A handbook for Exploratory Action Research

Commentary
So, to recap, research has the following characteristics; 
1. question(s) to be answered
2. systematic collection of data
3. analysis of the data
4. answer(s) to the question(s) 
Throughout the book, we will take you through the different 
parts and processes involved in doing research but it may 
be important here to remind you that collecting data is an 
essential part of research, followed by its ‘analysis’.
‘Analysis’: n. ‘Detailed examination of the elements
or structure of something’.
5
As we’ve been stressing, research is not something only 
scientists do. We do it in our everyday lives, and it can be 
done by teachers, in which case we are talking about 
‘teacher-research’: research initiated by teachers into their 
teaching contexts. 
2
Hatch, E. and Lazaraton, A. (1991) The Research Manual: Design and Statistics for Applied Linguistics. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, p. 1.
3
Stenhouse, L (1978). ‘Applying research to education’. Paper given to the British Educational Research Association. Stenhouse Archive, 
University of East Anglia, p. 1. 
4
Nunan, D. (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 3.
5
https://
www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/data

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17 
| What is teacher-research?
2.3 What does teacher-research look 
like? Lorena’s story 
Let’s see whether the characteristics identified above
apply in the case of one of the Champion Teachers we
have worked with. 
Read this story of research by Lorena Muñoz, told in her 
own words, and complete the table which follows it with 
notes.
 “I am a teacher at a High School in Osorno working with 
students who have a high level of vulnerability. I teach 
from 9th to 11th grades and I have more or less 38 to 40 
students per group. The 9th grade students are between 
14 and 15 years old. In this context I noticed they were
not working properly in listening activities. In lessons I 
observed that they didn’t do the activities and I wanted
to know the reason why.
I chose four questions to work with during the exploratory 
research process: