Educational Researcher: Asking Your Question

Facilitating growth in the education sector is not easy. There are stages of which the sector has to pass thro and fro. There are stakeholders to be acknowledged. And before solution is realised, there are questions to put forward.

Who asks these questions? -- Everyone asks, from the student to instructor, from school administrator to students’ parents. Next part of the interrogation: “who filters these questions and looks for answers?” The answer is an educational researcher.

This researcher does the investigation for each issue, the hunt for clues to answers, and considering that all questions and clues are in place, also formulates hypotheses and solutions. The conduct of performing these deeds greatly depend in the kind of approach used, and the type of position the educational researcher assumes.

If the researcher already teaches and is bound to do the research in prospect of actual application (primarily to his/her instructive purposes), the researcher is adhering to the Applied Research. On the other hand, if the researcher doesn’t necessarily take a teacher’s post, but is, instead taking up the research for graduate studies, the researcher is considered to be carrying the Academic Research.

Despite differing goals and methods, both are considered to be an educational researcher; in fact, the common denominator is improvement and contribution to a main segment (the education sector). For this researcher to commence stirring the waves of this sector, the researcher must be in command to both quantitative and qualitative methods. Moreover, in answer to the necessities of the study, the researcher must also look for ways to affect the co-adaption of both methods.

Because of the advance nature to which educational research is journeyed, it became a breeding ground for education theorists and application specialists. This pool is an invaluable addition to the growing sector of education.