The Nature of Action Research

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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Place and Time of the Research

This action research is carried out in SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. It is located on Jalan Ir. Sutami No. 52, Jebres Surakarta 56172. Meanwhile, the research is conducted from July to October 2010.

B. The Subject and the Object of the Research

The subjects of the study are the students of the fifth year of SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. It is one class that consists of 33 students, 19 boys and 14 girls. However, the object of the study is improving students’ vocabulary mastery through graphic organizers.

C. The Method of the Research

This chapter presents the discussion about the research or classroom action research as follows:

1. The Nature of Action Research

The seeds of action research are to be found as early as the late nineteenth century in the Science in Education movement and a variety of other social reform initiatives McKernan:1996. It also grew out of the moves by progressive educators, such as John Dewey and Kurt Lewin .There are some definitions of action research. The first is by Kemmis in Elliott: 63 who states: commit to user 40 Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by the participants in social including educational situation in order to improve the rationality and justice of a their own social or educational practices, b their understanding of these practices, and c the situation in which the practices are carried out. It is most nationally empowering when undertaken by participants collaboratively, thought it is often undertaken by individuals, and sometimes in cooperation with ‘outsiders’. In education, action research has been employed in school-based curriculum development, professional development, school improvement programs, and systems planning and policy development. A second definition is stated by Elliott, who states as follows: Action research might be defined as ‘the study of a social situation with a view to improving the quality of action within it’. It aims to feed practical judgment in concrete situations, and the validity of the ‘theories’ or hypotheses it generates depends not so much on ‘scientific’ tests of truth, as on their usefulness in helping people to act more intelligently and skillfully. In action research ‘theories’ are not validated independently and then applied to practice. They are validated through practice. The third definition is stated by Wallace 1998:15 that action research is therefore a sub-area of inquiry, which simply means the process of answering and questions by using various kinds of evidence in some kind of reasoned way. In addition, it is different from other more conventional or traditional types of research in that it is very focused on individual or small group professional practice and is not so concerned with making general statements. From the definition above, action research is a systematic study which is focused on small group professional practice in social situation by the researcher, to know about their particular school operates how they teach, and how well their students learn so they can improve the quality of professional action. Action research starts with practical judgment and the validity of the theories or hypothesis is applied in practice. commit to user 41

2. The Model of Action Research