Action Research in Education in Schools of India
Action Research for B.Ed Students of WBSU
Sample copy of Action Research

Action Research for West Bengal State University Barasat
According to New B. Ed Syllabus 2012- 2013

Objectives

i) Identify the meaningful problems in Education at school level.

ii) Be engaged in the enquiry into the problems

iii) To develop a plan of action for the solution of the problem

A firsthand experience for conducting a research and its reporting

Student teachers are to prepare research report after conducting Action research.

The action research report is to be prepared according to the following shapes-

i) Identification of the problem

ii) Listing the probable causes of the problem

iii) Analysis of the probable causes and formulation of hypotheses

iv) Action programme (procedure including data collection)

v) Analysis and evaluation

vi) Conclusion

Download PDF File for Action Research

Designing and writing questionnaires

Source: http://www.englishonline.org.cn/en/teachers/action-research-toolkit/questionnaires

Why use questionnaires?

Questionnaires can help you to get clear and concisely structured feedback from your students or observers. Writing a good questionnaire can be difficult though and you have to think very clearly about what information you want and how you word your questions in order to get that information.

You’ll also need to think about the amount of information your questionnaire will generate and how you will process that information and draw conclusions from it.

Different kinds of questions

There are number of different types of question that you can use in your questionnaire and each of these different types has the strengths and weaknesses.

· Yes / No Questions
These questions are easy to produce, quick for students to answer, and the data they produce is easy to evaluate. You can very easily get data from students by simply asking ‘Did you enjoy that activity?’ Get students who liked it to put up their hand for yes. You count the hands up and you have quickly found out whether the majority of students liked the activity. The problem with this type of question though, is that although you get a quick answer, you don’t get much detailed information. You don’t find out why your students did or didn’t like the activity.

· Multiple choice questions

Giving your students a number of different alternative answers to choose from can also give you some quite useful data and still be fast to process and evaluate. You can use these questions most effectively when the range of possible responses is limited.

For example, If you want to know which of a number of different activities the students found most useful, then listing the activities and asking them to select one can quickly give you some useful data.

You must be careful with multiple choice questions, not to restrict the answers so much that you don’t allow students to give an accurate response or to influence them in their choice of answers.

For example, if you want to evaluate an activity that you felt went badly and you could ask a question like this;

Why did you not complete the activity?

a) because it was boring

b) because I didn’t like the topic

c) because I don’t like speaking

The problem here is that the reason might not be included. It may be that your students didn’t understand the task, or that they wanted more time or one of the reasons could be correct. In cases where you are not sure that you have included all the possibilities it is always good to include an additional option that students can add themselves. This is usually ‘Other’ with a note for them to give their own explanation.

· Ordering

Asking students to order thing is also a useful type of question. This helps you to understand what relative value students put on various aspects of classroom practice. You can ask them to order activities by preference or usefulness. Or you can ask them to order coursebook topics by the degree of interest they have in them.

This kind of data can be harder and more time consuming to process though and students’ relative scales can differ. There may be only one thing I value and the other five I don’t whereas other students could value all six in varying degrees, so you also have to be careful that you don’t interpret things at the bottom of the list as being valueless.

· Open-ended questions

Open-ended questions can be the most effective in getting a lot of accurate and complex data, but this data can be difficult to compare and process. If you have 50 students and you ask an open question, For example; “What do you value about learning English?” Then it’s possible that you will get 50 different answers. These kinds of questions can also generate a lot of data which can then be very time consuming to analyse and which often gives very interesting, though contradictory information.

· Gradients

Gradient type questions can be very quick and easy to administer. These can be as simple as asking your students to award marks out of 10. For example you could ask them to award marks out of ten for a unit of the course book they have just completed. You could ask them to rate a listening or reading activity and give it marks out of ten for how difficult they thought it was.

Again these ratings will be subjective. What one student thinks of as 8 for difficulty could be completely different from the student next to them, but it will give you a quick overall indication.

· What forms of questionnaire

There are a number of different ways you can deliver your questionnaire. You could print up copies and hand them out to students. They could complete them alone at home or as a speaking activity within the lesson. You could create an online questionnaire using a free website like http://www.surveymonkey.com/ or a blog or Wiki.

You could just simply ask questions from the front of the class and ask the students to put up their hand or discuss the questions in open class.

You should think carefully about the number of questions and the amount of time your questionnaire takes. You could just use a single question delivered orally or a whole series of detailed written questions. Be careful though not to make questionnaires too long. If students start to loose interest in the questionnaire, the value of the information they give you will decline.

Anonymity

Your relationship to your students will have a significant effect on the degree of honesty in the answers they give you.

Students who really like or are afraid of their teacher will tend to be less willing to give negative feedback. If you want to remove this influence from your data, make sure your students can give you their information anonymously. This will ensure that the feedback they give you will be more honest and so of greater value to you.

Sample Questionnaire
Source: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

I understand something better after I
(a) try it out.
(b) think it through.

I would rather be considered
(a) realistic.
(b) innovative.

When I think about what I did yesterday, I am most likely to get
(a) a picture.
(b) words.

I tend to
(a) understand details of a subject but may be fuzzy about its overall structure.
(b) understand the overall structure but may be fuzzy about details.

When I am learning something new, it helps me to
(a) talk about it.
(b) think about it.

If I were a teacher, I would rather teach a course
(a) that deals with facts and real life situations.
(b) that deals with ideas and theories.

I prefer to get new information in
(a) pictures, diagrams, graphs, or maps.
(b) written directions or verbal information.

Once I understand
(a) all the parts, I understand the whole thing.
(b) the whole thing, I see how the parts fit.

In a study group working on difficult material, I am more likely to
(a) jump in and contribute ideas.
(b) sit back and listen.

I find it easier
(a) to learn facts.
(b) to learn concepts.

In a book with lots of pictures and charts, I am likely to
(a) look over the pictures and charts carefully.
(b) focus on the written text.

When I solve math problems
(a) I usually work my way to the solutions one step at a time.
(b) I often just see the solutions but then have to struggle to figure out the steps to get to them.

In classes I have taken
(a) I have usually gotten to know many of the students.
(b) I have rarely gotten to know many of the students.

In reading nonfiction, I prefer
(a) something that teaches me new facts or tells me how to do something.
(b) something that gives me new ideas to think about.

I like teachers
(a) who put a lot of diagrams on the board.
(b) who spend a lot of time explaining.

When I'm analyzing a story or a novel
(a) I think of the incidents and try to put them together to figure out the themes.
(b) I just know what the themes are when I finish reading and then I have to go back and find the incidents that demonstrate them.

When I start a homework problem, I am more likely to
(a) start working on the solution immediately.
(b) try to fully understand the problem first.

I prefer the idea of
(a) certainty.
(b) theory.

I remember best
(a) what I see.
(b) what I hear.

It is more important to me that an instructor
(a) lay out the material in clear sequential steps.
(b) give me an overall picture and relate the material to other subjects.

I prefer to study
(a) in a study group.
(b) alone.

I am more likely to be considered
(a) careful about the details of my work.
(b) creative about how to do my work.

When I get directions to a new place, I prefer
(a) a map.
(b) written instructions.

I learn
(a) at a fairly regular pace. If I study hard, I'll "get it."
(b) in fits and starts. I'll be totally confused and then suddenly it all "clicks."

I would rather first
(a) try things out.
(b) think about how I'm going to do it.

When I am reading for enjoyment, I like writers to
(a) clearly say what they mean.
(b) say things in creative, interesting ways.

When I see a diagram or sketch in class, I am most likely to remember
(a) the picture.
(b) what the instructor said about it.

When considering a body of information, I am more likely to
(a) focus on details and miss the big picture.
(b) try to understand the big picture before getting into the details.

I more easily remember
(a) something I have done.
(b) something I have thought a lot about.

When I have to perform a task, I prefer to
(a) master one way of doing it.
(b) come up with new ways of doing it.

When someone is showing me data, I prefer
(a) charts or graphs.
(b) text summarizing the results.

When writing a paper, I am more likely to
(a) work on (think about or write) the beginning of the paper and progress forward.
(b) work on (think about or write) different parts of the paper and then order them.

When I have to work on a group project, I first want to
(a) have "group brainstorming" where everyone contributes ideas.
(b) brainstorm individually and then come together as a group to compare ideas.

I consider it higher praise to call someone
(a) sensible.
(b) imaginative.

When I meet people at a party, I am more likely to remember
(a) what they looked like.
(b) what they said about themselves.

When I am learning a new subject, I prefer to
(a) stay focused on that subject, learning as much about it as I can.
(b) try to make connections between that subject and related subjects.

I am more likely to be considered
(a) outgoing.
(b) reserved.

I prefer courses that emphasize
(a) concrete material (facts, data).
(b) abstract material (concepts, theories).

For entertainment, I would rather
(a) watch television.
(b) read a book.

Some teachers start their lectures with an outline of what they will cover. Such outlines are
(a) somewhat helpful to me.
(b) very helpful to me.

The idea of doing homework in groups, with one grade for the entire group,
(a) appeals to me.
(b) does not appeal to me.

When I am doing long calculations,
(a) I tend to repeat all my steps and check my work carefully.
(b) I find checking my work tiresome and have to force myself to do it.

I tend to picture places I have been
(a) easily and fairly accurately.
(b) with difficulty and without much detail.

When solving problems in a group, I would be more likely to
(a) think of the steps in the solution process.
(b) think of possible consequences or applications of the solution in a wide range of areas.

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ACTION RESEARCH IN SCHOOLS OF INDIA