Introduction to Educational Research
Foundations: The Scientific Approach in Education
Educators are, by necessity, decision makers.
Daily they face the task of deciding how to plan learning experiences, teach,
guide students, organize a school system, and myriad other matters.
Unlike unskilled workers, who are told what to do and how to do it,
professionals must plan for themselves.
People assume that professionals have knowledge and skills necessary to
make valid decisions about what to do and how.
Although there are other sources of knowledge, such as experience,
authority, and tradition, scientific knowledge about the educational process
makes the most valuable contribution to decision making in education.
This fund of knowledge has been made available to educators by scientific
inquiry into educational problems.
Educator can turn to this source for reliable information and suggestions to be
used in a decision making situation.
There are six topics for this unit:
1. SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE
2. THE NATURE OF RESEARCH
3. WHAT IS RESEARCH?
4. LIMITATIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
5. GENERAL KINDS OF RESEARCH
6. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
7. SUMMARY