ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to help you plan your action research project. Planning involves thinking about what you want to improve, how you will go about it, and how you will evaluate what you’ve done. In the following sections, the process of planning an action research study is organized into four steps. The first step involves formulating an initial research question by reflecting on puzzling student behaviors, pressing problems, or needs identified by your school district. The second step is to search for a new teaching strategy through your observations of students, your dialog with other teachers, and your engage ment in professional development activities. The third step requires a search of the educational literature for the purpose of further exploring new strategies and finding research evidence that supports their use in the classroom. Fourth and finally, you need to consider what method of data collection you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your teaching strategies.
