ABSTRACT
Education is a contentious area of public policy that is almost always embroiled in some kind of crisis or overlapping crises. This chapter presents educational research as a public enterprise designed to inform policy discussions about practice in the field. It provides an overview of key approaches to educational research including attention to the philosophical assumptions underlying each; the kinds of questions asked; and the research methods employed. The chapter describes how research develops from general topics through focused research questions to the design of specific studies. Discipline and rigour are characteristics of all good research in education. All approaches to educational research include well worked-out and generally agreed-upon standards of practice for things such as setting questions, collecting and analysing data, reporting results, and drawing out the implications of those results. Qualitative research in education focuses on interpreting and understanding particular educational experiences and contexts.
