Education Research > 1: About

1A: About Education Research

Educational research is done by practitioners (teachers and administrators), scholars, policy-makers, and parents. Research may focus on practical strategies for classroom use or school development, it may focus on surveys, testing, or methodology. There may be a need to gather data from studies or simply to understand educational trends. Research may involve testing theories on live students or may involve understanding laws related to children. Results of education research could influence public policy. Educational research can concern itself with any age group from early childhood development; to elementary, middle and high school age; to higher education; to continuing professional development or adult education.

1B: Of Particular Note for Online Research:

The World Wide Web has developed into an incredibly rich resource for research in a variety of areas in the field of education. There are certain types of information for which searching the Web is particularly useful, including:

• Government Information - Information on education at both the national and the state level can be found through the U.S. Department of Education Web site, as can speeches by government officials, reports on national education initiatives, research studies, standards, etc. State governments, including Ohio, also maintain useful Web sites with state standards, initiatives and more.
• Education Statistics - the National Center for Education Statistics is a clearinghouse for statistical information on education both in the United States and abroad. The NCES Web site allows you to search for "fast facts," for practitioner-oriented information and for detailed research studies;

• Instructional Materials - there are a number of Web sites that provide access to lesson plans and other curriculum materials available online, particularly the AskERIC Lesson Plan Archive and the Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM)

• Professional Information - professional organizations of scholars and teachers often maintain rich Web sites that include electronic discussion lists, bibliographies, answers to frequently-asked questions, and statistics about teaching and learning in the various subject areas. See the OSU Libraries' Guide to Information Resources in Education for links to over 3 dozen professional organization sites.

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