Educational Research

What is Educational Research?

A cyclical process of steps that typically begins with identifying a research problem or issue of study. It then involves reviewing the literature, specifying a purpose for the study, collecting and analyzing data, and forming an interpretation of information. This process culminates in a report, disseminated to audiences, that is evaluated and used in the educational community. (Creswell, 2002)

Meaning of Educational Research

Educational Research as nothing but cleansing of educational Research is nothing but cleansing of educational process. Many experts think Educational Research as under- According to Mouly, ―Educational Research is the systematic application of scientific method for solving for solving educational problem.

Travers thinks, ―Educational Research is the activity for developing science of behavior in educational situations. It allows the educator to achieve his goals effectively.

 According to Whitney, ―Educational Research aims at finding out solution of educational problems by using scientific philosophical method.

Thus, Educational Research is to solve educational problem in systematic and scientific manner, it is to understand, explain, predict and control human behaviour.

Characteristics of Educational Research

-    It is highly purposeful.

- It deals with educational problems regarding students and teachers as well.

- It is precise, objective, scientific and systematic process of investigation.

- It attempts to organize data quantitatively and qualitatively to arrive at statistical inferences.

- It discovers new facts in new perspective. i. e. It generates new knowledge.

- It is based on some philosophic theory.

- It depends on the researchers ability, ingenuity and experience for its interpretation and conclusions.

- It needs interdisciplinary approach for solving educational problem.

-    It demands subjective interpretation and deductive reasoning in some cases.

- It uses classrooms, schools, colleges department of education as the laboratory for conducting researches.

Need of Educational Research

Educators need to be consumers (and producers) of research. Creswell (2002) notes the following reasons, describing the various purposes of educational research:

1. Improve Practice

Research can suggest ways of improving practice that have been verified with many applications and by many different types of people, which is difficult for practitioners.

2. Add to Knowledge

Research can add to what we know about how people learn and what we can do help facilitate the learning process.

3. Address Gaps in Knowledge

Research can address areas in which little is know, like perhaps the effects of online versus traditional classroom learning.

4. Expand Knowledge

Research can allow us to extend what we know in ways we never conceived.

5. Replicate Knowledge

Research can act as a test to verify previous findings.

6. Add Voices of Individuals to Knowledge

Research can add an important perspective for different learning types. Much of the educational research prior to the Eighties is based on able, white, middle-to-upper class males. This is certainly not reflective of our increasingly heterogeneous students, and research helps revise theory and practice to reflect different student needs.