Let’s look at a few ways that this might happen: 1. Your initial Exploratory Action Research (EAR) only
partially answers your question, but it tells you where
you need to look to find a more complete answer.
2. Analysing the data from your initial EAR reveals
something you didn’t expect, or can’t explain.
3. The answers you get are general, and you want
more specific answers, so you develop more
detailed research questions.
4. The feedback you receive after sharing your findings
provides you with new ideas that you want to try out.
5. Sharing your findings leads to an opportunity to
collaborate with someone else on a new research
project.
For example, Leyla, whom we met at the end of Chapter
One, writes to us now (four years after her original project)
that she has since used Exploratory Action Research in
several new ways:
“I headed an EAR project on gender education in the frame of a British Council ARAS award. Also, I was involved in an international project, in which thirteen teachers from different corners conducted action research. Nowadays, I am starting my own EAR on developing strategies to scaffold special needs students who had been exempted for years and now they have to form part of the class because of the new law of inclusion in education.” Remember that, just as with the first project we have
guided you through in this book, you can decide whether
you just want to explore a situation, in order to understand
it more, or whether you want to try a new intervention in
order to change it. You can also decide on when you want
to do this; perhaps you want to take a break first! As always,
it’s up to you.
Task 9.9 Reflect on your own Exploratory Action Research
