What I have learned about action research...

Research, research, research...  Sounds like a lot of work, well it is!  However, I have learned that action research is work that pays off.  I have learned that through action research educators can create solutions to problems while gaining a better insight into what causes their problems through data collection and data analysis.  I have also learned the importance of reflection on data.  "Administrators' engagement in inquiry is one vehicle for making reflection purposeful and visible. (Dana, 2009, p. 7).  I have also learned that action research should be taken with a systematic approach.  "Inquiring professionals seek out change by reflecting on their practice.  They do this by posing questions or "wonderings, collecting data to gain insights into their wonderings, analyzing the data along with reading relevant literature, making changes in practice based on new understanding developed during inquiry, and sharing findings with others" (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009).  I have learned the difference between action research and traditional educational research. I understand that action research is simply what it says in the title; there are action steps after the research, where as traditional education research is also what it says in the title, research.  Action research has a follow through to the inquiry while traditional educational research just provides information and data. Lastly I have learned the importance of engagement in inquiry, “research tells us that engagement in inquire is an important ingredient of the overall professional health of an educator” (Copeland, 2003).