A Project Called Educational Research

Educational research is a big project that anyone could undertake. Why? It is primarily because this type of research does not just any type of research. When undertaking this project, an educational researcher needs to devote a lot of time, exert considerable amount of effort and spend a chunk of his resources. Aside from that, the researcher needs to follow certain instructions and adhere to the limits inherent to the project. But how come that educational research is also a project?

As a project, an educational research could be divided into five main phases -- definition, planning, execution, controlling and closure.

1. Initiation. Also called the definition phase, it is during this phase that the educational researcher defines his goals and targets in pursuing. There is always a big academic reason why the research should be pursued.

2. Planning. A researcher could not just go and conduct his research without planning first what to do. To plan is to organise all the tasks needed to accomplish the defined goals and targets. Planning also involves formulating a methodology to undertake the research.

3. Execution. This is the phase in which the student performs the planned tasks in the research. This represents the commencement of the formal research process. During the execution phase, the educational researcher should strive to follow the plans he has set.

4. Controlling. After executing the plans, the researcher may need to undertake some actions to spot or identify some problems to the problems. Updates may be needed to ensure the quality of the research done.

5. Closing. This refers to the phase when the researcher submits the results and findings of the educational research.
Since educational research exhibits these phases in order to achieve a certain goal within a limited time, it could be called a project.