Evaluation of a Qualitative Study 1

Running head: EVALUATION OF A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Evaluation of a Qualitative Study

Akinlabi (Aki) Hubbard

Capella University

Quarter & Year: Summer, 2010

Address: 1679 Academy St
City, State, Zip: Jacksonville, Fl 32209
Phone: (904)-708-0433
E-mail: akih08@hotmail.com
Instructor: Adair White-Johnson
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Evaluation of a Qualitative Study

Introduction

The article under evaluation is titled Using Action Research to Navigate An Unfamiliar Teaching

Assignment by M. Dicker. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess how accurately the author,

a certified teacher asked to instruct out of her field, used qualitative writing to recount the action

research process she used to familiarize herself with her new curriculum.

Title for the Study

The title does not reflect the central phenomenon being studied nor does it specifically reflect the

people or site being studied. All of this information is found later in the article. In addition, the

title only vaguely implies that students and teachers are being studied in a school setting.

Problem Statement

The central issue is identified as proper training and preparation for unfamiliar or unexpected

teaching assignments. The author uses her personal experience as evidence that this is an

important issue, noted in paragraphs 1-3. She cites similar experiences if other teachers in

paragraph 4. The author wishes to investigate how teachers cope and prepare themselves for

impromptu situations where they must teach a subject in which they have no training or are not

properly qualified to instruct. The author also wants to investigate how such teachers use their

own personal experience or background knowledge. This is evidence of a qualitative approach

taken for the author’s action research.

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Review of the Literature

The author’s action research approach appears to have been focused on the effects of action

research on a teacher’s ability to instruct in an out-of-field situation. While she does provide

some brief background information on action research, there is no distinct review of literature.

The study follows APA style in the crediting or citing of the references consulted.

Purpose and Research Questions

The author specifies using action research to investigate how teachers who are asked to instruct

an area that is out of their field can use their prior knowledge and experience The central

question is how do such teachers organize their lessons? The purpose statement indicates that

the author, herself a teacher, will undertake an action research project with herself and her

students as the participants and her classroom as the main research site. The main question is

really the only one posed and it is narrowed to the problem address in this study.

Data Collection

The author uses steps of action research cited from another source (Kemmis and McTaggert,

1982, p.7) which consist of planning, acting, monitoring, and reflecting. Since the author was

already a practicing teacher, the steps to obtain access to the cite and students were not listed but

would likely be the same steps necessary to become certified in the required field of instruction.

The author’s sampling was limited to the students under her tutelage. She took no specific or

special steps for data sampling apart from having her students keep an ongoing journal of their

work. The data collection is nonetheless extensive and involves herself and her students. The

data was specifically identified as coming from four sources; her own reflective journal, journals

recorded and kept by the students, consultation from a former English teacher; and a tape
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recording of the first and last lessons of the studied class period. There is evidence that the

author has used a protocol for recording data in that she included the four sources mentioned

above.

Data Analysis and Findings

Text analysis was used to perform qualitative data analysis. In the case of the tape recording, it

served as a method to check the accuracy of the text analyses. These analyses were used to

categorize the author’s teaching styles, which she stated in her writing, were reflective of her

teaching philosophy in math and drama. Through the data recorded in her journal and the

journals of the students, she derived that the theme for math was to find the right answer to a

perceived problem while the theme for drama was the encouragement of creative thinking by

such problem solving. This information, in turn, allowed the author to combine a teacher

directed style of instruction with cooperative student learning. The author’s findings did answer

her central research question: a teacher can call upon prior knowledge of familiar subject areas

and apply this information to teaching an unfamiliar or out-of-field class. These findings by the

author, while based on teacher observations and teacher and student perception, are realistic and

note the methods and results encountered in applying knowledge from teaching math and dram

to instructing a newly created Communications I class. The findings were represented in themes

that showed more than one perspective which could be deciphered by an experienced reader.

These themes were accomplished through the author’s description of her original class

philosophies and by chronicling her findings as evidence in her journal.

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Writing

The author’s writing is informative and written in a convincing manner. It is written totally in a

narrative style that encompasses much detail about the progress of her action research. A first

person point of view is employed. Overall, the article is suitable written for its intended

audience of teachers who find themselves in situations where they must teach out of their field or

knowledge area.

Conclusion

The overall purpose of this article was to chronicle the author’s self-conducted action research on

how prior teaching experience can be applied when teaching out of field. The article is mainly

written to inform other teachers of a way to prepare themselves for situations that are similar to

the author’s. The article is written in a scholarly manner and cites the resources consulted using

the APA bibliography style. The article itself is written in an APA writing style. The article is

detailed and easy to follow, and it thoroughly explains the author’s research methods and the

implementation of these research methods.

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References

Creswell, J. (2008). Educational Research, Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative

and Qualitative Research, 3rd Edition. Upper Saddle River, N. J. Pearson Educational Inc.

Dicker, M. (1990). Using Action Research to Navigate an Unfamiliar Teaching Assignment.

Theory into Practice, 29, 203-208.