Scaffold MeAction Research
Inquiry into practice that uses cycles of action and reflection to understand and improve a local situation.
Example: Trying a mentoring strategy and studying its use.
Research Definitions
Plain-language explanations and examples. Terminology can vary by research tradition. Follow your program’s methodology guidance.
AI tools
Tools using artificial intelligence; some generate new text or other content.
Example: A generative AI writing assistant. This builder currently uses preset patterns rather than a live AI service.
Background research
Reading and investigation that help you understand existing knowledge about a topic.
Example: Reviewing studies of teacher mentoring before developing your question.
Barrier
A condition that makes an action or experience more difficult.
Example: Mentor and participant schedules do not overlap.
Baseline
Information describing conditions before an intervention or change.
Example: Initial observations before a mentoring cycle.
Beliefs and assumptions
Ideas people hold or take for granted that can shape their interpretations.
Example: Believing that asking for help signals weakness.
Bounded case
A case with clear limits such as place, time, or membership.
Example: One mentoring program in one school during one academic year.
Case Study
An in-depth study of a clearly defined case in its context.
Example: Examining one school’s mentoring program over one year.
Category
A grouping used to organize concepts or data during analysis.
Example: Different forms of help-seeking.
Central phenomenon
The experience or process at the center of your inquiry.
Example: Navigating a first year of teaching.
Central research question
The main question addressing your study’s purpose.
Example: How do new teachers describe their mentoring experiences?
Context
The setting and circumstances of your study.
Example: Baltimore public high schools during a mentoring program.
Data
Information collected or examined to address your question.
Example: Interview transcripts and observation notes.
Disclosure statement
A note explaining what assistance was used and the user’s responsibility for the work.
Example: Explaining how a tool supported question formulation.
Document analysis
Examining existing texts or records as research data.
Example: Reviewing mentoring handbooks and meeting records.
Emerging theory
An explanation developed through analysis rather than imposed as the answer in advance.
Example: An account of stages in learning to seek help.
Evidence
Data used to support an interpretation or conclusion.
Example: Participant accounts supporting a finding about access to mentors.
Focus group
A facilitated group discussion used to explore participants’ perspectives and interaction.
Example: A discussion among new teachers about support.
Grounded Theory
An approach developing a theoretical explanation through iterative data collection and analysis.
Example: Developing an explanation of how teachers seek support.
Identity
How people understand and describe who they are.
Example: Seeing oneself as a capable teacher.
Intervention
A deliberate change introduced to address a problem.
Example: A six-week peer mentoring cycle.
Interview
A conversation using research questions or prompts to explore a participant’s perspective.
Example: Asking a teacher to describe a mentoring session.
Iterative
Repeated cycles in which earlier learning informs the next step.
Example: Using early interviews to refine later interview prompts.
Literature review
An organized examination of relevant scholarship and how it relates to your study.
Example: Comparing what mentoring studies have found and left unresolved.
Lived experience
An experience as a person lives and makes sense of it.
Example: What it feels like to teach independently for the first time.
Methodology
The reasoning and approach guiding how a study is conducted.
Example: Explaining why narrative inquiry fits a study of personal stories.
Narrative Inquiry
An approach examining how people tell and make meaning through stories.
Example: Exploring a teacher’s account of becoming a mentor.
Observation
Systematically watching and recording activity relevant to a question.
Example: Recording what occurs in a mentoring meeting.
Open-ended question
A question inviting explanation rather than a yes-or-no response.
Example: How do participants describe the support they received?
Outcomes
Changes or results examined in a study; they do not by themselves establish causation.
Example: Changes in participants’ descriptions of mentoring support.
Participant journal
A participant’s written reflections or records of experience.
Example: Weekly notes about mentoring encounters.
Participants
The people who actually take part in your study.
Example: The eight teachers you interview.
Pattern
A recurring relationship or feature noticed in the data.
Example: Repeated accounts of seeking support after difficult lessons.
Phenomenology
An approach exploring the meaning of a shared lived experience.
Example: Understanding what beginning teaching feels like for participants.
Population
The broader group your study concerns.
Example: First-year high school teachers.
Process
Actions or experiences unfolding over time.
Example: How teachers move from avoiding help to seeking it.
Qualitative research
Research exploring meaning, experience, or processes using detailed accounts and other contextual evidence.
Example: Interviews about how teachers experience mentoring.
Reflection
Examining an experience to understand it and inform future action.
Example: Considering how a mentoring session influenced a lesson.
Research design
The overall approach connecting your question to how you study it.
Example: A case study of one school’s mentoring program.
Research gap
An unanswered or insufficiently examined issue identified through reviewing relevant research.
Example: Limited research on a particular mentoring context, established through your literature review.
Research problem
The issue your study seeks to understand or address.
Example: Teachers report difficulty accessing useful mentoring.
Research purpose
What your study aims to learn.
Example: Understand how new teachers experience mentoring.
Shared essence
The underlying meaning or structure identified across accounts of an experience in some phenomenological approaches.
Example: A shared sense of being accountable while still learning.
Stakeholder
A person or group involved in or affected by the issue.
Example: Teachers and school leaders connected to a mentoring program.
Suggested starting point
A question option offered as a useful first draft, not an institutional requirement.
Example: Trying the first card before exploring alternatives.
Supporting question
A narrower question exploring one part of the central question.
Example: What barriers do participants describe when seeking mentoring?
Sustainability
The conditions that support continuation of a practice over time.
Example: Protected meeting time after a pilot ends.
Theme
An interpretive idea capturing meaningful features of the data.
Example: Mentoring as a space for professional reassurance.
Theoretical framework
An established theory used to guide how you examine a problem.
Example: Using self-efficacy theory to examine confidence.
Theoretical lens
The perspective a theory provides for interpreting your topic.
Example: Looking at mentoring through professional identity.
Turning point
An event or moment described as changing the direction or meaning of an experience.
Example: A classroom event that changed how a participant sought support.
Work samples
Examples of work examined as data.
Example: Lesson plans created before and after coaching.
Further Reading: University Writing Resources
- Purdue OWL — Writing a Research Paper
- USC Libraries — The Research Problem/Question
- UW–Madison Writing Center — Writing a Research Paper
These independent resources do not endorse Scaffold Me. Follow your program’s methodology guidance.