The development of qualitative classroom action research workshop for in-service science teachers

The participants expressed the three most problems regarding qualitative research: i) writing qualitative research report, ii) analyzing qualitative data, and iii) designing qualitative research instrument. The results of the participants’ problems concerning CAR are presented as Table 3.

Table 3. Participant’s problems concerning the CAR (n = 32)

Problem concerning CAR	Mean	S.D.
Problem 1: Creating research title	3.38	.871
Problem 2: Identifying history and significance of the study	3.13	.707
Problem 3: Setting research question	3.38	.660
Problem 4: Setting research objective	3.31	.738
Problem 5: Reviewing of related literature	3.56	.948
Problem 6: Designing research	4.03	.897
Problem 7: Designing research instruments	4.13	.833
Problem 8: Analyzing data	4.19	.821
Problem 9: Presenting research results	3.72	.772
Problem 10: Discussing research results	3.81	.821
Problem 11: Writing implications from research	3.56	.914
Problem 12: Writing research report	4.31	.780

From the survey of the participants’ attitudes to CAR at the beginning of the QCAR workshop, the participants’ mean of pre-attitudes was 5.13 (the total is 7.00). After the workshop, the participants’ mean of post-attitudes was 5.81. Then, the paired samples t-test was used and it showed that the participants significantly improved their attitudes to the CAR (t = 4.739, p < .01) as Table 4.

Table 4. Participants’ attitudes to CAR

	Mean	S.D.	Standard error mean	95% Confidence interval of the difference		t	df	Sig.
	Mean	S.D.		Lower	Upper	t	df	Sig.
Pre-attitudes	5.13	.554	.098	.983	.392
Post-attitudes	5.81	.592	.105			4.739	31	.000**

After attending the QCAR workshop, all participants could create their QCAR research proposals and had feedback for improving their proposals. Finally, they reflected many aspects of their learning from the QCAR workshop as Table 5.

Table 5. Participants’ reflection on the QCAR workshop (n = 32)

Reflection on the QCAR	Frequency*
Having basic knowledge of qualitative research	13
Understanding of process in conducting qualitative research	11
Understanding of methods to collect qualitative data	7
Opening mind for qualitative research or having more positive attitude to qualitative research	5
Understanding of the QCAR and its benefits	4
Understanding of qualitative data analysis	3
Understanding of meaning and types of qualitative research	3
Understanding of setting qualitative research question	3
Understanding of setting research title	2
Understanding of writing QCAR proposal	2
Experiencing in presenting QCAR proposal	1
Getting group work skill	1

*Note: The total frequencies are more than the number of the participant because one participant could state multiple views in the same questions.

The followings were the examples of quotations about learning from the QCAR workshop reflected by some participants. In term of “Having basic knowledge of qualitative research”, one participant reflected that:

　　Previously, I have no understanding of qualitative research. After I attended this (QCAR) workshop, I have basic knowledge of doing qualitative research (T05).

　　(Note: T05 is a code representing the participating science teacher no. 5)

In term of “Opening mind for qualitative research or having more positive attitude to qualitative research’, one participant reflected that:

　　I open my mind for qualitative research. My attitude to research is better. I learned the method to improve myself from listening to other teachers’ sharing of their experiences. I found that solving problems related to students in my everyday life of teaching is partially, then, a qualitative research (T12).