CHAPTER 3
Developing a Definition of
Teacher Research
Teacher researchers have faith in their students; they know too much
to give up on them.
—Marion MacLean
A definition of teacher research began to develop during our journey
together and our construction of theories. The definition grew up around
six descriptive words intended to acknowledge the conditions, practices,
and policies that make teacher research possible, help it flourish, and make
its contribution felt in classrooms, schools, and school districts.
We define teacher research as inquiry that is intentional, systematic,
public, voluntary, ethical, and contextual.
TEACHER RESEARCH IS INTENTIONAL
Teacher researchers begin conducting research by identifying a topic or
framing a question they wish to explore and investigate. Teacher research
starts with a commitment to examine an aspect of teaching and learning
and is carried out through the intentional and systematic collection and
analysis of classroom data.
Teacher researchers choose research questions that matter to them.
Because they determine their own questions and the course of their
research journey based on their own learning needs, their research is
responsive to those needs. They may set out in one direction in their
research, but their growing understanding of their teaching and their stu-
dents’ learning may lead them to change directions. As their research leads
to improved understanding they may revise their plans for the data they
collect, the methods they use, and the types of data analysis they conduct.
While they cannot predict their research discoveries, they approach each
step of the research process with the intention of finding out more about
their teaching and their students’ learning.
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24 What Leads to Teacher Research in Schools?
TEACHER RESEARCH IS SYSTEMATIC
Teacher researchers use methods and strategies to document the research
process, identify assumptions, collect and analyze both qualitative and
quantitative data, and articulate theories, findings, and implications.
Teacher researchers collect a variety of kinds of data to triangulate find-
ings, engage in constant comparison of data they have collected, and check
their interpretations with colleagues, students, or parents involved in the
study. They respond to challenges to their thinking that other teacher
researchers present to them during discussions or in response to drafts of
research reports. They formulate theories in relation to their analysis. In
these ways, teacher researchers systematically seek to establish an accurate
and full picture of a teaching and learning context that will lead to deeper
understanding of that context.
TEACHER RESEARCH IS PUBLIC
Although teachers’ decisions to conduct research are individually deter-
mined, teacher research is a public endeavor. When teachers conduct
research, they examine their assumptions, withhold judgments, and look at
issues from alternative perspectives in an effort to make apparent to them-
selves that which has been unseen or silent. They intentionally shift from a
private perspective to a more open, public perspective in order to encourage
challenges to their understanding. Often, teacher researchers enlist both stu-
dents and colleagues as co-researchers. They discuss with them their assump-
tions, their hunches, their data, their methods of data collection, and their
data analysis and interpretations throughout the course of the research.
Teachers join in the professional discourse by reporting on their research.
Efforts to make their research public involve sharing research processes, find-
ings, and implications with colleagues in their schools and with those in com-
munities beyond their schools through informal exchanges, the publication
of research stories and research reports (both in print and on-line), and the
presentation of their research at local, national, and international conferences.
Teachers conduct research in order to understand better the workings of the
classroom or teaching context, and they make their research public in order
to add to the body of knowledge about teaching and learning.
TEACHER RESEARCH IS VOLUNTARY
Teacher research is an act that has the potential of risk and vulnerability,
requiring that teachers publicly examine their beliefs, assumptions, and
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Developing a Definition of Teacher Research 25
understandings related to their teaching practice. Therefore, the decision of
whether or not to conduct teacher research remains the teacher’s.
While teacher research is voluntary, it is also inclusive. It is conducted
by preservice and beginning as well as experienced teachers, and it is of use
to all teachers who wish to examine their practice, regardless of their level
of expertise about teaching or research. Because teacher research is both
voluntary and inclusive, teachers are not evaluated on the basis of whether
or not they conduct teacher research nor on the merits of research projects
they undertake.
TEACHER RESEARCH IS ETHICAL
Teacher researchers’ primary responsibility is to their students, and their
students are the primary beneficiaries of their work. They strive to collect
data that is representative, often checking with students to confirm the sig-
nificance and value of the data. They seek student affirmation of their
interpretations and acknowledge discrepancies between their interpreta-
tions and those of their students.
They invite challenges to their tentative findings by discussing their
research with students and colleagues, and they search for additional class-
room data that presents confirming or disconfirming perspectives. They
obtain permission to quote students or use their work samples, and they
are careful to protect information that would compromise the privacy of
their students, community members, or colleagues. They report both their
successes and their failures, in an attempt to better understand their teach-
ing and the learning of their students.
TEACHER RESEARCH IS CONTEXTUAL
Teacher research requires description of the context for teaching and learn-
ing. Rather than attempt to control for variables, teacher researchers strive
to define, articulate, and elucidate the context as a whole, to reveal the
assumptions at work within the context, and to uncover the connections as
well as tensions among elements of that context.
Teacher research both shapes and is shaped by its context. Their
research questions reflect teachers’ current understanding of their topics,
their students, and their teaching context. As teacher researchers gain
insight through data collection and analysis, what they learn determines
their future research steps. At the same time, they develop new ways of
interpreting the events in their classrooms and responding to their students.
In turn, those new interpretations and responses can evoke new responses
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on the part of their students. Teacher research is contextual because it is
context-dependent, context-relevant, and context-responsive.
Our description of teacher research developed during our research
process as an emerging and shifting understanding. Many teachers con-
tributed. The six key words of the definition, written large on heavy paper,
were often hung in a room where teacher research meetings were in
progress and referred to as touchstones throughout the discussion.
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