Action research methodology
Qualitative and iterative, reflexive
Reading notes: Action Research by Costello (2003), from left to right p.3, p.4, p.6 with my annotations (2025)
Data collection tool: Survey – Focus group interview
The focus group interview is my intervention.
I chose focus group interviews as a method for data collection
- as I am looking for a range of opinions, perceptions and ideas about the issue of how students may connect meaningfully to other master students (Krueger and Casey, p. 21)
- to uncover factors that influence opinions and motivation of students to want to connect to other students? *1 (Krueger and Casey, p.21)
- as I want ideas to emerge from the group. “a group possesses the capacity to become more than the sum of its parts, to exhibit a synergy that individuals alone don’t possess.” (Krueger and Casey, p.22)
Analysis tools
Transcript analysis
Critical friends
The question design: Designed to gain insights about the research question,
Accessible and inclusive prompt design
The prompts I will use in the focus group will be shared via QR codes, allowing the participants to view the questions on their phones and to translate them into their first language. It also allows them to zoom in if they have trouble reading small text and adjusting the display mode and light if needed.
Anticipating the flow of the discussion
In addition, sharing the QR code one at a time for each question allows the participants focus on the question by not reading ahead into the following questions had they been shared together which helped me in my role as the moderator (Krueger and Casey, 2015, p.119).
References
Bell, J. (2010). Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education, Health and Social Science. 5th ed. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Open University Press, p. 30. Available at: https://www-vlebooks-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/Product/Index/155387?page=0&startBookmarkId=-1 (Accessed: 16 November 2025).
Krueger, R.A. and Casey, M.A. (2000) Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research. Thousand Oaks, Calif., London: Sage Publications.
Punch, K.F. (2016). Developing Effective Research Proposals. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: SAGE, p. 47. ISBN 9781473916388.
