Applied Research

Applied research is an umbrella term that includes various kinds of systematic, empirical research that aims to solve particular problems. In the broad field of education, these problems are those that would arise not only in all aspects of teaching and learning across the lifespan but also from organizational and policy dimensions related to efforts to educate. Applied research seeks to ameliorate problems in education through collecting and analyzing data that directly inform organizational and institutional decision making.

As both public entities and private foundations devote increasing resources to educational programs, the evaluative role for applied research has grown, consistent with and at the same time as calls for accountability of schools and specific educational programs have increased. This entry presents research traditions that typically fall ...