“HOW, WHEN, WHY” – A COMPARISON OF TWO ACTION RESEARCH METHODS TO EXAMINE THE HIDDEN TONES IN ANNOTATION FEEDBACK

Abstract

This recent study broadly confirms earlier conclusions in which action research findings identified that annotated feedback on student assignments carried an unfavourable lecturer tone and, because of which, failed to motivate the student as a learner. It was important to take the action research process further to show how tone is so easily manifested in annotation. By subverting the feedback process, annotation was read as marginalia in temporary isolation of the assignment and tone was easily identified. Two different action research (AR) studies were carried out by researchers to examine the same issue. One study examined annotation using participatory action research (PAR) (Marshall et al. 2011), while the other study utilised action research using semi-structured questionnaires (McNiff et al 2003). This paper demonstrates how the chosen methodology can either support or restrict action research if the methods are considered ill-matched to the study. It also demonstrates the importance of triangulation. Therefore, the