Response a peer

 
Respond in a paragraph to the discussion board. In your response, do not just agree or disagree, tell the reason for your response. Your response must be at least 100 words.  Each answer separately. Use APA 7.

Peer1

 
Anabel Caraza Cruz

One of the common forms of qualitative data that action researchers analyze is interview data, most commonly in the form of a transcript from the audio recording of the interview. To analyze the data collected from student interviews, I will analyze the interview transcript by carefully reading the transcript to identify broad themes emerging from the data that will help answer my research questions. This in-depth, intimate knowledge and examination of the data will allow me to categorize themes and ideas that will contribute to my understanding of the phenomenon under investigation, and possibly I can find answers to the research questions. The following are guideposts for analyzing data: identify themes, develop a coding scheme, code the data, and finally sort the data by themes (or codes) (Mills, 2018).
Concepts maps are a useful strategy that helps action research participants visualize the major influences that have affected the study (Stringer, 1996, as cited in Mills, 2018). For example, what were the perspectives of the students? Parents? Teachers? Administrators? A concept map gives participants an opportunity to display their analysis of the problem and to determine consistencies and inconsistencies that may exist between the disparate groups. The steps for developing a concept map include the following:

List the major influences that have affected the study of your area of focus.
Develop a visual representation of the major influences (factors) connecting the influences with relationships you know exist (using solid lines) and influences you have a “hunch” about (using dotted lines).
Review the concept map to determine any consistencies or inconsistencies that exist among the influences. This forces you back to your data to see “what’s missing”.  

Connecting the data with personal experiences is appropriate because action research is about the teacher researcher’s personal teaching practices. The teacher researchers know the study better than anyone else; after all, they have done it in their classroom or school and focused on their students. Interpretations are based on intimate knowledge and understandings of one’s school, classroom, teaching, and learning (Mills, 2018). The Highland Park teachers used their prior knowledge of the school’s grading system, their students, and their personal grading practices to interpret the data. A second technique for data interpretation involves critical friends. Trusted colleagues may provide the teacher researcher important insights that might have been originally missed. Critical friends may also ask questions about the data that assist the teacher researcher to further clarify the findings. These colleagues may be people that teacher researcher has never met face-to-face but with whom he/she has talked in action research chat rooms on the Internet. Similarly, the teacher researcher may ask their informants (students, parents, teachers, and administrators) for their insights (Mills, 2018). The Highland Park teachers worked as a research team to conduct their action research study. The study’s data was interpreted from the team’s multiple perspectives.
References
Mills, G.E. (2018). Action Research. A Guide for the Teacher Researcher. Pearson.

Peer2

 
Data Analysis                                                      
Madelen Lopez
Albizu University
Data Analysis
Data analysis refers to the evaluation process of the data collected logically and analytically to ensure careful examination of each component of the provided or collected data. Analyzing data requires accuracy to ensure the results given out and accurate and reliable. The process also requires an experienced person with the required skills.
Several steps can be applied in analyzing data from the student at Highland Park High School. One of the essential steps in data analysis is data preparation; this is mainly the first step in analyzing data (Mills, 2000). It is vital in establishing whether data collection was performed according to the highlighted standards and with no bias. For instance, to make sure that each student was involved in the interviews, and no other member was involved or gave out data and was not a student. The next crucial method is data editing. The information gathered requires to be accurate and clear to avoid false results. In this step, there could have some error occurrences when a student is filling down their data concerning the ARL system. For instance, filling data where it is not supposed to be filled or giving incomplete data; this makes the process of analyzing data simple and easy. 
The last step vital in data analysis is data coding. It refers to the grouping of the data collected for the analyzing process to occur. The data is grouped according to similarity; those who are in the same line with the application of the ARL system and those who think that the system should not be adopted. The grouping of data involves the assigning of values to the responses. For instance, a group of students who approve the same is defined by a specific value. 
The use of concept mapping is essential in showing the relationship between information and ideas. It helps to have a good understanding or meaning of the data provided. In data analysis, they are important as they help in analyzing the main theme in the data analysis. A researcher can discover the repeated concepts in the data presentation hence analyze the data accurately. Another significance of concept mapping is data analysis is to reduce data in a meaningful manner. Reducing the data implies the elimination of data that cannot be classified in a specific area during data analysis (Mills, 2000). It also helps in comparison, highlighting the differences and the similarities obtained from a specific data set. Concept mapping helps in planning or framing the research project during the data analyzing process. They give way forward for the next step in carrying out the research.
The researchers were able to connect the findings of the result with the students’ personal experiences as a way of data presentation when the researchers found that their students became less argumentative than the previous years when the project was not applied (Mills, 2000). It is a data interpretation technique to illustrate that the students were positive for using the ARL system in their learning. To seek advice from friends as a way to interpret data, the researchers sent letters to the parents of the students explaining the system’s use. The researchers were open to any questions, comments, or concerns concerning the system (Mills, 2000). It is important to seek additional data concerning the use of the system that can be useful.
In conclusion, data analysis and interpretation are essential steps in carrying out any research. Accurate measures should be applied in each step to ensure precise and accurate results of the process. Researches also require data analysis and interpretation skills to ensure the data collected is not distorted interfered with. 
References
Mills, G. E. (2000). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Prentice-Hall, Inc., One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458.