Action Research

Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators, Seventh Edition introduces both beginning and experienced educators to the process of designing and conducting classroom-based action research. This practical text focuses on research methods and procedures that educators can use in their everyday instructional practices, classroom activities, and school procedures.

About the Author

Craig A. Mertler is currently an Associate Professor of Action Research and Quantitative Methods at Barry University in Miami, Florida. He began his career as a high school biology teacher. He has been an educator for 37 years-27 of those in higher education at Bowling Green State University, the University of West Georgia, Lynn University, Arizona State University, and Barry University, and 12 years as an administrator (department chair, doctoral program director, and education dean). Over his career, he has taught courses focused on the application of action research to promote educator empowerment, school improvement, and job-embedded professional development, as well as classroom assessment, research methods, and statistical analyses.

He has served as the research methodology expert and/or chair on more than 120 doctoral dissertations and master's theses. He is the author of 28 books, 9 invited book chapters, and 25 refereed journal articles. He has also presented more than 40 research papers at professional meetings around the country, as well as internationally. He has also delivered 25 invited presentations, including numerous keynote addresses and international addresses. He conducts workshops for in-service educational professionals (at all levels) on classroom-based action research and on the topics of classroom assessment and assessment literacy, as well as data-driven educational decision making.

His primary research and consulting interests include classroom-based action research, data-driven educational decision making, professional learning communities, and classroom teachers' assessment literacy. In his leisure time, he enjoys playing golf and traveling with his family.