ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the mission of Iea, the typical design of an Iea study, and how the Iea research program accommodates the needs of educational research in developing nations. Iea studies share two overriding characteristics. Iea surveys are curriculum-based, explanatory studies employing large-scale survey techniques. National curricula can be examined using the national curriculum, texts, and exams to determine the accepted content offered in any grade. Actual classroom curriculum content can be discerned from teachers and students using survey questionnaires. More recent innovations in Iea methodology centre on the purpose of survey studies. If educators and policy makers are fundamentally interested in subject knowledge that students have accumulated by a target grade, then cross-sectional (one time data collection) methods are employed. Iea studies also place great emphasis on the attitudes children hold toward subject matter and learning because the way a child perceives schooling heavily influences motivation and the learning spirit.
