interview elicits the experiences of others, and allows for comparison to their own experience with that of others.

__**Checklists, Questionnaires, and Inventories**__: quantifying issues to guide observations or analysis of data. They are also useful at the "action phase" of the research when attempting to bring about change to a situation

__**Nominal group technique**__: allowing individuals in a group to freely express their ideas while at the same time enabling them to identify areas of consensus and divergence.

__**Analytic discourse method**__: generates group discussion about case study data generated through action- research. This elicits questions from others which promote self reflection and reduces conditions, such as the expression of judgmental attitudes.

A more detailed description of methods is available at: [|http://www.uea.ac.uk/edu/phdhkedu/acadpapers/jeoecdpage4.htm] []

media type="youtube" key="shrFa2c305g?fs=1" height="385" width="480"