The first step in the process of generating a design for your classroom study has to do with reflecting about  who you are as a teacher researcher. We propose you to think about the following areas that will have a key impact in your study: 

Years in the profession and teaching area/subject

Your experience as a teacher matters when getting involved in a study. The more experience you have, the easier it will be for you to analyze the problem, need or innovation that you are interested in studying.

Collaboration with "critical friends"

Teaching Style

Worldview as a teacher researcher

The second step in the process of of generating a design for your classroom study has to do with reflecting about  what you would like to study, and the goals that will be driving your study. We propose you to think about the following areas that will have a key impact in your study: 

Defining what you would like to study

Beginning your classroom research study requires reflecting upon the problem, need innovation, activity, etc that you want to study. As it is recommended by Frances Rust and Christopher Clark's guide to action research, to do so it will be important to adopt a professional stance that is centered around inquiry—asking questions about things that others might take for granted. Examples of questions that might be of help in identifying the "topic" under study are:

• • What am I curious or puzzled about in my teaching?
  • What is working in your classroom, in your teaching?
  • Who is learning?
  • Who is being left out?
  • How does your curriculum provide opportunity to learn?
  • When do you feel like you’re “losing it”?

Questions such as the previous can be uncomfortable to ask. They may produce even more discomforting answers. But, unless and until teachers grapple with the hard questions, we will remain powerless to do very much to improve life in classrooms. Samaras (2011) provides the following example on how we could answer the question "What do you wonder about in your teaching practice?":

• • I wonder about what role I can play as a Hispanic teacher in helping Hispanic students survive and understand biology.

Other topics that you could study in your classroom are:

• • Changes in classroom practice.
  • Effects of program restructuring.
  • New understanding of students.
  • Teacher skills and competencies.
  • New professional relationships.
  • New content or curricula

Goals driving your study

Maxwell (2008) states that goals include motives, desires, and purposes—anything that leads you to do the study or that you hope to accomplish by doing it.)  

Some questions that could help you better define the goals of your classroom study are:

• • Why is your study worth doing?
  • What issues do you want it to clarify, and what practices and policies do you want it to influence?
  • Why do you want to conduct this study, and why should we care about the results?

According to (Maxwell, 2008), goals serve two main functions for your research:

• • They help guide your other design decisions to ensure that your study is worth doing.
  • They are essential to justifying your study, a key task of a funding or dissertation proposal.

There are three kinds of goals for doing a study (Maxwell, 2008):

• • Personal goals: those that motivate you to do this study; they can include a desire to change some existing situation, a curiosity about a specific phenomenon or event, or simply the need to advance your career.
  • Practical goals: are focused on accomplishing something—meeting some need, changing some situation, or achieving some goal.
  • Intellectual goals: re focused on understanding something, gaining some insight into what is going on and why this is happening.

The third step in the process of of generating a design for your classroom study has to do with reflecting about  the interest I have in what I want to study, and its relationships with what others have already studied. We propose you to think about the following areas that will have a key impact in your study: 

Interest in studying this particular problem, issue, innovation, need, activity

In order to reinforce what you have already defined in step 2, it would be relevant to reflect on the interest you have in studying your topic. 

Samaras (2001) provides the following examples to illustrate the answers we are looking for in this regard:

• • Why are you interested in studying this particular problem, issue, innovation, need? This question is important to me because of my background as a Hispanic and the fact that I was an ESOL [English as a Second Language] student for a brief period of time.
  • Who would benefit from addressing/studying the previous particular problem, issue, innovation, need? Many would benefit from addressing this question: ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages]teachers, students, parents, and other teachers. I want to work to improve ESOL students’ weak performance in school.

Evidence-based practices supporting what you would like to study

A second relevant aspect would be for you to identify if what you will be studying is supported or based on an evidence-based practice. Evidenced-based practices are those “effective educational strategies supported by evidence and research” (ESEA, 2002). When teachers use evidence-based practices with fidelity, they can be confident their teaching is likely to better support student learning and achievement.

The IRIS Center offers a free Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Module series that takes education professionals through the step-by-process of identifying, selecting, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based practices, including procedures for scenarios when the research is insufficient.”

It might be a helpful resource to identify if what you are interested in studying is or it is related with a particular Evidence-based Practice.

A second resource that you could use to identify Evidence-based practices, is John Hopkins' Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE). This resource presents reliable, unbiased reviews of research-proven educational programs to help policy makers use evidence to make informed choices, principals choose proven programs to meet state standards, Teachers use the most powerful tools available, and researchers find rigorous evaluations of educational programs.

Previous studies addressing the same or a similar problem, issue, innovation, need, activity

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education. Their goal is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. WWC focuses on the results from high-quality research to answer the question “What works in education?”

We recommend using "Find what works based on evidence" in order to identify previous studies regarding what you are interested in studying. The information, articles, experiences and reports retrieved from WWC will be instrumental in helping better understand your research topic.

The following video might be of help tp understand how WWC works:

The fourth step in the process of of generating a design for your classroom study has to do with learning a little about the  classroom action research approach to research.

Frances Rust and Christopher Clark's guide to action research defines it in the following way:

• • Classroom action research is a rather simple set of ideas and techniques that can introduce you to the power of systematic reflection on your practice. Our basic assumption is that you have within you the power to meet all the challenges of the teaching profession. Furthermore, you can meet these challenges without wearing yourself down to a nub. The secret of success in the profession of teaching is to continually grow and learn. Action research is a way for you to continue to grow and learn by making use of your own experiences. The only theories involved are the ideas that you already use to make sense of your experience. Action research literally starts where you are and will take you as far as you want to go.

The Drawn to Science website (part of Project Nexus, a National Science Foundation supported project in the Teacher Professional Continuum Program (ESI, 0455752), offers examples of good action research studies:

• • Action Research in an ESL Classroom
  • Action Research about Science Experiences
  • Sample Action Research Resources

In addition to previous resources, we also encourage you to check Frances Rust and Christopher Clark's guide to action research.

The following video might also be of help to know more a bout classroom action research: 

Frances Rust and Christopher Clark's guide to action research offers the following tips in developing the research question/s for your classroom study:

The hardest part of designing an action research study is framing a good question. Avoid questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no.” Avoid questions to which you already know the answer (action research is not very good at proving that “method A is superior to method B”). Action research helps you understand the consequences of your action.

So what makes for a good question?

We have found that good questions are free of educational jargon. They use simple everyday words that make the point clear to all. They do not prejudge the result. One of the first activities you can do is make a list of questions and topics that you have about your classroom or your teaching or both. Try starting with, “I wonder what would happen if . . . ” (This could be part of your 10 minutes a day.) You can always reframe a statement as a question. Choose one question or topic on which you can spend some time. Ask yourself why this question is interesting to you, how you might go about answering it, and what might be the benefit of answering it. If, after this conversation with yourself, you are still interested in the question, do a reality check by trying it out on a colleague.

Developing your question 

• • Write a first draft
  • Share it with a colleague (critical friends)
  • Grow it a little—make it researchable

Questions emerge in different forms. Most often, the first draft of the question is steeped in the reality of your classroom. We call these first draft questions. As an example, take the following question: “Why are some kids in my class so mean and nasty to each other?” Following the advice we’ve just given you, if this were your question, you would go off to a colleague or friend and try it out. In the process, you would begin to think about how on earth you’re going to answer that question in a way that would help you to improve the situation. In other words, we don’t want you to say to yourself, “Oh. It’s their parents!” The answer for you has to include something that you can do, some action that you can take in your classroom.

So, the question is likely to change to become more researchable. “How can I help the kids in my class develop a respectful classroom community?” would lead you toward action.

Resources to help you develop Research Questions in Qualitative Studies

• Jane Agee (2009) Developing qualitative research questions: a reflective process, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22:4, 431-447, DOI: 10.1080/09518390902736512
• Check out www.teachersnetwork.org/tnli/research for other examples of researchable questions that have led to successful studies.

The sixth step of the process has to do with defining the data collection methods that you will be using in your classroom study. The following two questions might be of help in doping so: 

• What evidence do you need to convince yourself that you’ve answered your question?
• What tools do you use everyday that would provide that evidence?

Frances Rust and Christopher Clark's guide to action research offers the following tips: For example, let’s go to our question about developing a respectful classroom community. Implicit in the first draft of that question was plenty of evidence that the kids in that classroom were having a terrible time with one another. Probably, the teacher had noted behaviors that for her were markers of a disrespectful tone. She probably knew who the most conspicuously difficult kids were. She probably even had notes to the principal and to parents. All of that data was probably gathered through what researchers call anecdotal records. And you undoubtedly collect similar information in the same way. So you already have a tool at your disposal. Others that teachers use everyday include:

The seventh step of the process has to do with organizing and making sense of the data that you will be using in your classroom study. Frances Rust and Christopher Clark's guide to action research offers the following tips:

Analysis is the heart of making sense of your experience with action research. Analysis is fun and messy. It always begins with your data. Data never speak for themselves. Please remember this. Data never speak for
themselves. Your mind is the most important analytical tool that you have. Analysis is a process of telling a convincing story about the sense that your data led you to make. As well, you must persuade a skeptical audience that the story that you tell and the sense that you make are supported by evidence.

There are two major sources of support for your evidence:

• The first is the data you have collected and the patterns that you see.
• The second is equally important. It is what others have learned about this topic. If you haven’t already read other research and theory on your topic, now is the time to do it. This is critical to situating your work. If, for example, you find that the action you took has results that are very similar to those of other researchers, then you know your analysis is in the ballpark. Essentially, you can borrow from the authority of others that have come before you to strengthen the claims that you will make for the action that you took. If, however, your results contradict prior research, then you are well on the way to forming a provocative new question about why your study yielded such different results. You have something interesting to talk about with colleagues and with other researchers. Either way, what you learn locally can become part of a larger conversation among educators and researchers.

As you develop your analysis of data, here are the steps that you should follow:

Reporting on the results of your action:

• • Describe the action(s) that you took.
  • Reflect on the evidence you have collected.
  • Count. Look for patterns.
  • Share the evidence with colleagues.
  • Examine what different explanations could explain the data
    (draw on prior research).
  • Revisit assumptions about the children and the learning situation.
  • Formulate a trial explanation.
  • Develop an argument with evidence and claims.
  • Check if your evidence support your claims: Does the evidence support your claims?;  Do your colleagues (critical friends) find your argument credible?; How does the argument fit into ongoing debates and conversations?; What is unique about your setting or context?; Will others find your argument useful?

The following resources might be of help to better understand the way data analysis works in qualitative research studies:

• • Analyzing Qualitative Data (Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching)
  • Tips for qualitative data analysis
  • Tools to analyze qualitative data

Qualitative Data Analysis Software:

• • Taguette: Free and open source qualitative research tool
  • Atlas.ti: Desktop Qualitative Data Analysis software
  • Nvivo: Desktop Qualitative Data Analysis software
  • Dedoose: Web-based Qualitative Data Analysis software

Please watch the following clip to better understand the different coding procedures that are traditionally used in qualitative research.

Guba (1981) proposes four criteria that should be considered by qualitative researchers in pursuit of trustworthiness: 

a) Credibility (in preference to internal validity): One of the key criteria addressed by positivist researchers is that of internal validity, in which they seek to ensure that their study measures or tests what is actually intended. According to Merriam, the qualitative investigator’s equivalent concept, i.e. credibility, deals with the question,

“How congruent are the findings with reality?”

Some strategies to assure credibility are: 

- Adoption of appropriate, well recognized research methods

- Triangulation via use of different methods, different informants, different sites, and moments.

- Tactics to help ensure honesty in informants

- Debriefing sessions between researchers

- Description of background, qualifications and experience of the researcher

- Member checks of data collected and interpretations/theories formed

- Thick description of phenomenon under scrutiny

- Examination of previous research to frame findings

b) Transferability (in preference to external validity/generalizability): External validity “is concerned with the extent to which the findings of one study can be applied to other situations”. In positivist work, the concern often lies in demonstrating that the results of the work at hand can be applied to a wider population. Since the findings of a qualitative project are specific to a small number of particular environments and individuals, it is difficult to demonstrate that the findings and conclusions are applicable to othersituations and populations. Because of that we use “Naturalistic Generalization” (Stake, 2005). Naturalistic generalization is a process where readers gain insight by reflecting on the details and descriptions presented in case studies. As readers recognize similarities in case study details and find descriptions that resonate with their own experiences; they consider whether their situations are similar enough to warrant generalizations.

Naturalistic generalization invites readers to apply ideas from the natural and in-depth depictions presented in case studies to personal contexts.

Some strategies to assure Transferability are:

-Provision of background data to establish context of study and detailed description of phenomenon in question to allow comparisons to be made

c) Dependability (in preference to reliability): In addressing the issue of reliability, the positivist employs techniques to show that, if the work

were repeated, in the same context, with the same methods and with the same participants, similar results would be obtained.

In order to address dependability in Qualitative research, the processes within the study should be reported in detail, thereby enabling a future researcher to repeat the work, if not necessarily to gain the same results. Thus, the research design may be viewed as a detailed “prototype model”.

Some strategies to assure Dependability are:

-Employment of “overlapping methods”

-In-depth methodological description to allow study to be repeated

d) Confirmability (in preference to objectivity): Objectivity in science is associated with the use of instruments that are not dependent on human skill and perception.The concept of confirmability is the qualitative investigator’s comparable concern to objectivity. Here steps must be taken to help ensure as far as possible that the work’s findings are the result of the experiences and ideas of the informants, rather than the characteristics and

preferences of the researcher.

Some strategies to assure Confirmability are:

-Triangulation to reduce effect of investigator bias

-Admission of researcher’s beliefs and assumptions

-Recognition of defects in study’s methods and their potential effects

-In-depth methodological description to allow integrity of research results to be scrutinized

-Use of diagrams to demonstrate “audit trail”

Resources:

The following article addresses these issues really well: 

• Shenton, A. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education For Information, 22(2), 63-75.
• And here it is  the reference to Guba´s work: E.G. Guba, Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries, Educational Communication and Technology Journal 29 (1981), 75–91.

The term “ethics”  derives from the Greek word “ethos” which means character. To engage with the ethical dimension of your research requires asking yourself several important questions:

• What moral principles guide your research?
• How do ethical issues enter into your selection of a research problem?
• How do ethical issues affect how you conduct your research—the design of your study, your sampling procedure, etc.?
• What responsibility do you have toward your research subjects? For example, do you have their informed consent to participate in your project? 
• What ethical issues/dilemmas might come into play in deciding what research findings you publish? 
• Will your research directly benefit those who participated in the study?
  
  

The major principles associated with ethical conduct  are (Litchman, 2011):

1-    Do No Harm: 

• • It is the cornerstone of ethical conduct
  • There should be a reasonable expectation by those participating in a research study that they will not be involved in any situation in which they might be harmed.
  • Often applied to studies involving drugs or a treatment that might be harmful to participants
  • The 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, in which students played the role of guards and prisoners, is one example. When it was found that the guards became increasingly sadistic, the study was terminated.
  • Recommendation: It is best to safeguard against doing anything that will harm the participants in your study. If you begin a study and you find that some of your participants seem to have adverse reactions, it is best to discontinue the study, even if it means foregoing your research plan.

2-    Privacy and Anonymity:

• • Any individual participating in a research study has a reasonable expectation that privacy will be guaranteed. Consequently, no identifying information about the individual should be revealed in written or other communication. Further, any group or organization participating in a research study has a reasonable expectation that its identity will not be revealed.
  • Recommendation: Remove identifying information from your records. Seek permission from the participants if you wish to make public information that might reveal who they are or who the organization is. Use caution in publishing long verbatim quotes, especially if they are damaging to the organization or people in it. Often, these quotes can be located on the Internet and traced to the speaker or author.

3-    Confidentiality: 

• •  Any individual participating in a research study has a reasonable expectation that information provided to the researcher will be treated in a confidential manner. Consequently, the participant is entitled to expect that such information will not be given to anyone else.
  • Recommendation: It is our responsibility to keep the information you learn confidential. If you sense that an individual is in an emergency situation, you might decide that you can waive your promise for the good of the individual or of others. You need to be much more sensitive to information that you obtain from minors and others who might be in a vulnerable position.

4-    Informed Consent: 

• • Individuals participating in a research study have a reasonable expectation that they will be informed of the nature of the study and may choose whether or not to participate. They also have a reasonable expectation that they will not be coerced into participation.
  • Recommendation: Our responsibility is to make sure that participants are informed, to the extent possible, about the nature of your study. Even though it is not always possible to describe the direction your study might take, it is your responsibility to do the best you can to provide complete information. If participants decide to withdraw from the study, they should not feel penalized for so doing. You need to be aware of special problems when you study people online. For example, one concern might be vulnerability of group participants. Another is the level of intrusiveness of the researcher.

5-    Rapport and Friendship: 

• • Once participants agree to be part of a study, the researcher develops rapport in order to get them to disclose information.
  • Recommendation: Researchers should make sure that they provide an environment that is trustworthy. At the same time, they need to be sensitive to the power that they hold over participants. Researchers need to avoid setting up a situation in which participants think they are friends with the researcher.

6-    Intrusiveness:

• • Individuals participating in a research study have a reasonable expectation that the conduct of the researcher will not be excessively intrusive. Intrusiveness can mean intruding on their time, intruding on their space, and intruding on their personal lives. As you design a research study, you ought to be able to make a reasonable estimate of the amount of time participation will take.
  • Recommendation: Experience and caution are the watchwords. You might find it difficult to shift roles to neutral researcher, especially if your field is counseling or a related helping profession.

7-    Inappropriate Behavior:

• • Individuals participating in a research study have a reasonable expectation that the researcher will not engage in conduct of a personal or sexual nature.
  • Here, researchers might find themselves getting too close to the participants and blurring boundaries between themselves and others. We probably all know what we mean by inappropriate behavior. We know it should be avoided
  • Recommendation: If you think you are getting too close to those you are studying, you probably are. Back off and remember that you are a researcher and bound by your code of conduct to treat those you study with respect.

8-    Data Interpretation:

• • A researcher is expected to analyze data in a manner that avoids misstatements, misinterpretations, or fraudulent analysis. The other principles discussed involve your interaction with individuals in your study. This principle represents something different. It guides you to use your data to fairly represent what you see and hear. Of course, your own lens will influence you.
  • Recommendation: You have a responsibility to interpret your data and present evidence so that others can decide to what extent your interpretation is believable.

9-    Data Ownership and Rewards:

• • In general, the researcher owns the work generated. Some researchers choose to archive data and make them available through databanks. Questions have been raised as to who actually owns such data. Some have questioned whether the participants should share in the financial rewards of publishing. Several ethnographers have shared a portion of their royalties with participants.
  • Recommendation: In fact, most researchers do not benefit financially from their writing. It is rare that your work will turn into a bestseller or even be published outside your university. But, if you have a winner on hand, you might think about sharing some of the financial benefits with others.

This link will take you to an easy to use tool based on a form, that will assist you in generating a visual representation of the key elements of your study