Action Research

  Suppose that you have taught an introductory counseling skills course at a community college for several years. The high proportion of students who drop out before the end of each term is, in your view, an important problem that you need to address. You have two weeks before your next class begins, and you can spend about one hour a day (for a total of ten hours) deciding on a strategy to reduce the dropout rate. You are considering two options for how to spend the bulk of your time: (1) carrying out a literature review to identify previous studies related to the problem, or (2) designing and initiating your own action research. Name three factors you would consider in deciding which option to choose.