Developing research awareness in students: an action research project explored

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Developing research awareness instudents: an action research projectexploredCatriona Paisey a & Nicholas J Paisey ba Glasgow Caledonian University , UKb Heriot-Watt University , UKPublished online: 13 May 2010.

To cite this article: Catriona Paisey & Nicholas J Paisey (2003) Developing research awareness instudents: an action research project explored , Accounting Education: An International Journal,12:3, 283-302, DOI: 10.1080/0963928032000138295

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Accounting Education 12 (3), 283–302 (September 2003)

Developing research awareness in students:an action research project explored

CATRIONA PAISEY*,y and NICHOLAS J PAISEYz

yGlasgow Caledonian University, UK and zHeriot-Watt University, UK

Received: February 2002

Revised: October 2002; June 2003

Accepted: July 2003

Abstract

This paper examines a change designed to effect improvement in an honours level managementaccounting module using action research methodology. First, the appropriateness of action researchto the research in question is discussed. Secondly, the context within which the research took placeis explored. Thirdly, the action research project is examined in detail. The action research question

posed was how students could be encouraged to increase their awareness and reading of qualityresearch articles. A change was introduced into some tutorial sessions requiring students to searchfor and present a research article. Finally, reflections are offered on both the research reported here

and on the action research process itself.

Keywords: action research, students, research reading, presentations

Teaching is not a simple transmission wrought by and large through a pure description of the concept

of the object, to be memorised by students mechanically . . . Teaching is a creative act, a critical act,

and not a mechanical one. The curiosity of the teacher and the students, in action, meet on the basis of

teaching-learning.

(Friere, 1998, pp. 80–1).

Introduction

Paulo Friere’s work has come to be widely cited in the accounting literature (see, for example,

Gallhofer and Haslam, 1996; Brown and McCartney, 1998; Craig and Amernic, 2002). Friere’s

work is influenced by humanist ideology and, in particular, his belief in the liberating possibi-

lities of education. Friere (1972) criticized what he called the ‘banking concept of education’

(p. 46) whereby teachers deposit information and students become depositaries. He discussed

10 features of his banking concept, thus:

1. The teacher teaches and the students are taught

2. The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing

Accounting EducationISSN 0963-9284 print=ISSN 1468-4489 online # 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd

http:==www.tandf.co.uk=journalsDOI: 10.1080=0963928032000138295

*Address for correspondence: Mrs Catriona Paisey, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Division of Accounting and

Finance, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G1 OBA, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

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3. The teacher thinks and the students are thought about

4. The teacher talks and the students listen – meekly

5. The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined

6. The teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply

7. The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the

teacher

8. The teacher chooses the programme content, and the students (who are not consulted)

adapt to it

9. The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his own professional authority,

which he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students

10. The teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the students are mere objects

(Friere, 1972, pp. 46–7)

Such an educational experience (if it is worthy of the label educational at all) is sterile, uncritical

and oppressive. The teaching experience reported in this paper attempts to address at least some

of Friere’s criticisms. It encouraged students to research for themselves and thereby gain deeper

understanding; to participate actively in the process; to influence what was learned by indepen-

dent, freely-chosen, study and to share in the process of learning with their teacher.

This paper’s aim is to examine, using action research methodology, some sessions within honours

classes in Management Accounting and International Accounting. The first cycle of the research pro-

ject took place during the teaching of a final year honours class in Management Accounting in

session 1999–2000 at a post-1992, ‘new’ university in Scotland. Following the authors’ move to

posts at other Scottish universities, the second cycle took place within a final year honours class

in International Accounting in session 2001–2002 at another post-1992, ‘new’ university in

Scotland. More details of these classes are provided later in the paper. The paper incorporates two

aspects, namely analysis of the research itself and reflection on the action research process.

The paper is structured as follows. First, the appropriateness of action research to the research

reported here is discussed. Secondly, the context within which the research took place and the

authors’ beliefs about the nature and purpose of higher education are briefly explored. This sec-

tion is included since teaching always takes place within a context and it is important to appreci-

ate the aims, objectives and underpinning philosophy when analysing any teaching and learning

experience. Thirdly, the action research project is analysed in detail. Fourthly, reflections are

offered on both the research reported here and on the action research process itself.

Appropriateness of action research

Action research has been defined in an educational context as ‘an approach to improving educa-

tion through change, by encouraging teachers to be aware of their own practice, to be critical

of that practice and to be prepared to change it’ (McNiff, 1988, p. 4). McNiff noted that the edu-

cational literature abounds with definitions of action research but contends that a unifying factor

is that ‘the social basis of action research is involvement; the educational basis is improvement’

(1988, p. 3). Hand (1998), writing in an accounting context, similarly stressed the underlying

aim of action research as being improvement.

Action research has been advocated as a research method particularly suited to classroom

inquiry as it can be done by people ‘by themselves, about themselves, and for themselves’

(Bassey, 1998, p. 93). Its flexibility as a method suited to a range of subjects of inquiry from

the very personal and small-scale to broader curricular matters (Hand, 2001) makes it appropriate

284 Paisey and Paisey

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for classroom situations where reasons of time, cost or scale might render other methods unsui-

table and unwieldy.

Advocates of action research typically outline a series of stages that together form the project.

Bassey (1998) and Hand (2001), for example, set out broadly similar steps which have been

summarized here into the following five stages (see Table 1).

Action research, although widely advocated in educational environments, particularly schools,

over the past 20 or so years (e.g. Nixon, 1981; Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Zuber-Skerritt, 1992;

Atweh et al.,1998; Cohen et al., 2000), has also been the subject of some criticism. While recogniz-

ing that it is reflective and bridges theory and practice, McNiff (1988) asks whether the stages known

as action research are not simply what good teachers should be doing anyway. (i.e. That they are

really elements of good teaching rather than research.) The distinction between good teaching

and research is also implicitly questioned where this type of research is seen as an ongoing expecta-

tion of a true professional rather than simply someone ‘going through the motions’ of teaching

(Nixon, 1981; Carr and Kemmis, 1986). These writers, however, are keen to stress that action

research is more than just good teaching, as the following quotations illustrate:

Action research is not just teaching. It is being aware and critical of that teaching, and using this self-

critical awareness to be open to a process of change and improvement of practice

(McNiff, 1988, pp. 5–6).

In addition to increasing the understanding and informing the decisions of teachers, action research

may also bring about a modification or elaboration of theories of teaching and learning

(Nixon, 1981, p. 6).

Action research is a deliberate process for emancipating practitioners from the often unseen constraints

of assumptions, habit, precedent, coercion and ideology

(Carr and Kemmis, 1986, p. 192).

These quotations, in their different ways, provide a sense that action research is more than the sum

of its parts. Even where the teaching and learning experiences being researched are small-scale, as

most will be in the class or lecture-room, they help to create and reinforce an enquiring culture in

which questioning and reflection together stimulate improvement and professionalism.

Table 1. Stages in an action research project

Stage Bassey (1998) Hand (2001)

1 Define the enquiry Identify the problem

Frame a question focused upon aspects ofpractice

2 Describe the educational situation Gather evidence and reflect

Collect evaluative data and analyse itReview the data and look for contradiction

3 Tackle contradiction by introducing

change

Implement change

4 Monitor the change Gather further evidence about the changeAnalyse evaluative data about the change

5 Review the change and decide what to

do next

Reflect, propose further improvements and

disseminate findings

Developing research awareness in students 285

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Since the situations that come under the action research heading emanate from a specific

teaching and learning environment, they will inevitably be context-specific, hence its description

as ‘flexible, situationally responsive’ (Cohen et al., 2000, p. 241) and ‘intentionally personalised,

idiosyncratic and contextual’ (Watters et al., 1998, p. 259). Far from being a criticism, however,

this should be viewed as a key feature of action research since the purpose is not to make broad,

generalizable conclusions but to enrich understanding (Hand, 1998).

Originally adopted in school situations, the usefulness of action research in a higher education

context is becoming increasingly recognized. The diversity of subjects suitable for action

research projects can be illustrated by the following brief summary of some recently published

projects from higher education environments. Watters et al. (1998) researched improvements to

teaching by part-time staff while Aspland and Brooker (1998) researched the appropriateness of

traditional modes of delivery to teach curriculum studies in postgraduate teaching courses, again

with the aim of improving teaching. Schratz (1992) discussed the use of action research within

medical education while Kember and Gow (1992) advocated the use of action research as a form

of staff development within higher education. Granleese (1996) devised an assessment schedule

for essay marking which she evaluated using an action research approach. The respectability of

action research is perhaps best illustrated by Hanrahan (1998) who recounts her use of the

method during her PhD studies.

The above review shows that action research is suited to small-scale projects that seek to effect

improvement through change. It provides a structured approach and thus can be regarded as more

rigorous than an unplanned experience. It was therefore felt that it would be an appropriate

approach to use when considering changing an aspect of teaching and learning. The project

was motivated by a desire to improve practice. Since the project would be small-scale and specific

to one year group at one university with no attempt to generalize, action research was an appro-

priate approach as the aim was to achieve greater understanding by immersion in one particular

case.

The context is now briefly described and the authors’ views of the nature and purpose of higher

education are explained in order to make the background to the action research more transparent.

Context and authors’ beliefs about the nature and purpose of higher education

The authors both taught honours (final year) modules within the BA (Hons) Accounting and

Finance Degree at a ‘new’ (i.e. post 1992) Scottish University. Scottish honours degrees are typi-

cally of four years’duration and the students studied eight modules per year, each of equal credit

value. The research discussed in this paper took place in a management accounting module,

Management Accounting: Issues and Applications, which was delivered over a 15-week period

in the second semester of the academic year. This module was compulsory for final year honours

students and the class was therefore quite large for an honours class, numbering 52 students.

This module was taught by one of the authors, the other taking the role of ‘critical friend’.

(Watters et al., 1998; Hand 2001 both recognize the value of ‘critical friends’ who are able to

discuss the project and offer other perspectives and support.)

Having discussed the teaching environment within which the action research project took

place, some of the authors’ beliefs about higher education are now discussed as these also impact

upon the teaching and learning experience and further elaborate on the context within which

learning takes place.

It is believed that a higher education in accounting must transcend training and technical

aspects. To qualify as higher education, accounting education must find a balance between lib-


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eral and vocational aspects of the discipline, which are discussed further in Paisey and Paisey

(2000). Important aspects of this belief are that learning must be ‘deep’ to be meaningful,

that it must be active rather than passive and that it must be informed by research.

The distinction between deep and surface learning is explained by Beattie et al. (1997):

The deep approach, which implies that a student learns for understanding, is characterised by students

who (1) seek to understand the issues and interact critically with the contents of particular teaching

materials, (2) relate ideas to previous knowledge and experience and (3) examine the logic of the argu-

ments and relate the evidence presented to the conclusions. The surface approach, which implies that a

student learns simply to memorise facts, is characterised by students who (1) try simply to memorise

parts of the content of teaching materials and accept the ideas and information given without question,

(2) concentrate on memorizing facts without distinguishing any underlying principles or patterns and

(3) are influenced by assessment requirements (p. 3).

Beattie et al.’s paper stresses that whether a student displays a deep or surface approach is depen-

dent upon the learning situation. Given that many accounting students prefer to adopt surface

approaches (Boyce et al., 2001), a challenge for all educators then is to try to encourage all stu-

dents to adopt deep, rather than surface, approaches.

The deep=surface dichotomy is mirrored by the active=passive dichotomy (Norton and

Crowley, 1994). Active learning assumes that students must engage with their material (Adler

and Milne, 1997; Lucas, 1997). Developing students’ abilities to learn for themselves is a recur-

ring theme in the accounting education literature. (See, for example, Kelly et al., 1999; Adler

et al., 2000; Albrecht and Sack, 2000; Mathews, 2001.)

One way in which a deeper and more active approach can be encouraged is through engage-

ment with the research literature. The importance of research awareness is frequently expressed

(see, for example, Dopuch, 1989; Zeff, 1989; Beaver, 1992). Undeniably, however, a gulf exists

between research and practice (Flint and Shaw, 1981; Baxter, 1988; Lee, 1989; Woods and

Higson, 1996) which will only be exacerbated if accounting students are not exposed to the

research literature as an integral part of their studies. The authors’ view is that an accounting

education is seriously deficient if it does not focus on academic as well as more technical litera-

ture and so in agreement with Manninen’s (1997) view that ‘students are entitled to learn many

things during their university studies. One such thing is that they have to learn to read persuasive

accounting texts critically’ (p. 281). In short, ‘a research-based education is consistent with

the liberal approach since research questions the status quo and probes alternatives, within a

culture of enquiry and debate’ (Paisey and Paisey, 2000).

These views underpin the research discussed in the next section, the aim of which is to

increase the research awareness and reading of students.

The action research project

What follows is an attempt to explain a teaching and learning experience within the authors’ own

teaching. Following the advice of Christensen and Atweh (1998), this section attempts to ‘tell the

story’ (p. 338) and thus adopts a personal style. Each stage of the project is described using the

model set out in Table 1.


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STAGE 1: DEFINE THE ENQUIRY=IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM=FRAME A QUESTION

FOCUSED UPON ASPECTS OF PRACTICE

Given our beliefs about the nature and purpose of higher education and the importance of expos-

ing students to research, we strive to provide opportunities for all students to engage with the

research literature. While a considerable number of honours students have always recognized

the importance of this within the modules we teach, others have not, or at least appear not to

have done so, despite its inclusion in the course aims and module descriptors, and its being

stressed in class sessions. It should be remembered that the module of relevance here was a com-

pulsory module taken by the full honours cohort, hence the full range of abilities was to be found

in the class. Thus, the ‘problem’ was that it was difficult to get all students to read quality journal

articles and be able to incorporate these into their work. This was developed into the following

research question: How can students be encouraged to increase their awareness and reading of

quality research articles? While this might seem to be implicit in the context of higher education,

the concept of ‘reading for a degree’ did not seem to be one to which all students subscribed.

STAGE 2: DESCRIBE THE EDUCATIONAL SITUATION=COLLECT EVALUATIVE DATA

AND ANALYSE IT=REVIEW THE DATA AND LOOK FOR CONTRADICTION=I.E.

GATHER EVIDENCE AND REFLECT

Through conversations with colleagues (‘critical friends’), it became clear that this ‘problem’

was not confined to the modules in question here. Nonetheless, it was also clear that

students were prepared to search the research literature for specific tasks, such as when writing

coursework essays or making assessed presentations. When provided with prescribed reading for

tutorial work, again many, but by no means all, students undertook the task. What appeared to be

missing was a willingness to research around a topic where this was not included in set work or

where specific reading references were not provided. Conversations with the librarian regularly

revealed that many journals were not consulted widely and that the library tended to be most

busy when students were working on coursework assignments or revising for examinations.

Informal discussions with students also revealed the not surprising findings that many students

were working considerable numbers of hours in part-time employment in order to fund their stu-

dies. They therefore felt that it was difficult to find the time to research the available literature

other than for coursework purposes, particularly if a range of material was to be read.

Of course, these views are anecdotal but, given the nature of the enquiry, it was felt that they

were sufficient to indicate a ‘problem’. After all, the purpose of the action research project was to

effect improvement and thus no precise quantification was deemed to be necessary. Instead, the

informal conversations revealed an aspect of the teaching=learning experience that was consid-

ered to be unsatisfactory and worthy of improvement, if possible.

STAGE 3: TACKLE CONTRADICTION BY INTRODUCING

CHANGE=IMPLEMENT CHANGE

In essence, the contradiction was between the importance, in our opinion, of students reading

quality literature across a spread of learning and not just for selected parts, and the apparent fail-

ure of some (though not by any means all) students to do this. After reflecting upon the teaching

sessions planned for the module, a change was introduced into some of the tutorial sessions.

For a number of years, discussion-based tutorials had been held on, among other topics, activity-

based costing, strategic management accounting and total quality management. Students had been


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required to read selected journal articles and to engage in tutor-led discussion during tutorial ses-

sions. While some students had prepared well for these sessions, others had not engaged in prior

reading and therefore the usefulness of the discussions was less than optimal for all students. It was

considered that the sessions were important in that they were intended to focus on published

research and to develop a range of critical qualities in students. For example, they aimed to develop

the ability to discuss ideas effectively, to evaluate evidence, to synthesize material from a variety of

sources and to gain some insight into research processes.

The format of the tutorial sessions on activity-based costing, strategic management accounting

and total quality management was therefore changed. Each tutorial group, which comprised 13

students, was split into three smaller groups, each of four or five students, labelled groups A, B

and C. The instructions that were issued to students are reproduced in Table 2.

The purpose of the sessions was also explained verbally to each group and a duration of ten

minutes for each presentation was suggested. In discussion, a number of advantages of the tutor-

ial format were drawn out. These included the provision of an opportunity to research in a more

manageable way as each student was only expected to find and read one journal article for this

module in the three week period. Thus the students should not find preparation onerous, leaving

considerable time for coursework preparation and other work. Also, by listening to other stu-

dents’ presentations, each member of the class would build up a range of research articles

that would enhance his=her knowledge and provide a source of citations for assessment pur-

poses. It was stressed to students that, while the presentations would not be awarded a mark

or included in the module assessment, participation by each was necessary for the sessions to

work effectively and to achieve fairness for all students.

Table 2. Assignment instructions issued to students

Tutorials – weeks 5–7

Each member of the class will be required to make a presentation in one of the above weeks. You willbe asked to select the week in which you wish to make the presentation.

Objectives

� To increase awareness of the range of research literature on specified topics.� To provide an opportunity to independently research, and deepen understanding of, a topic.� To develop the ability to discuss ideas effectively and to evaluate evidence.

Topics

Week 5–Activity-based costingWeek 6–Total quality managementWeek 7–Strategic management accounting

Required

1. Search for an article (preferably refereed) on your selected topic.

2. Check with the other members of your group that they have not also selected that article.3. Prepare your presentation as follows:

(i) provide details of the author(s), title of article, journal and page numbers;

(ii) discuss the aims of the article, method of research, findings, importance=implications of thearticle and any limitations=problems with the research.


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STAGE 4: MONITOR THE CHANGE=ANALYSE EVALUATIVE DATA ABOUT THE

CHANGE=GATHER FURTHER EVIDENCE ABOUT THE CHANGE

Over the course of the three-week period, most students did take part in the presentations (44 out of a

class of 52 i.e. 85%). The following summary is based on the responsible educator’s observations,

including notes taken in class. The quality of presentations was variable – some were, of course,

more detailed than others, more analytical and presented in a more informative and interesting man-

ner. Some were illustrated with overhead slides and a few students provided summaries of their

selected articles. All of the presentations were delivered uninterrupted with discussion and questions

from students afterwards. Some of the articles selected offered more opportunity for discussion than

others (for example, articles from refereed journals providing primary research as opposed to articles

from professional journals which provided more of a summarized overview). This happened despite

the fact that the students were aware of the different types of journals and the tutorial requirements

making it clear that papers from refereed journals were preferred.

Some of these observations might have been different had the presentations been compulsory

and had the students been provided with a list of expectations and assessment criteria. However,

it was felt that students were already required to undertake written coursework and an examina-

tion and that making the presentation an assessed piece of work would risk over-assessing the

students. Thus, while general guidance about the presentations was discussed with students in

the weeks prior to the sessions in question, strict requirements, (relating to, for example, the

use of overheads) were not issued as the intention was to keep the sessions informal in order

to maximize student participation. The issue of compulsion is discussed further when the experi-

ence is reflected upon later in this paper.

On four occasions, two students from the same group had selected the same article but usually

it was possible to draw out different issues for discussion from each as they often selected dif-

ferent aspects for presentation. (Six other pairs of students presented the same article but,

because they were in different tutorial groups, this was not considered to be a problem.)

However, the duplication within groups was disappointing given the instructions to students

to liaise over their choice of article. Those students presenting duplicate articles claimed that

they had not been able to find the other presenters in order to discuss their choices beforehand

because of work commitments or pressure of university work.

A small minority (six students i.e. 12% of the class) chose not to attend the sessions while

others, again a small minority (two students i.e. 4% of the class), attended but had not prepared

a presentation. The class discussed the issue of non-participation and the perceived inequity of

some students benefiting from the work of others without sharing their work too but the overall

class feeling was that nothing more could be done as most students did not wish the presenta-

tions to be formally assessed.

While most presentations had been prepared with some care, some were briefer than the ten

minutes’duration, with limited evidence of much prior thought. However, the overall impression

was that the change had achieved some success in that most students had participated and most

presentations had been of a satisfactory quality. The tutorials had been run in an informal

manner – students could sit at their places rather than formally stand at the front and efforts

were made to try to be positive about all presentations and the atmosphere in the class did

not appear to be in any way strained. Indeed, students appeared to find the sessions enjoyable,

or at least as enjoyable as any other session! Informal discussion with the students at the end of

the session suggested that they felt that the sessions had been useful.


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In order to evaluate the change further, a questionnaire (included in the Appendix) was issued to

the class in order to supplement the more informal, anecdotal findings discussed earlier.

Questionnaires were suggested by Kember and Gow (1992) and Hand (2001) as one means by

which changes could be evaluated more rigorously, given the criticism that action research can

sometimes lack rigour. The questionnaire was short, in order to maximize response. It contained

a mix of closed and open questions, developed in the light of discussion with students, in order to

provide some basic data supplemented by greater insight. It was issued in class during the third

tutorial session in order to maximize response as previous experience had shown that a good

response can be achieved when students complete questionnaires in class but that fewer question-

naires are returned if students are permitted to take the questionnaire away for later completion.

A total of 46 questionnaires was received. The class size was 52, hence an 88% response rate

was achieved. It must be remembered that the six non-respondents had not attended the last

tutorial session and, although efforts were made to get them to complete a questionnaire, they

chose not to do so. Thus, the analysis that follows should be read in the light of the fact that

six students may hold very different views.

Overall, 96% of respondents felt that the purposes=objectives of the sessions had been made

clear to them; 78% of respondents felt that knowledge of appropriate research was ‘very impor-

tant’ to their overall performance in the management accounting module; and 96% of respon-

dents had given a presentation. Thus the class did understand the rationale for the sessions,

although further efforts need to be made to increase participation further. Some aspects of the

usefulness of the sessions are presented in Table 3.

Clearly, assessment was a strong motivating factor for participation in the sessions but the ses-

sions also appeared to be helpful for reinforcing an understanding of course topics, developing

understanding of accounting research, and developing the ability to find relevant articles. The

sessions were not specifically designed to develop presentation skills as these are formally

assessed elsewhere in the degree programme but clearly this aspect was considered to be less

useful than the others. This may indicate that students were aware that this was not a primary

purpose of the sessions and merely a by-product. However, the responses may indicate a lost

learning opportunity that warrants further consideration.

The students were then asked about means by which the usefulness of the sessions could be

improved: see Table 4. Students clearly felt that increasing the availability of articles in the

Table 3. Usefulness of the sessions

How helpful did you find

the presentation for the

following purposes?

Not at all

helpful

(%)

Of some,

but limited,

help (%)

Fairly

useful

(%)

Very

useful

(%)

N=A

or did

not attend

Reinforcing understanding ofcourse topics

0 4 46 50 0

Developing understanding ofaccounting research

0 2 39 59 0

Developing ability to findrelevant articles

0 9 33 52 6

Developing presentation skills 0 33 28 39 0

Gathering a range of referencesfor citation in examinations

0 0 9 85 6


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library would improve the usefulness of the sessions. This result was unexpected as there

appeared to be no shortage of articles available and, as previously indicated, over the course

of all presentations, a total of 34 different articles had been presented (13 on activity based cost-

ing, 13 on total quality management and eight on strategic management accounting). Whether

the students’ criticism was valid or an easy target is therefore open to question. However, this

issue was not explored further as both researchers left their posts at the end of the academic ses-

sion, as discussed later.

Requiring the issuing of a summary and critique of their chosen article was considered to be a

useful suggestion. There was also some support for requiring the use of visual aids. Certainly,

this would have improved the quality of some presentations. The teacher involved, however,

has mixed feelings about this. The sessions were designed to be informal and non-assessed.

To require the submission of a piece of written work and the production of visual aids might

make the work appear to be more formal and might also result in more students failing to parti-

cipate. Again, this may be an issue that would benefit from further investigation.

As indicated earlier, students were advised of the usefulness of liaising within their tutorial

groups in order to avoid presenting duplicate articles, but four duplications nonetheless occurred.

The above findings would suggest that the need for liaison cannot be overstressed in order to

achieve a level of fairness for all students.

The questionnaire findings give no real cause to believe that most students would wish the

sessions to be compulsory. In addition, 87% of respondents would not have wished the presenta-

tions to be formally assessed (i.e. to count towards their overall mark in each module). Given

modularization, students already undertake considerable amounts of assessment (for example,

the students discussed here already undertake, on average, eight unseen examinations, eight

coursework essays or reports and two presentations). The teacher involved would therefore

have considerable reservations about the imposition of yet another assessment instrument here.

Finally, students were asked about their enjoyment of the sessions: see Table 5. It did not

surprise us that students preferred to listen rather than to present. Of course, enjoyment is not

Table 4. Improving the usefulness of sessions

Would the following improve

the usefulness of sessions?

Yes,

considerably

(%)

Yes,

to some

extent

(%)

Perhaps,

but only

to a very

limited

extent (%)

No

(%)

Don’t

know – did

not present=attend

(%)

Making presentationscompulsory

11 27 33 29 0

Requiring students to use visual

aids

9 27 33 31 0

Requiring students to issue asummary and critique of

their paper

36 42 13 9 0

Greater availability of articlesin the library

51 42 7 0 0

Requiring students to liaise inorder to avoid duplicatearticles being presented

29 55 9 7 0


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everything since usefulness must also be considered and it will sometimes be educationally

desirable to stretch students beyond what they might otherwise like. However, while it is sus-

pected that most educators would, if required, place the value to be derived from an educational

experience before students’ enjoyment, the two concepts are not necessarily mutually exclusive

and, if value and enjoyment can be combined, then it is likely that the educational benefits can be

maximized. No benchmark is available to rank the students’ enjoyment of other aspects of their

module, such as lectures and other forms of tutorials. Further research into these aspects would

be informative.

STAGE 5: REVIEW THE CHANGE AND DECIDE WHAT TO DO NEXT=REFLECT,

PROPOSE FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS AND DISSEMINATE FINDINGS

The change was assessed from a variety of perspectives, principally the view of the teacher involved

based on reflection, observation and as developed through discussion with ‘critical friends’, and dis-

cussions with students and data derived from the student questionnaire. Whether there was any

noticeable difference in the library habits of students would be extremely difficult to assess.

Also difficult to assess was the impact, if any, on the examination performance of students.

Certainly, the class as a whole presented very pleasing examination scripts with a noticeable

number of citations to relevant literature. It was felt by the teacher involved that there was an

improvement in the research aspect of scripts of the weaker students but it is difficult to verify

this as comparisons with other year groups are fairly meaningless given the different parties

involved. Simply counting citations would also have been meaningless as what is important is

the quality of citation and not simply the number. In any case, improving examination perfor-

mance was not the main driver for the change. Instead, there was a desire to further the research

awareness and critical faculties of students which, though likely to have an impact on examina-

tion performance, was really designed to enrich their university experience and assist in the pro-

vision of a higher education.

As such, perhaps the best indicator is in the views of students and their teacher. The students

felt that the experience was useful and the teacher involved felt that the sessions had displayed

many positive attributes. In particular, the teacher felt that participation had widened consider-

ably as most students had presented their work whereas traditional tutorials can often be domi-

nated by a few students with the remainder contributing little. While quieter students can be

encouraged to take part by using a variety of tutorial strategies, the strategy adopted here had

the advantage of being egalitarian, in that all were expected to take part, and non-threatening,

in the sense that the sessions were informal and planned for in advance. The teacher involved

Table 5. Enjoyment of the sessions

How enjoyable did you

find the presentations:

Not at all

enjoyable

(%)

Of some,

but limited,

enjoyment

(%)

Fairly

enjoyable

(%)

Very

enjoyable

(%)

N=a – did

not present=attend

(%)

As a presenter? 19 23 47 11 0

As a listener? 5 16 59 20 0


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also felt that the sessions provided a useful opportunity for informal, formative feedback that

would, hopefully, benefit the students beyond the confines of the topic in question.

However, as with any change, further improvements could be made. Consideration would

need to be given to improving the participation rate of students among the 15% of the class

who did not attend the sessions or who attended but did not make a presentation. Further

steps could also be taken to avoid the duplication of articles. The format of presentations, for

example whether compulsory or voluntary, with or without summaries=critiques and visual

aids would also require careful consideration, not just of students’ views, but also with reference

to the aims and purposes of the module and with a view to achieving consistently high quality

presentations. The feeling, however, is that, while assessment can drive student motivation and

participation, other non-assessed classroom experiences are necessary for pedagogic purposes

such as the development of ideas, critical skills and reflection. If educators were to subscribe

to the view that the only aspects of teaching that are important are those that are assessed,

this would devalue the completeness of the educational experience.

Zuber-Skerritt (1992) and Hand et al. (1996) both refer to the cyclical nature of action

research where the experience of the first round of the teaching and learning situation is reflected

upon and refined in subsequent cycles. Teaching can be unpredictable, however. While it would

have been desirable for the lessons learned from this experience to be carried forward to the next

iteration of the experience within the same university, with the same degree programme, module

and teachers, the authors moved to new academic posts at the end of the academic session in

question. Thus, armed with personal reflections on the first iteration of this research, it was

decided to continue this research in the authors’ new environments.

Second cycle, 2001–2002

It was recognized that it would be preferable to repeat the cycle in a module as similar as possible to

the one used for the first cycle. The module chosen was a final year honours module in International

Accounting within the four-year accounting degree at another ‘new’ (post-1992) university. The rea-

sons for selecting this module were as follows. The universities used for both cycles were similar and

the students had broadly comparable entry qualifications and backgrounds. Both modules were

offered to final year, honours students and adopted the same teaching pattern, namely three hours

of classes per week, comprising one lecture hour and two tutorial hours. The same teacher ran

the module in both cycles, with the other author again playing the role of ‘critical friend’. There

were differences, however. The second cycle used an International Accounting module rather

than one in management accounting as the teacher involved no longer taught management account-

ing. Since it was desirable to keep the same personnel over the two cycles, and since the two modules

discussed in this paper placed the same emphasis on research skills with similarly expressed learning

outcomes in this regard, it was felt that the change of subject should not present insurmountable pro-

blems. Secondly, the module used for the second cycle was an optional module, there being no com-

pulsory modules at the final year stage of the degree in question except for a dissertation. Thus the

class was smaller, comprising 11 students. The implications of this are discussed further when the

action research project is reflected upon later in this paper.

While it could be argued that the fact that the second cycle did not exactly replicate the con-

ditions of the first limits the research, such is the reality of work in higher education where staff

do change posts from time to time. If, as educators, experiences were not incorporated from one

teaching situation into another, teaching improvement would be more difficult to achieve. Even


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within the same university and same module, changes can occur since each student cohort is dif-

ferent. It is therefore the authors’ belief that to limit action research to one establishment and

module would be to lose some of the opportunity for the improvement of practice that the action

research method is designed to foster.

Students on the International Accounting module were split into two groups, of six and five

students respectively, and asked to present a paper to the class on either accounting in Eastern

Europe (group A) or accounting in the USA (group B). The guidance given to these students

was the same as that given to students in the first cycle except for the following considerations.

First, mindful of the need to widen participation, the purpose of the sessions was discussed in

greater detail with the students and the importance of participation stressed. In order to address

the problem found in the first cycle where some students presented duplicate articles, students

were asked to liaise within their group to avoid this situation occurring. Given the small size

of the class this was not a problem but for large classes a more structured mechanism would

have been required, such as asking students to clear their choice with the teacher involved, or

requiring them to post their choice of journal article onto an electronic noticeboard so that

once posted (with each entry being dated and timed), no other student could choose that article.

Finally, a decision was taken to keep the presentations informal and non-assessed as the authors’

remained committed to the importance of giving formative feedback and were keen to avoid

over-assessment, given that the students were already required to submit an assessed essay

and sit an examination for the module.

All students participated, as had been hoped; there were no duplications and the standard of pre-

sentations was felt to be of a good standard, both in terms of delivery and of content. The presenta-

tions were used as formative, rather than assessed, summative, assessment. Therefore detailed

feedback was given to students relating to content, understanding, analysis and presentation skills.

This was made possible because of the small class size. After the student presentations, a more

detailed discussion was also held of any interesting issues arising. From the teacher’s point of

view, the feedback was considered to be an important part of the exercise and the small class

size allowed for the feedback to be rigorous. Discussion with the class indicated that this aspect

was helpful but it should be borne in mind that the students were in their final undergraduate

year and might be expected to be more mature in their attitude towards formative assessment,

given the proximity to their final examinations.

As in the first cycle, it was felt that it would be useful to gain feedback via questionnaire, the

same one being used again to aid comparison of results. All students felt that the purpo-

ses=objectives of the sessions had been made clear, with nine of the 11 students (82%) regarding

the knowledge of appropriate research to their overall performance in the module to be ‘very

important’. This compares well with the figure of 78% gained from the first cycle, showing

that the views of both cohorts were similar in this respect. Some aspects of the usefulness of

the sessions are presented in Table 6 (with figures from the students in the first cycle being

shown in italics for comparative purposes).

While it is difficult to draw much from the results of a small class, it seemed that assessment

was a strong motivating factor for participation in the sessions, as it had been for students in the

first cycle. Students in the second cycle appeared to find the sessions slightly less useful for

developing their understanding of accounting research and developing the ability to find relevant

articles but more useful for developing presentation skills. However, the importance of these

small differences should not be exaggerated as students in both cycles regarded the sessions

as ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ helpful in the development of these skills.


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The students were then asked about means by which the usefulness of the sessions could be

improved. Again the results of the first cycle are included in italics for comparative purposes: see

Table 7. Unlike students in the first cycle, the students here were satisfied with library provision.

The students in the second cycle were more used to being required to make formal presentations

as part of their degree assessment than were students in the first cycle. This may have accounted

for their being more willing for the sessions to be compulsory and to issue a summary and cri-

tique. Over-burdening the students was deliberately avoided but, in the light of the findings of

both cycles, serious reflection must be given as to whether the assessment should be formative

or summative. The authors remain committed to the belief that informal sessions are valuable as

a means of giving students formative feedback, but it would seem that students like presentations

to be more formal and assessed. Perhaps this is a symptom of the feeling that assessed work is

Table 7. Improving the usefulness of sessions

Would the following improve

the usefulness of sessions?

Yes,

considerably

(%)

Yes, to

some

extent

(%)

Perhaps,

but only

to a very

limited

extent

(%)

No

(%)

Don’t

know – did

not

present=attend

(%)

Making presentationscompulsory

45 (11) 27 (27) 18 (33) 10 (29) 0 (0)

Requiring students to usevisual aids

18 (9) 27 (27) 55 (33) 0 (31) 0 (0)

Requiring students to issue a

summary and critique oftheir paper

55 (36) 9 (42) 36 (13) 0 (9) 0 (0)

Greater availability of articlesin the library

0 (51) 9 (42) 9 (7) 82 (0) 0 (0)

Table 6. Usefulness of the sessions1

How helpful did you find

the presentation for the

following purposes?

Not at

all helpful

(%)

Of some,

but limited,

help (%)

Fairly

useful

(%)

Very

useful

(%)

N=a or

did not

attend

Reinforcing understanding of

course topics

0 (0) 0 (4) 45 (46) 55 (50) 0 (0)

Developing understanding ofaccounting research

0 (0) 0 (2) 64 (39) 36 (59) 0 (0)

Developing ability to find

relevant articles

0 (0) 36 (9) 36 (33) 28 (52) 0 (6)

Developing presentation skills 0 (0) 0 (33) 64 (28) 36 (39) 0 (0)

Gathering a range of references

for citation in examinations

0 (0) 0 (0) 18 (9) 82 (85) 0 (6)

1 We are grateful to the referees for these helpful suggestions.


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somehow more important and valuable than non-assessed work. Certainly, the ‘force’ of grades

could be used to impose worthwhile behaviour and would make it easier to require participation,

the use of visual aids and the preparation of summaries and critiques in order to ensure that all

students operated to the same requirements. The fact that the students in the second cycle were

more accustomed to making presentations may also have accounted for their finding them more

enjoyable, as Table 8 shows (again with the results of the first cycle being included in italics for

comparative purposes).

It should also be remembered that the students in the second cycle had selected the module

as an option, rather than being required to take it as a compulsory course, and were in a smal-

ler class, both of which may have contributed to their greater enjoyment. Overall, the students

in the second cycle were happy with the presentations and found them to be useful. The fact

that they were more used to making presentations may have contributed to some of their views

and it would be interesting for further research, with larger samples, to investigate further the

effect of familiarity with particular assessment procedures and instruments on students’ views

of assessment.

Reflections

Friere (1972, p. 46) argued that ‘education must begin with the solution of the teacher–student

contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously

teachers and students’ (italics in original). This paper began by examining Friere’s (1972) ‘bank-

ing concept’. The features of this banking concept that are most relevant to the teaching dis-

cussed in this paper are now considered further. First, Friere was critical of the view that the

teacher teaches and the students are taught. One of the most pleasing aspects of the experience

described in this paper was that the sessions were participative and student-driven. After all, it

was the students who selected their journal articles and thus they were able to influence what

was learned in a direct way. This also relates to Friere’s sixth criticism that the teacher chooses

and enforces his choice, and the students comply and his eighth criticism that the teacher chooses

the programme content, and the students (who are not consulted) adapt to it. While the sessions

were designed by the teacher involved, the students could choose which topic to research and

their research article within that topic, the only stipulation being that students should preferably

select a refereed journal paper as opposed to one in a professional journal.

Friere’s second criticism related to the view that the teacher knows everything and the students

know nothing. The sessions discussed in this paper were mutually beneficial as some articles

were presented that were not known to the teacher involved. Thus both teacher and student

learned and the experience could therefore be viewed, in some respects at least, as being both

democratic and emancipatory.

Table 8. Enjoyment of the sessions

How enjoyable did you

find the presentations:

Not

at all

enjoyable

(%)

Of some,

but limited,

enjoyment

(%)

Fairly

enjoyable

(%)

Very

enjoyable

(%)

N=a–did

not present=attend

(%)

As a presenter? 0 (19) 0 (23) 100 (47) 0 (12) 0 (0)

As a listener? 0 (5) 0 (16) 64 (59) 36 (20) 0 (0)


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Friere’s third criticism related to the view that the teacher thinks and the students are thought

about. Here, while the teaching situation was devised by the teacher involved, the design was

intended to shift the balance of thought, although the discussion that resulted from the article

presentations certainly had teacher, as well as student, involvement.

Friere’s fourth criticism was that the teacher talks and the students listen – meekly. Clearly,

a presentation format encourages students to be active participants, with the teacher listening

along with students.

Whether the research described here adequately addresses the remaining four criticisms is

harder to judge. It is appealing to suggest that students were the actors here rather than having

the illusion of acting, for example, but it was the teacher who was the instigator of the change.

However worthy the intentions as teachers, it is not possible necessarily to distinguish between

intention, illusion and reality, nor can the virtues of any teaching=learning approach be overem-

phasized. However, Friere’s ten components of the banking concept do provide a framework that

was found helpful in these reflections.

Cohen et al. (2000) defined three types of action research – technical, practical and emanci-

patory. Technical action research involves making an existing situation more efficient and effec-

tive. This is fairly easy to achieve and the research reported here was clearly implemented with

this aim in mind. Practical action research is designed to promote professionalism by drawing on

judgement. Professionalism incorporates reflection (Schon, 1987) which is perhaps made more

explicit in action research (although it is not necessary to engage in action research in order to be

professional) and the above experience did include periods of reflection that were considered to

be valuable by the teacher. Emancipatory action research is perhaps the hardest to achieve. It

aims to empower individuals and social groups to take control over their lives within a frame-

work of the promotion, rather than suppression, of generalizable interests. While mindful of

the dangers of overstressing these aspects, it was felt that, by encouraging students to take

responsibility for aspects of their own learning through their own selection of material and

through presenting their work in an informal environment relatively free from rules and require-

ments, emancipatory and democratic elements were present. These were reinforced by the posi-

tion of the teacher as a learner as well as teacher in the situation, even if only to some extent.

McNiff (1993) argued that:

Knowledge begins and ends with the individual knower. When the knower makes a passionate com-

mitment to the act of knowing – that is, eagerly accepts the responsibility for the activity of her own

mind – she engages in the creation of a process of knowing that moves her forward (p. 35).

While teachers cannot be certain that this state has been achieved in their students, it is a laudable

position to which to aspire, and the learning situation described in this paper was certainly

designed with the aim of encouraging ‘the act of knowing’.

Action research is clearly different from other types of research. As Carr and Kemmis (1986)

note, it rejects positivist notions of rationality, objectivity and truth. It recognizes that the

research takes place within an environment in which the teacher’s educational practices and

understandings are unique and that interpretive research methods are therefore appropriate.

Hand (1998) recognized this when he stated that his action research could not make absolute

claims to knowledge as the data were filtered, selected and subjective. The data in the action

research discussed in this paper are similar but, as Hand states, such action research illuminates

a teacher’s practice and thus enriches understanding which can in turn provide some evidence to

inform future changes.


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The enhancement of understanding seems to be a most valuable attribute of action research.

Dyson (1995) questioned whether university teachers need to be engaged in research in order to

be good teachers. Research assessment exercises in the UK, imposed by government, have

arguably had the effect of polarizing research and teaching and alienated some teaching staff,

particularly in universities without a strong history of research but with a pride in teaching.

Universities manifest a number of dialectical relationships – theory and practice and individual

and social, for example – and the gulf that sometimes exists between teaching and research is

similar. Action research seems to offer a bridge between research and teaching by providing a

deliberate framework (Carr and Kemmis, 1986) for the improvement of practice and the

enhancement of professionalism.

Acknowledgements

The authors are most grateful for helpful comments provided by two anonymous referees and

participants at the BEST Conference, Edinburgh, April 2002.

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Appendix: Presentation of research articles

This questionnaire is designed to find out about your experiences of presenting a research article

to your tutorial group in the tutorial sessions of Management Accounting: Issues and

Applications.

Instructions for completion:

Where boxes are provided, please 3 as appropriate.

Where numbers (1 2 3 4 5) are provided, please circle your preferred response.

1. Were the purposes=objectives of the session made clear?

Yes u No u

2. How important do you believe that knowledge of appropriate research was to your overall

performance in Management Accounting: Issues and Applications?

tick ONE box only

not at all important u

of some, but limited, importance u

fairly important u

very important u

3. Did you present an article during Management Accounting: Issues and Applications?

Yes u No u

4. How helpful did you find the presentation for the following purposes?

(1¼ not at all helpful

2¼ of some, but limited, help

3¼ fairly helpful

4¼ very helpful

5¼ not applicable – did not present=attend)

please circle one response

reinforcing your understanding of course topics 1 2 3 4 5

developing your understanding of accounting research 1 2 3 4 5

developing your ability to find relevant articles 1 2 3 4 5


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developing your ability to find relevant articles 1 2 3 4 5

developing your presentation skills 1 2 3 4 5

gathering a range of references for citation in examinations 1 2 3 4 5

Please list any other helpful features of the session below.

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

5. Would any of the following have improved the usefulness of the session?

(1¼ yes, considerably

2¼ yes, to some extent

3¼ perhaps, but only to a very limited extent

4¼ no

5¼ don’t know – did not present=attend)

making the presentations compulsory 1 2 3 4 5

requiring students to use visual aids 1 2 3 4 5

requiring students to issue a summary and 1 2 3 4 5

critique of their paper

Please list any other suggestions for improving the usefulness of the session below.

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

6. How enjoyable did you find the presentation sessions?

(1¼ not at all enjoyable

2¼ of some, but limited, enjoyment

3¼ fairly enjoyable

4¼ very enjoyable

5¼ not applicable – did not present=attend)

as a presenter? 1 2 3 4 5

as a listener? 1 2 3 4 5

7. Would you have wished the presentation to be formally assessed i.e. to count towards your

overall mark in the module?

Yes u No u

8. Please provide the following personal details:

Are you Male? u Female? u

THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS QUESTIONNAIRE


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Documents

Developing research awareness in students: an action research project explored