"Action research is a form of reflective inquiry with intended use and users; practitioners in their own educational settings conduct it in order to improve their own professional practice and outcomes for students. Through action research, educators identify pressing problems of professional practice and engage in data collection, analysis, and interpretation, with the intention of understanding gaps between desired and actual results and achieving genuine improvements in the quality of their instruction and student learning."
Woodland, R. (Ed.) (2018). The Sage Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. (Vols. 1-4). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139
Library resources recommended for action research:
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You can quickly find articles about action research by using the term "action research" as a subject heading in ERIC (Ebsco), PsycINFO, and ProQuest Central.
In the dropdown menu next to the search box, look for the label "descriptors," "subject term," or "subject heading" when you are performing your search.
In Academic Search Complete, you might want to try the subject term "action research in education" to get more specific results. Try using this subject term with some of your keywords to narrow your results.
A Short Guide to Action Research by 
Action Research for Teachers by 
The SAGE Handbook of Action Research by 
Creating Equitable Classrooms Through Action Research by 