Heather Francis and Alyssa Escalante Dixon describe the similarities and differences between action research and self-study research. 

Action research presents multiple choices for exploration, including studying a behavior, an intervention, an attitude, an instructional tool, your environment or yourself. When the subject of the study is yourself, the project becomes a self-study form of action research. When the subject of the study is anything else, the project then becomes action research from another vantage point and is not defined as self-study. 

The purpose of self-study is to reveal the layers and motives of your teaching practice with the end goal of improving your teaching in a specific area. Self-study action research guides the unveiling of your teaching attitudes, choices, practices, and behaviors: it brings what you are doing well into the foreground, and offers clear directions for improvement. 

A critical friend is essential to the success of any action research project. A critical friend is a trusted person or colleague who works in tandem with you, thinking critically, collaboratively, and constructively about the evidence of your teaching practice, student responses, or student work. A critical friend helps illuminate hidden elements of our experience that we cannot see because of our own goals or tunnel vision. A critical friend can also offer encouragement and support when we feel discouraged or disappointed in the results we see from ourselves, or because of student performance in the classroom. 

This episode doesn't state that action research or self-study is better than the other, although Heather is certainly biased towards self-study research. Knowing the differences between these two types of related research can help teachers determine the best fit for their personal research experiences.

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