The goal of CAR is to improve your own teaching in your
own classroom (or your department or school). While there is no requirement that the CAR findings be
generalized to other situations, as in traditional research, the results of classroom action research can add to
the knowledge base. Classroom action research goes beyond personal reflection to use informal research
practices such as a brief literature review, group comparisons, and data collection and analysis. Validity is
achieved through the triangulation of data. The focus is on the practical significance of findings, rather than
statistical or theoretical significance. Findings are usually disseminated through brief reports or
presentations to local colleagues or administrators. Most teachers, from pre-school through university level,
can be taught the methods of action research in a single course, a series of workshops, or through extensive
mentoring (Mettetal, 2000). For more information on traditional educational research, see texts such as
Educational Research (Gay and Airasian, 2000).