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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter presents the method that was used in this research. It consists of the explanation about type of the research, setting of the research, subjects of
the research, instruments of the research, data and technique of collecting data, techniques of data analysis, validity and reliability and procedure of the
research. Each of them will be presented below.
A. Type of the Research
This research uses the principles of action research. It is used to find and implement actions to improve the writing ability of grade VIII students at
SMP 3 Berbah. According to Burns 2010, action research is research in which the researcher uses taking a self-reflective, critical, and systematic
approach to explore teaching context. Being critical, the researcher looks for problems in teaching process to be solved or elements in teaching process that
can be done better. Therefore, action research is not only solving problem but also improving matters.
Action research begins with the practitioners or the researchers becoming aware of what problem in the field and how they might act to solve
the problem. The researcher directly participated in the research in order to solve the problem or bring improvement. In this case, the researcher actively
participated in improving the writing ability of grade VIII students at SMP 3 Berbah. It is important to be note that the improvements or changes are based
on the information gathered by the researcher and not on hunches and assumption. In other words, action research cannot be done randomly but based
on factual information. Since the nature of action research is collaborative, the researcher did
not work alone. He collaborated with the English teacher to improve the way to teach writing to the grade VIII students of SMP 3 Berbah through the peer
response. The researcher and the collaborator worked together conducting the research starting from: identifying the collected problems, planning and
carrying out the actions and doing the evaluation and reflection of the actions implemented. Changes could happen not only to the students but also the
researcher and the teacher. The steps in action research are thematic reconnaissance, planning,
action and reflection. After identifying the problems, the researcher made a plan to be implemented in the action step. Once the action had been done, the
researcher evaluated and reflected on the results. Those steps formed a cycle. The number of the action is based on whether the problems have been
sufficiently solved. According to Burns 2010, the research design can be illustrated as follow.
Figure 1: The Model of Action Research Cycles from Kemmis McTaggart 1988 in Burns 2010: 9
In addition, the character of action research is small-scale, contextual and local. It is small-scale because in doing action research, the researcher
usually only involves few participants. The teaching-learning process is contextualized in order to achieve the aim of the research. It is local since the
researcher identifies and investigates the teaching-learning issues within a specific social situation, a school or classroom.
B. The Research Setting
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