Life is complex; the world is not perfect. Many different kinds of people live on
this planet, and educators and psychologists do not know the best ways to educate
or counsel many people who have a history of poor achievement in school and
who suffer a poor quality of life in terms of low pay, poor working conditions,
high rates of unemployment, and other social and psychological disadvantages.
The brief descriptions of research findings presented at the beginning of this
chapter illustrate the complexity of educational and psychological challenges that
confront researchers in our society, and they provide a glimpse into the role that
research can play in providing insights into how to change the life experiences of
those who suffer discrimination and oppression.
This is not meant to imply that research in and of itself can solve all the world’s
problems, nor is it meant to suggest that all research must be oriented toward social
action. There are methods for designing research that make it more likely to be useful
to educators, psychologists, administrators, policymakers, parents, and students. Such
applied social research is the focus of this text. There are also research studies (termed
basic research) that do not attempt to have immediate application in a social setting.
Basic research is not the focus of this text despite its potential for contribution to social
transformation.