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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Type of Study
The aim of this resear ch is to answer a question of “can playing
detective games improve students’ speaking ability?” This kind of a
research is classified as an action research study. Burns 2010: 2 states that in action research, teachers reflect about the whole aspect of their
teaching and learning process. They explore the area of the process in which they think it can be done better, and then questioning the core of the
problem. Afterwards, they intervene in the problem to produce changes or improvement in practice. The important part is the improvements are the
ones based on information that the researcher has collected systematically. With the information, the researcher will develop new ideas and
alternatives of the problems. According to Kemmis and McTaggart in Burns 1999: 32, action
research occurs through dynamic and complementary process which consists
of four essential „moments’: planning, action, observation, and reflection. Below is the figure of action research cycle by Kemmis and
McTaggart in Burns 1999: 33.
Figure 3: Action Research Cycle by Kemmis and McTaggart B.
Research Setting
1.
Research schedule
The research was conducted in the second semester of the academic year 20152016. It was done on the eighth month of this
year, from the 1
st
– 19
st
August, 2015. 2.
Research setting
This research was conducted in SMK PGRI 1 Sentolo. It is located in Jl. Wates Km. 18, Sentolo, Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta.
3. Research Subjects
The subjects of this research were
Grade XI
students of Office Administration Department of
Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan PGRI 1
Sentolo
. There were seventeen students of Grade XI students of Office Administration Department. However, due to joining the event of
commemorating Indonesian Independence Day, only thirteen students could participate in the research.
C. Research Procedure
1. Reconnaissance
In this phase, the thematic concern of the research was determined. The researcher identified the problems that occurred
on the field through observation and interview. After all the observations and interviews were done, the researcher decided the
problem related to speaking that was most feasible and necessary to be solved. Once the main problem was decided, the researcher
administered a pre- test to know the students’ speaking ability
before the action was given to them. 2.
Planning In this phase, after the problem was identified, a plan of
action was developed in order to bring improvement in the particular area of the research context. The researcher made a plan
of how to do the action. She decided the topic that would be used during the action and the materials that would be given to the
students before the action was started.
3. Action and Observation
The plan was the one which was carefully considered involving a number of thoughtful interventions of the teaching
situation that was put into action during an agreed period of time. After the plan was put in action, the researcher did a systematic
observation regarding the effects of the action and document, the context, actions and opinions of the involved ones. The data were
analysed to find the parts that were not good or the parts that could be done better. When the plan worked as the researcher expected,
the researcher re-used it in the next cycle. However, when the plan did not work as expected, the researcher modified the plan with the
data of the observation as the consideration and adjusted it to be suitable for the situation and condition in the field. The adjusted
plan was used in the next cycle. 4.
Reflection In this step, the researcher needed to reflect on, evaluated
and described the effects of the action so as to acknowledge of what had happened and to understand the issue that had been
explored more clearly. We could also state that the action that was done was successful
or not to improve the students’ speaking ability.
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