Research in Action: Action Research in Higher Education

Action research is a research methodology that examines a problem of practice. Through iterative cycles of “looking, thinking, acting” (Stringer, 2014), researchers can determine what actions might provide solutions. For this introduction to action research, Dr. Dressler will present two action research projects she has conducted as a means to demonstrate how the methodology is conducted. The first example was an examination of her own practice as an instructor of a graduate course in which students learned about and conducted action research (Brown et al., 2015). The second example was a five-year project with a team of teachers (Mueller et al., 2023). Both examples are intended to inspire others to also undertake action research.

Roswita Dressler, PhD, Professor,

University of Calgary

Dr. Dressler holds a PhD in Education and an MA in German. Her research focuses on pre-service and in-service teacher understandings of second language teaching and learning, which involve discipline-specific pedagogy, intercultural competencies, and innovation in curriculum and design. Pre-service and in-service teachers also bring to their practice their own identity as first language, heritage or second language speakers, which they often explore through study abroad and professional learning. As an educational linguist, she draws from research methodologies that integrate contextual factors: action research, nexus analysis (a discourse analytic methodology), and linguistic landscape analysis, in particularly of schoolscapes.

Register here