Research Design
With my company’s live-only training mode tightly integrated with automated software and finely tuned with thousands of hours of practice, the thought of paving a new path through unknown territory seems daunting. At the onset, I knew that I needed a problem solving framework that is the equivalent of Land Rover – a vehicle strong enough and versatile enough to traverse the Serengeti. I needed a vehicle that would help me navigate through a thicket of roadblocks, switchbacks and surprise encounters. I need Action Research.
Lomax (1991) described Action Research as:
.. a way of defining and implementing relevant professional development. It is able to harness forms of collaboration and participation that are part of our professional rhetoric but are rarely effective in practice ... [it] ... starts small with a single committed person focusing on his/her practice. It gains momentum through the involvement of others as collaborators. It spreads as individuals reflect on the nature of their participation, and the principle of shared ownership of practice is established. It can result in the formation of a self-critical community: extended professionals in the best sense of the term. (p. 10)
Action Research carried me toward the answer to this general research question, “If I introduce a blended learning process into an organization that has no experience with mixing modalities how can I successfully shepherd this process through testing and successful integration?”
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NEXT: Research Cycles
Lomax (1991) described Action Research as:
.. a way of defining and implementing relevant professional development. It is able to harness forms of collaboration and participation that are part of our professional rhetoric but are rarely effective in practice ... [it] ... starts small with a single committed person focusing on his/her practice. It gains momentum through the involvement of others as collaborators. It spreads as individuals reflect on the nature of their participation, and the principle of shared ownership of practice is established. It can result in the formation of a self-critical community: extended professionals in the best sense of the term. (p. 10)
Action Research carried me toward the answer to this general research question, “If I introduce a blended learning process into an organization that has no experience with mixing modalities how can I successfully shepherd this process through testing and successful integration?”
PREVIOUS: Literature Review
NEXT: Research Cycles