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Is all this preparation really necessary to get action research going? How long must one reflect before they see the problem? Aren't we as teachers suppose to recognize problems immediately? Should I be writing a blueprint for everything?
I have included my blueprint for tomorrows lunch just in case.

Action Step-Lunch
Person Responsible- me
Timeline Start/End - 11:50 thru 12:20
Needed Resources - my lunch (specifics to follow if needed)

Evaluation - 500 word essay about the quality, content, consistency.

In case you could not tell, I am a little frustrated with research courses. I think this is because my B.A. is in Sociology. And if you don't know about sociology, I will tell you, we researched everything. For two solid years I did nothing but research. I researched everthing from monkey addicted to drugs to prison lifestyle in the 1800's.

I understand the need for the research course and I understand the difference in the research that I have performed and the type of research they are asking me to perform. What I have done in the past is traditional academic research. The leadership program is wanting me to conduct research that can be implemented. There is not much difference in them except action research will be actually used where as traditional research is mostly just read. A good example of academic research is the drug addicted monkeys, there would be no benefit to have drug crazied monkeys running the local school campuses. In this case, I can see where action research would not be benefical.

Traditional research and action research both require a question that needs to be answered. Both require some sort of data, traditional usually requires somebody to get that data through a survey or observation while action research data is usually available in the educational profession through standardized test. I know, I will have somebody say "well there is no data available when it comes to students being tardy or the buses running late." That is why I said usually available. Next comes the correlation of the data from the surveys, observation, and existing research. Does the data answer the question that has been asked? Is the data supported by the observation? If it is, start writing.