Educational Research

Educational Research

Martha Menard, PhD, Sigma Applied ResearchJan Schwartz, MA, Education & Training

Solutions

Basic, applied, and developmental research conducted to advance knowledge in the field of education or

bearing on educational problems…

So what does that mean?

What is Educational Research?

A systematic attempt to define and investigate significant questions related to teaching and learning

Research = a systematic approach to answering questions

Educational Research = ?

Psychological (neuropsychological):

Includes learning theories, factors affecting learning, memory, cognition, motivation, maturation, child, adolescent, and adult development and growth, neuroscience

Example: How do adult learners differ in motivation compared to children or adolescents?

Areas of Inquiry in Educational Research

Philosophical:

Includes the analysis of concepts, values, and worthiness or quality in education or educational goals; moral judgments; methods of reasoning; the meaning, nature and sources of knowledge

Example: How do we define evidence-based practice? Does it differ from evidence-informed practice?

Areas of Inquiry in Educational Research con’t

Evaluation:

Includes assessment, tests, instruments such as those that measure constructs, examinations (both internal and external), item analysis, job task analysis, grading

Example: Does portfolio assessment measure entry-level competency as well as a multiple-choice examination?


Methodological:

Includes methods of teaching, a comparison of these methods, teaching styles, teacher effectiveness, teaching practice, uses of instructional media and educational technology

Example: Do some teaching methods work better than others for adult learners?


Administrative:

Includes issues around school financing, student financial aid, discipline, school records, classroom management, leadership styles, recruitment and deployment of staff

Example: Does increasing teacher autonomy promote employee satisfaction and reduce turnover?


Sociological:

Includes school-community relationships, teacher-student relationships, interpersonal relations within the school, classroom behavior of students, student protest, social media use analysis

Example: How do patterns of relationship between students change during the course of a professional training program?


Historical:

Includes the history of disciplines or professions, institutions, programs, places or persons of educational interest

Example: How did the first Flexner Report affect medical education in the US? Are there parallels to massage therapy education?


A recent search on PubMed using the terms

‘educational research massage’ returned 67 studies.

Only 3 were actually relevant and qualified as educational research in massage therapy;

All were written by the same author (P. Finch);

All were conducted outside the United States.

Educational Research in Massage Therapy

But the good news is…

Educational research in massage therapy is virtually unlimited at this point, with many areas of inquiry, and LOTS of unanswered questions to investigate

What research questions do you think are most important in massage therapy education?

What would it look like—in process, the end result, concrete examples of both

What infrastructure is necessary

What do students need to bring to the table

What do teachers need—support and skills

What else?

How can we assess quality in massage education?

Martha: [email protected]

Jan:[email protected]

American Educational Research Assoc.www.aera.net

Thank You!

Documents

Educational Research