REFLECT/REVIEW

Reporting

• Collect together the material you have already prepared in your Research Journal
• Reflect on this material, considering implications for your future practice
• Decide how to share with others in a written report, online or multi-media report, or presentation

Introduction

This part of the action research cycle is about identifying the learning points from your research and considering what the implications of these are for your practice. We have built this into a ‘reporting’ stage because we have found that it is often the process of condensing all of the work you have done into a shareable format that can help to transform findings into concrete steps for future action. These future steps – the implications of your research – may be a change in your practice, a new practice or policy initiative for your department or school, and /or the start of your next cycle of action research.

The report itself does not need to be a long piece of writing – it does not need to be written at all if you prefer to work with video or visual media. The key aspect of this activity is to draw together your own learning and to reflect on it, considering the implications for future action and preparing to share your learning with others.

Activity 1: Assembling your material and identifying the implications of your research

• Collect together the material for your report from your Research Journal documents. Depending on which stages of the research you have completed, this may include:
  • From Partnership module: description of any partnerships you included.
  • From Research Design module: your research focus, definition of creativity, research question and creative action.
  • From Understanding Context module: key points about your school context, plus learning points from the literature
  • From Ethics module: ethical issues you identified and how you addressed them from your ethical research plan
  • From Data Collection module: a list of the methods you used and how you used them, from your data collection plan
  • From Analysis module: if you used the Critical Reflection document, then use the contents of the summary boxes. If you used the analysing Word Based Data document, then use the contents of the summary boxes including the pieces of data selected to exemplify these summaries.

• Review the assembled material and consider the implications of your research for your practice. 

The following questions will help you to reflect on this. Choose one or two of these (or devise your own ones), discuss with your Dialogue Partner, and put your responses in your Research Diary.

• What is the significance of the findings for your practice/school?
• What does the experience of this project mean for your practice/ school?
• Are there specific changes you intend to make for your practice/ curriculum / school / policy, and why?
• What have you learned from working with your creative partner?
• What were the highlights of the action research?
• What were the challenges of the action research?
• What further questions do you need to explore to understand the findings better, or to further explore the topic you identified?

Activity 2: Producing your report

In activity 1, you assembled all the materials you need for your report, so now you need to find a way to put all of that together and communicate it with others.

• Think about your audience, consider what aspects of the research it is important to communicate with them, and how they can best absorb the information: in writing, in a presentation, in a poster, in a podcast? Here are some possible formats for a report – decide which of these (or any others) you’d like to use:
  • Written report (template provided) 
  • One-page handout (template provided) 
  • Micro-summaries on a Padlet shared with other teachers doing Action Research 
  • Video 
  • Blog 
  • Podcast 
  • Slides and presentation 
  • CPD session (with written information on slides / as a handout)  
  • Poster 
  • Journal article 
  • Cartoon 
  • Anything else… 

Explore some of the examples provided in ‘further reading’ below to support you in choosing a format and preparing reports.

• Over to you to create your report. Downloadable templates for a full Written Report and for a One-Page Written Handout is provided. Whichever format you choose, consider the following points:
  • Be open about the research.  You don’t need to convince your audience that you were totally successful.  Research is about learning, so describe the learning you gained from the things that went according to plan, and from the things that did not.  Acknowledge tensions, difficulties and ideas that emerged in the process.   
  • Describe what the implications are for practice / policy – for yourself and / or for your school, multi academy trust or wider schools system 
  • Use examples from the data and from your practice: this will bring the report to life for your readers and is invaluable in sharing your particular understanding of creative skills and creative pedagogy. 

Further reading

Examples of written Action Research reports from Penryn Creativity Collaboratives

Useful templates for a variety of reporting formats, together with examples of completed Action Research: Action Research Tutorials-CCAR 

Examples of Action Research reports published in a practitioner journal: Educational Action Research; RaPAL Practitioner Action Research Edition

Example of research summaries published by one College that has embedded Action Research into its practice: Richard Huish College Action Research Journal

NFER (2013) ‘How to’ write up your research: Some tips to get you started.

FAQs

Is a written report better than a podcast or a cartoon?

The best format for your report is the one that will communicate best with your intended audience. If you want to share your research widely with other teachers, a podcast might be perfect; if you want to use it for a training session then a powerpoint presentation could be the best option; a cartoon will force you to condense your key points and might be just right for sharing research with your whole school community including students. Consider who you are sharing the research with and choose the format they will best relate to.

How can I prove in my report that my research has improved teaching for creativity?

Action research is not about proving or disproving a hypothesis. It is about learning more about your practice, so the job of your report is to describe your research in a transparent way so you can share that learning with others. Being clear about how you conducted the research will help to make your findings credible and trustworthy, as will reporting on perceived challenges or negative findings alongside successes.