A handbook for Exploratory Action Research

Exploring my perceptions
In what parts of the class do I think students speak to 
me?
Why do I think it’s important for them to speak to one 
another in English?
Exploring my perceptions
Exploring others’ perceptions
Exploring behaviour
Exploring others’ perceptions
What do my students think about this?
Exploring behaviour
In pair work, which students do and don’t speak in 
English?
In pair work, when do they start speaking in English? 
1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

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37 
| What shall I explore – and what are my questions?
4.6 SMART questions
It’s important to try to make your research questions as 
good as they can be before you continue the research 
process. But what do we mean by ‘good’? One way of 
thinking about this, as with goals in general, is to see
if your exploratory research questions are ‘SMART’.
1
Good exploratory research questions are: 
S
TUDY-ORIENTED
M
EASURABLE
A
CCURATE
R
EALISTIC
T
OPIC-FOCUSED
1. Study-oriented:
Oriented towards the study or examination of a 
situation rather than towards action upon it. Since,
at this stage, the questions to ask are exploratory 
questions, the focus should be on exploring a situation 
in order to understand it, rather than on taking action 
to change it immediately. For example, not ‘How can
I improve my students’ writing?’ (even though this 
might be your overall concern) but instead ‘What am
I doing now to support my students’ writing skills?’ 
2. Measurable:
Possible to answer; some things are interesting but not 
easily observable or easy to record and are therefore 
hard to measure. For example, not ‘What goes on in 
students’ heads when I ask them a question?’ but 
instead ‘How do students say they feel when I ask 
them a question?’ 
3. Accurate:
Specific, concrete and well-defined, not too general
or vague. Also, ‘down to earth’, so that you are able
to answer the question by, for example, looking at
your classroom or thinking about your practice or 
asking your students. For example, not ‘How motivated 
are my students?’ but instead ‘What activities do my 
students say they like/dislike in class?’ 
4. Realistic 
Feasible to answer, not too idealistic; some things may 
be measurable but not by you, or even by you in a 
team, within the time you have available or within your 
individual capabilities. Ask yourself: ‘Am I going to be 
able to answer this question myself?’. For example, not 
‘What were the intentions of the textbook writers in 
including these particular topics in the coursebook?’ 
but instead ‘What do different teachers say they do 
when they come to the topics about teenage drug use, 
unwanted pregnancy and refugees?’
5. Topic-focused
Related to your overall topic; there are lots of 
questions which are interesting to attempt to answer, 
but you should try to keep focused on your central 
topic, and leave other questions to another time.
For example, if your main topic is how to improve the 
instructions you give for activities, not ‘What kind of 
speaking activities help students to speak more?’ but 
instead ‘How do I give instructions for different kinds 
of activities?’