Action Research in Professional Development

I am planning to conduct my action research in the area of professional development. Specifically, I want to research the general perception of professional development amongst teachers in my campus and what are some ways in which we can make their professional development meaningful and effective so that practices are implemented with fidelity. Some questions that stem from that are:

*What is the relationship between teacher's attitudes and effectivness of professional development?
*How do the veteran's teachers perceptions differ from begninning teachers and how does it reflect in their implementation of practices?
*What is the relationship between the size of teacher groups to the effectiveness of professional development?
*What type of support are teachers seeking so that whatever they learned is implemented effectively and with fidelity?
*Do staff development trainings have more meaning for teachers when the expert or presenter is a colleague or an outside source?

The significance of my action research is to identify what makes professional development sessions effective and meaningful for teachers so that practices, strategies or techniques are implemented with fidelity. This action research will benefit first and foremost our teachers. Often times, I hear teachers in my campus complain of professional development sessions they attended.  They see some of them as a waste of their time since they don't see a purpose for them or how they target their students.  If we can find ways for professional development to have meaning and purpose for teachers and find what type of support they need to put practices into effect, then maybe they may not simply see staff development sessions as a "sit and listen" training. By providing adquate support and follow up with teachers in the correct implementation of practices, our students will ultimatly benefit from teachers knowledge and trainings in different areas, therefore increasing student achievement.