A handbook for Exploratory Action Research

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| What do I find?
 
‘Analysis’: n. ‘Detailed examination of the elements
or structure of something.’
1
Back in Chapter Two you came across some different 
definitions of research. These definitions indicated that
the ‘analysis’ of data is an important part of the research 
process. Analysis involves the careful review of information 
in order to help you to draw conclusions and make 
decisions. 
We will try to explain this process in a way that is easy
to understand – ‘data analysis’ can seem a very technical 
activity, and many people think it must involve complicated 
statistics, for example. We hope to show that it can actually 
be relatively simple, and even fun!
6.1 Daniela’s story
Daniela Gajardo’s action research story is an inspirational 
one in its own right. It’s also useful for helping us to 
understand an important distinction between two 
fundamentally different kinds of data – ‘quantitative’ data 
and ‘qualitative’ data. Both are useful, but they are useful
in different ways. Read about the first phase of Daniela’s 
story, then do Task 6.1
 “So now, let me tell you something about this impressive 
and exciting journey. It started as a project with the aim
of encouraging speaking production among my students. 
I began with an observation period, taking notes about 
their behavior.
The first thing I noticed, from that process, was that the 
students were used to answering and speaking in their 
mother tongue instead of in English.
 I asked them “Why don’t you try to answer me in English?” 
and they let me know that every time they give me an 
answer in Spanish I assumed they did not understand the 
question or did not know how to express in English, and I 
explained it to them in their mother tongue; consequently, 
it was much easier and more comfortable for them to get 
the idea coming from their native language. At that 
moment I learned my first lesson: “Never underestimate 
your students. They have acquired tools to face the 
language in an appropriate way, but if you do not allow 
them to do it, they won’t try at all”, and from then on I 
committed to speak them only in English, so in that way
I could encourage my students to try to do the same.
I also made a questionnaire which allowed me to gather 
deeper information about my topic.”
What did Daniela find? Here are some of the findings
from Daniela’s questionnaire. Read them and complete
the task below.
Task 6.1 @
According to the answers provided by Daniela’s students, 
complete the sentences which follow (you may need a 
calculator!). You can check your answers in the answer key.