Action research is the continuing and cyclical process of posing questions to problems, researching and gathering data for solutions, and then implementing and evaluating those solutions by posing more questions and thus, continuing the cycle. Every educator should constantly be involved in the process of conducting action research. Quality teachers always pose questions about their students and what they teach and then gather data for the answers to their questions and develop plans based on that data. This is the essence of what teaching is.

Administrators must involve themselves in the same process that good teachers must be involved in. However, the stakeholders for administartors are numerous. The substance of problems that an administrator must pose questions to goes beyond students and teachers to involve the greater community.

The key to action research is that one must be proactive in reflecting on the problems posed by their job. A school administrator is inundated with numerous problems and situations. Action research allows administrators to gain some control on these various issues by reflecting on and posing questions to these assorted things. The key here is that action research offers the opportunity for leaders to act in a more proactive way instead of a defense posture that is always reactive to the problems that arise.