A Phenomenological Study on the Constraints in Conducting Action Research

Abstract

This phenomenological research aims to describe and understand the constraints experienced by the teachers in conducting action research and find ways to address them. The study has four phases – locating the informants, data gathering, data storing, and Phenomenological explicitation of data. The five (5) informants chosen were considered the primary informants, and a Senior Education Program Specialist from the Division office was considered a secondary participant. Data collection involved in-depth phenomenological interviews done online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also employed a five steps simplified version of Hycner’s (1999) phenomenological analysis developed by Groenewald (2004). The study has the following themes: As to the constraints (1) negative perceptions toward research, (2) time constraints, (3) lack of financial and moral support from the administration, (4) inability to identify appropriate statistical tools and methodology, (5) lack of knowledge in the research writing process, (6) problem in processing and handling the research documents, and (7) insufficiency of training conducted for teachers. For addressing the constraints: (1) action research materials development, and (2) conduct of action research training workshop. The results imply that teachers were struggling to conduct action research. Thus, it is recommended that a detailed and comprehensive action research guide will be developed, and an extension program focusing on training teachers in conducting action research will also be conducted