Section archive - Research Methods

Learning strategies offer a means of addressing individual differences. A programmatic line of inquiry at two universities in the United States has led to an extensive body of research related to learning strategies and to the development of two instruments. This study reports on the development of one of these instruments that can be used to quickly identify learning strategy preferences.

This article reports on the pedagogical changes that the author experienced as a teacher engaged in an action research project. In her role as teacher-as-researcher the author sought to implement a new pedagogical approach, in the form of cooperative learning, and bring about a positive change in the form of enhanced pupil learning. The article argues that cooperative learning allowed the author to place social and academic learning goals on an even footing, which in turn placed a focus on pupils' understanding and improvement of skills in athletics alongside their interpersonal development.

An action-research account of a successful improvement to practice presented for assessment within a taught MA in education was given a fail grade. The paper presents an extract from the original action-research account. The paper then presents the story of the assessment and notes how it exemplifies some of the key issues relating to the way action-research can and should be assessed within credentialed academic programmes. Finally, the paper suggests that Elliott's formulation of quality criteria can resolve the central dilemma of marking action-research reports within credentialed programmes of study.

This article examines how ethnographic and action research methodologies can be justifiably combined to create a new methodological approach in educational research. It draws on existing examples in both educational research and development studies that have discussed the use of ethnography and action research in specific projects.