LDRS 591 Activity 9.1

Unit 9 Learning Activities

This is in response to Oliver Parson’ podcast about his Action Research project

Learning Activity 8.2

 

Does the project focus on a real problem in practice? Oliver’s proposed action research project focuses on a problem at his place of work , which is the non-profit coffee ship. He is talking about the problem of limited seating for customers, especially during their busy hours. Score 3.

Does the researcher plan to study his or her own practices or plan to collaborate with community members? He plans to study his own practice. There does not seem to be any mention of community involvement in his project. He does talk about discussing the problem with his workers and manager about ways to maximize their space. He also mentions gathering data from other coffee shops about their experience with space utilization. He does not elaborate how he plans to keep his coworkers or the community involved throughout the project. Score 2.

Does the project include careful reflection about the problem? Oliver reflects on how the problem of space is sometimes a deterrent to customers buying coffee from their shop. He thinks this negatively impacts their profits, which in turn affects their contribution towards the charity they support. Score 3.

Does the researcher plan to gather several sources of information (e.g., qualitative and quantitative procedures)? Oliver proposes collection of quantitative data, in terms of busiest hours, number of customers, duration of their stay etc. He does not propose collection of qualitative data. I think in this situation he could collect some qualitative data in the form a simple 2-3 question survey about what the customers like / dislike about the coffee shop, and an open ended question about what they can do to make the experience better. I think surveying the customers might yield some insight from the customers’ point of view. Score 2.

Does the researcher develop a clear plan for addressing the problem? He does seem to have a clear idea of the problem and the fact that some action needs to be taken to address it. He also has a plan about how to study the problem, and he also outlines some possible outcomes of the study, like rearranging furniture, the possibility of buying new furniture, changing the layout etc. Score 3.

Does the project include reflecting, thinking, looking, and gathering information and acting? Oliver proposes to ‘circle back’ after putting the interventions in place, and collecting more data to study the impact of the changes. Score 3.

Will the results of the project enhance the lives of those involved? His project endeavors to look for ways to optimize space in their coffee shop, in the hope of increasing customer satisfaction and sales. This could in turn increase their profits which are used to contribute towards a charity. Score 3.

 

Overall score 19. High quality.

 

Reference

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.