Learning to Research and Researching to Learn An Educator's Guide

This chapter focuses on the initial phase of practitioner research – the decision to engage in formal and structured research, as distinct from the everyday work of educators. This decision, which can be challenging for educators who are beginning researchers, is usually underpinned by an interest or issue related to an aspect of their practice, such as school or classroom-based priorities, issues, problems or observations. Although this impetus may be powerful and the educator highly motivated to pursue research, it is reasonable to have concerns about taking the step to conduct research. The chapter begins by focusing on common reasons that inform practitioners’ decisions to research, and we describe scenarios that would motivate educators and provide them with an impetus to engage in a study. This discussion includes examples of real-life practitioner researchers’ experiences. The chapter also examines some of the common concerns of beginning researchers and responds to each, giving authentic examples of practitioners’ apprehensions and the ways they were addressed. The final part of the chapter is devoted to planning and writing the research proposal.