Intended Data Collection and Analysis Measures: Learning more about data collection and analysis. Select and/or develop your data collection tools. As you consider the construction of your data gathering instruments, use the following questions and explanations by Sagor (2011) to guide you.

• What are three data sources will you use for your AR?
• Do you need a matrix for data triangulation?
• Is the process I am using to answer my question clear enough that my students (clients or participants) can understand it?

When collecting and analyzing data, action researchers can do a great deal to ensure the validity and reliability of their findings by using a process called triangulation. The term triangulation refers to the use of multiple independent data sources to corroborate findings. The purpose and necessity of corroboration is the same for the action researcher as it is for the trial lawyer. A trial lawyer knows that to convince a jury of the accuracy of a legal theory, it helps to have more than one witness; the more individual witnesses whose testimony supports the theory, the more credible the theory becomes (Sagor, 2002, p. 16-18).

Educational action researchers usually have a wide variety of data sources available to them. Some of the most common data sources are the following:

Existing data

• School/teacher records
• Referrals to the principal
• Attendance records
• Tardies
• Classroom behaviors (talk outs/negative behaviors)
• Number of detentions (per student)
• Number of suspensions (per student)
• Student work/portfolios

Observation data

• Photographs
• Videotapes
• Diaries, logs, journals
• Rating scales/rubrics
• Data obtained by shadowing students through the school day

Probes

• Tests
• Surveys
• Interviews
• Focus groups

You, as the researcher, will describe the instruments and data gathering techniques used. You must establish criteria for selecting the data as they relate to the scope of the problem.

A helpful tool for planning data collection and triangulation is a triangulation matrix—a simple grid that shows the various data sources that will be used to answer each research question. The matrix provides the action researcher with some assurance that the potential for bias (which is always present whenever a single source of data is used) won’t take on undue significance. Figure 2.3 illustrates how a completed triangulation matrix for a study on student editing might look.

During data analysis, the teacher researcher engages in a systematic effort to search for patterns or trends in the data. There are many ways to accomplish this. Regardless of the particular technique employed, during the analysis phase the researcher tries to systematically cut, sift, and sort the data into piles of like or similar objects. The key purpose of this systematic sorting and categorizing is to assist in answering the following two questions:

• What is the story told by my data?
• What might explain this story?

These two questions help us to frame out what can be learned from the data analysis process.