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Define of Action Research

    Action Research起源于上世纪的4、50年代。人们对于Action Research的看法分为两种不同的camps。
   一种就是教育的角度。英国的学者经常把Action Research与教育联系起来，她们把行动研究看作是直接应用于实践的研究。其中以Carr and Kemmis在1986年对行动研究做出的定义最为流行。
   还有一种就是社会领域的角度。她们更多的把行动研究应用到社会福利领域（social welfare field）。在美国行动研究的定义更为广泛。认为是系统的信息收集的过程，用以推进社会的变革，是与人们的行为习惯和社区的传统联系在一起的。

     Action Research起源于上世纪的4、50年代。人们对于Action Research的看法分为两种不同的camps。
     一种就是教育的角度。英国的学者经常把Action Research与教育联系起来，她们把行动研究看作是直接应用于实践的研究。其中以Carr and Kemmis在1986年对行动研究做出的定义最为流行。
     还有一种就是社会领域的角度。她们更多的把行动研究应用到社会福利领域（social welfare field）。在美国行动研究的定义更为广泛。认为是系统的信息收集的过程，用以推进社会的变革，是与人们的行为习惯和社区的传统联系在一起的。【the systematic collection of information that is designed to bring about social change' (Bogdan and Biklen 1992: 223)】

     现在看来，我们国内的学者大多从教育的角度出发，并且对于Action Research的定义多是翻译的。比较被人接受的是Carr and Kemmis（1986）定义。华南师大的李克东教授翻译为：“行动研究是在社会情境中（包括教育情境），自我反省探究的一种形式，参与者包括教师、学生、校长等人，其目的在促发社会的或教育实践的合理性及正义性、帮助研究者对实践工作的了解、情境（或组织内）之实践工作能够付之实施而有成效。”
     使用Google的Define：工具可以搜索到15条关于Action Research的定义，但是我认为其中大多数的定义只是Google检索到的glossary页面中的Action Research，还不能作为Define，仅仅是Interpretation。
     事实上，在我互联网上查找关于Action Research的文章的时候，更经常看到的定义是这么几个：
1.Carr and Kemmis（1986）定义：Action research is simply a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out。
2.Kemmis and McTaggart(1988)：Action Research is research in practice,by practitioners,for practitioners. It is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by professionals to develop understanding of , and thereby to enhance ,their own practice.   
  3.Halsey(1972)：Small-scale interventions in the functioning of the real world… and a close examination of the effects of such interventions。

李克东老师关于行动研究的文章。
台湾关于行动研究的网站。
Google中的Define：

1. Systematic enquiry designed to yield practical results capable of improving a specific aspect of practice and made public to enable scrutiny and testing.
2. Research conducted by classroom teachers, often concurrent with their teaching。（http://www.crede.ucsc.edu/about/history.html）
3. Individuals or groups of teachers undertake a small-scale research project relating to an aspect of teaching and learning. The results of the research are used to inform school development planning。（这个定义倾向于把行动研究定义为教师的行动研究，强调是团队合作用于教育和教学问题。这与国外部分学者强调的行动研究一定要具备collaborative and entail groupwork的特点是一致的。但是这样的定义过于简单。）
4. 'Small-scale interventions in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such interventions' — Halsey (1972).
5. Inquiry-based research conducted by teachers that follows a process of examining existing practices, implementing new practices, and evaluating the results, leading to an improvement cycle that benefits both students and teachers. Synonyms include"> practitioner research, teacher research, site-based research, and action science.
6. Educators work collaboratively to form questions about their professional practice; to collect, analyze, and interpret data; to draw conclusions about their practice; and to use the results of this research to enhance and improve their professional practice（比较一般的定义）
7. A (usually cyclic) process by which change and understanding can be pursued at the one time, with action and critical reflection taking place in turn. The reflection is used to review the previous action and plan the next one. (Dick 1997)
8. Action research is a term which refers to a practical way of looking at your own work to check that it is as you would like it to be. Because action research is done by you, the practitioner, it is often referred to as practitioner based research; and because it involves you thinking about and reflecting on your work, it can also be called a form of self-reflective practice.
9. is an applied research strategy which involves cycles of data collection, evaluation and reflection with the aim of improving the student experience.
10. Applied research that join up practitioners with researchers in a research partnership. Emphasis here is on ongoing improvement of practice by the practitioners themselves.
11. Disciplined inquiry that involves educators in a process of selecting a focus, collecting data, analyzing and interpreting the data, and taking action。（比较典型的关于）
12. The primary method used in an organization development initiative. Data on the nature of certain problems or issues are systematically collected, analyzed, and then action is taken as a function of what the data indicate.
13. Process of conducting school-based research to improve teaching and learning.
14. This is a special type of applied research. In Education, its focus is on examining the effects of practice in an individual classroom, a few classrooms or the school.
15. For this course this is associated with the words CRITICAL and REFLECTIVE. Involved is an on-going spiral of four stages: planning, action, observation and reflection.