- Interested in improving the quality of evidence and the credibility of claims in educational research.
- Focusing on the quality of research in education and psychology, especially, as it applies to policy implications.
Suggestions for Improving the Quality of Educational Research The first suggestion would be to improve the design of educational research and to move toward more scientifically based models. It is important that we are not faddish in research questions and that we do not simply jump from one hot topic to another. There is a need to employ more systematic long-term research methodology. We need to be scientific in our method of inquiry—begin with a research hypothesis, test the hypothesis in small laboratory settings, and then move on to large scale, but very controlled settings (as in medicine, for example). We also, must not rely merely on demonstrations and uncontrolled studies, but instead, we should be guided by an approach where we would use multi-site testing in our research and use analyses that match the design of our research. It is important that we begin to get away from testimony and opinion in education. Too many programs are put into place for political reasons and subjective opinions. New ideas hit the press and school districts implement these programs without really evaluating the effectiveness of these programs. We need teams of people working together—interdisciplinary teams of people with strong scientific research backgrounds, along with people who are good in applied settings and in implementing programs. We need to entice people who know how to do scientifically sound research to work on field research and program evaluation, and we need to get the funding to do applied research. To answer questions about the effectiveness and outcomes of teaching strategies in large-scale classroom settings, as opposed to controlled laboratory studies of individual learners or short-term implementations of programs, there needs to be much bigger and better controlled studies than have previously been done. There is a need for classroom-trials studies (Levin & O’Donnell, 1999), research in classrooms that is modeled after clinical- trials research. Additional Questions - What do we need to do to get people who are in positions to evaluate the evidence (funding agencies, policy makers, implementers of special programs) to be able to discriminate between differences in the quality of evidence? How do we build the understanding in people that not all evidence is equally credible?
- How do you get both the people who evaluate programs and people outside of the education arenas who are not necessarily educated in scientific thinking to change the way that they think?
Programs for Students Who are Academically at Risk - Are there programs that can be used to help these students succeed?
- Should we expect different educational outcomes for different students?
- How do we address these concerns, and how do help such students succeed?
- We know that with adequate resources and proper motivation and interest from faculty at-risk students will do better.
- What are the critical components of successful retention programs for at-risk students?
Thoughts on Students’ Thinking and Learning - What is the relationship between memory and critical thinking?
- Must information be memorized and readily accessible before it can be used in the service of thinking critically?
- If so, would it be beneficial to help students learn underlying factual information in a shorter amount of time, so that they could spend more time on higher-level tasks?
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