What is an Action Research Report?

An action research report is a clear and imperative document that demonstrates the overall performance plan of teachers, school administrators, counselors, instructors, trainers and tutors particularly in their teaching and learning process or environment, as well as some crucial information about how their designated schools and other educational institutions operate, how they teach, and how the students obtain crucial life skills. It is commonly used by people working in the education sector. This is a beneficial tool that allows educators and teachers to carefully study their own classrooms like their instructional methods, their students, and their personal assessments so that they are able to discern these factors and elevate their quality or effectiveness in their teaching practice.

According to a statistical university report, less than 50% of enrolled students were regularly attending online classes, while more than 96% played the recorded classes offline at their own pace. Also, the communication between faculty and students during the lockdown heightened using new means of online IT-based tools.  Thus, all types of teaching professionals such as mathematics teachers, school advisors, supervisors,  medical professors, class instructors,  and many others should record and analyze their teaching and learning process while creating a clear and well-structured action research report.

Different Types of Action Research Report

The book Improving Teaching with Collaborative Action Researchstated that in order to improve the culture of learning, professional learning communities and teaching professionals should work for deep understanding, develop intellectual perseverance, commit to reflective practice, establish a commitment to collaborative teaching work, recognize and honor others’ expertise, and be courageous. In this section, we will help you to elevate your teaching skills and practice while learning and comprehending the common types of action short research reports because your technique of writing is determined by the type of action research report you will write. Read the information below:

1. Action Research Report in Education

Action research plan reports in education are integral especially these days during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the overall learning and teaching experience during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, an online students’ satisfaction survey and interview Zoom sessions with professors were conducted last July 2020. The statistical analysis of the survey and the textual analysis of the interviews have shown a common positive attitude among learners and educators towards the shift to online distance learning. Developing an effective action research report in education is important to measure one’s teaching practice specifically in online teaching or virtual classrooms.

2. Action Research Report on Classroom Problems

The internet connection quality and reliability are some critical and major obstacles for many teachers, professors, and learners in several online lectures and during some online exams. Most of the respondents of the survey reports and interviews commented that students were deprived of the one-on-one and face-to-face assistance in online learning by the teaching assistant in labs or classrooms. On the other hand, students with poor performance were deprived of some beneficial support mechanisms provided to them on-campus. Also, the cancellation of numerous students’ on-campus activities, summer training, and internships negatively affect many students. Thus, an action research report on classroom problems like mentioned here is crucial to monitor the needs of the teachers and students and improve the teaching and learning process despite the current virtual classroom setup.

3. Action Research Summary Report

An action research summary report is basically a written report that summarizes the crucial factors of the teaching and learning methods, and outcomes. It helps the teachers to get a clearer perspective of their entire teaching practice in a specific time period per academic year. Additionally, it guides the educators and teachers to delve on the needs of their students especially during these times of the pandemic. This is a brief and cohesive document which contains only the fundamental information related to their current teaching experience.

4. Action Research Report in English Report Writing

If you need to understand the needs of the students and share valuable information, as well as responding to the information accordingly in order to enhance the learning performance Evaluation of the students in English, creating a simple action research report in English writing is essential to assess their needs in English writing and improve their writing performance when developing English reports. Plus, it will measure the English teacher’s effectiveness in teaching approach, improving the students’ writing performance and explore various influences of variables on the teaching approach.

Basic Elements of an Action Research Report

In this section, you will learn how to construct a remarkably written and well-detailed action research report. However, an action  research report has different features. Include the following elements for you to create an impressive document:

Title: One of the primary elements of an action research report is the title. It is a simple line of the document which depicts the main topic, or subject of the action research report, as well as to reassure the reader to check and analyze the report effectively. It is typically set in a size larger than other remaining text elements in the page.Executive Summary: This part is the imperative section of your action research report. It provides a brief and cohesive Executive summary of the finished action research activities and tasks in a specific action research work. As the interesting part of the action research report, it portrays the entire performance of the educator, teacher, supervisor, class advisor, and school administrator, plus a short description of the teaching approaches and learning methods conducted by their students. Another aspect to incorporate in this section is the significance, implications and other contributions that the action research will bring in the educational institution and the students.Action Research Goals and Objectives: What are the definite smart goals made by the educators, teachers, supervisors, advisors, instructors, and school administrators to be achieved for a certain period of time? How are these goals fulfilled? This is an essential part of the action research report as it brings valuable information of the specific action research goals and objectives of the educators and other teaching professionals working on the school or university.Description of Teaching Practices and Students Needs Assessments:Describe the specific teaching practices, learning methods, and students needs analysis assessment tools implemented to measure the current teaching skills and learning performance of the educators, teachers, instructors, supervisors, and other teaching professionals and their students. This is essential in order to put the interests and concerns of the students prior to the teaching. Conciseness and Precision: Emphasize the crucial pieces of information when it comes to your teaching work. Write your action plan research report concisely and precisely while utilizing both short words and short sentences. While writing the information about the action research throughout the report, keep it as brief and specific as possible. Eradicate the use of vague words that are unnecessary to your action research report.

How to Write an Action Research Report

Developing an action research report is a valuable method to help educators, teachers, supervisors, and administrators in navigating and documenting the action research process report. Most importantly, while teachers acquire many roles and responsibilities in their daily classroom activities, the role of teacher as researcher may be the role most necessary when it comes to promoting professional development and enhanced classroom practice. An action research report can effectively outline one’s evidence concerning the use of diverse methods in their teaching practice, and useful conclusions through active evaluation and reflection. Below are some easy-to-follow tips that indicate how to design and write a professional action research report:

Step 1: Define the Major Goals in the Action Research 

First, you need to define the major goals in the action research based on your teaching practice. Teachers and researchers can be paralleled in the proper context. That’s why teachers can alter this perception as they explore ways that action research can be applied in their classrooms. This allows teachers to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the familiar domain of their classrooms, especially assessing and improving teaching practices and learning through modifying and investigating their processes and utilizing information obtained from the results of the changes in order to reflect and inform your future practices.

Step 2: Describe the Action Research Process in Detail

Describe the overall action research process in detail as you manage to complete them properly. Action research process has different kinds of phases and each phase is characterized by a distinct purpose and set of actions. The first phase is the strategic planning phase as the teacher develops a plan of action to improve what is currently happening. The second one is the acting phase which needs thoughtful and deliberate execution of the plan. The third one is the observing phase or the systematic collection and deliberate documentation of data to bring a valid basis for the critical self-reflection. While the last phase is the reflecting or retrospective phase which examines the action or experience using what has been recorded in observation, leading to a clearer insight of how to act more properly and effectively in the situation.

Step 3:  Present the Statistical and Practical Significance of the Action Research

When a teacher uses quantitative data in action research, he or she uses statistical analyses such as analysis of variance or correlation to analyze relationships or to engage in comparisons. This process is beneficial in searching for evidence of statistical significance, a gold standard in quantitative research proposal demonstrating the outcomes of one’s study. However, this approach has limited applicability within the classrooms so you may take some time to observe for practical significance or a difference that is beneficial within the context of one’s teaching or student learning. Thus, present the statistical and practical significance of the action research being conducted.

Step 4:  Proofread and Revise the Report

Review your overall action research report and check if you fully include all the important elements in your report. If you notice that you overlook some sections that require adequate points, we suggest that you edit and revise the document consciously.

Step 5: Prepare the Final Action Research Report

After the proofreading and revision process, you can now prepare the final action research report. Add some notes and other messages you want to inform the school management on the concluding part of your document. Skim your action research report for final evaluation and quality check. 

FAQs

What are some examples of action research reports?

Some examples of action research reports are action research final report, teacher action research report, action research announcement report, school action research report, action research master report, action research study report, action research summary report, sample action research report, final action research report, action research in English report writing, action research progress report on education paper, summary of therapy action research project report, and more.

What is the purpose of an action research report?

The purpose of an action research rccomplishment report is to demonstrate the outcomes of the overall action research process which includes planning, acting, observing, and reflecting phases. It illustrates the teaching approaches and student learning methods facilitated in the action research made by a teacher, an educator, or other teaching professionals.

What are the significant steps in writing an action research report?

When you write your action research report, you should perform the crucial steps such as defining the major goals in the action research, describing the action research process in detail, presenting the statistical and practical significance of the action research, proofreading and revising the report, and preparing the final action research report.

What is the difference between an action research report and a research progress report?

An action research report is a document which documents and analyzes the overall action research process conducted by a teaching professional.  On the other hand, a research daily progress report is a kind of report that illustrates the status of a particular research project or work.

Charles Kettering said: “Essentially, research is nothing but a state of mind—a friendly, welcoming attitude toward change…going out to look for change instead of waiting for it to come. Research…is an effort to do things better…It is the problem solving mind as contested with the let-well-enough-alone mind… It is the “tomorrow” mind instead of the “yesterday” mind.” Conducting effective action research in your classroom appears to be valuable to your teaching practice, as you become more current in your knowledge of your field, being aware of latest strategies and trends in connection to what you have selected to investigate. Especially, documenting the whole action research process through writing an action research report allows you to deeply know the unique needs of your students in the classroom, resolving classroom problems, and instructional issues. So, here are some of our downloadable and printable action research report samples available in different kinds of formats. Simply click our sample action research reports in this article and start downloading now!