What is Scientifically Based Research?

1 What is Scientifically Based Research? USING RESEARCH AND REASON IN EDUCATIONA Guide for TeachersEarly in the 17th century, two astronomers competed to describe thenature of our solar built a telescope and found new planets and Sizi ridiculed Galileo s findings. There must be only sevenplanets, Sizi said. After all, there are seven windows in the head twonostrils, two ears, two eyes, and a mouth. There are seven knownmetals. There are seven days in a week, and they are already namedafter the seven known planets. If we increase the number of planets,he said, the whole system falls apart.

2 Finally, Sizi claimed, these so-called satellites being discovered by Galileo were invisible to the concluded they must have no influence on the Earth and,therefore, do not s most valuable contribution to history may have been to remindus that true understandings of the world, and how it works, cannotbe Based on pure thought alone, no matter how logical, creative, orcontemporary such thought may understandings require some measure of science and thewillingness to seek information when making A WISE CONSUMER OF EDUCATION RESEARCHMore than ever, educators are expected to make decisions that guarantee qualityinstruction.

3 As knowledge emerges, so do philosophies, opinions, and rhetoric aboutdefinitions of instructional excellence. From policy makers to classroom teachers,educators need ways to separate misinformation from genuine knowledge and todistinguish scientific research from poorly supported teachers use scientific thinking in their classrooms all the time. They assessand evaluate student performance, develop Individual Education Plans, reflect on theirpractice, and engage in action research. Teachers use experimental logic when they planfor instruction: they evaluate their students previous knowledge, construct hypothesesabout the best methods for teaching, develop teaching plans Based on those hypotheses,observe the results, and base further instruction on the evidence short, teachers use the concepts of rigorous research and evaluation in profoundlypractical can further strengthen their instruction and protect their students valuabletime in school by Scientifically evaluating claims about teaching methods and recognizingquality research when they see it.

4 This booklet, distilled from the monograph UsingResearch and Reason in Education: How Teachers Can Use Scientifically Based Researchto Make Curricular and Instructional Decisions, provides a brief introduction tounderstanding and using Scientifically Based federal perspective on Scientifically Based researchThe No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 encourages and, in some casessuch as Reading First, requires the use of instruction Based on scientificresearch. The emphasis on Scientifically Based research supports the consistentuse of instructional methods that have been proven effective. To meet the NCLB definition of Scientifically Based , research must: employ systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation orexperiment; involve rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypothesesand justify the general conclusions; rely on measurements or observational methods that provide valid data acrossevaluators and observers, and across multiple measurements andobservations.

5 And be accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independentexperts through a comparatively rigorous, objective, and scientific EFFECTIVE RESEARCHT eachers can use a simple set of questions to distinguish between research that confirmsthe effectiveness of an instructional practice and research that does not: Has the study been published in a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel ofindependent experts? Have the results of the study been replicated by other scientists? Is there consensus in the research community that the study s findings are supported bya critical mass of additional studies?

6 Independent peer reviewPeer review subjects a paper to scrutiny by scientists in the relevant field ofspecialization. This happens in two ways. In one method, a paper submitted forpublication in a peer-reviewed journal is examined by other scientists in the field beforean editor (usually an expert in the field) passes judgment on it. The second method isreview by an independent panel of experts who, using rigorous criteria, determinewhether the findings of the paper are review provides a baseline of quality control because it exposes ideas andexperimentation to examination and criticism by other researchers.

7 Its absence shouldraise doubt about the quality of the research. Presentations at education conferences thatmake claims about specific educational practices should also be held to this is relatively easy for teachers to determine if a paper has been published in a peer-reviewed journal; it can be more difficult to determine whether a panel review (withoutpublication) has occurred unless it is specified in the all education journals are peer-reviewedEducation journals have different purposes that contribute to our understandingof teaching. The American Educational Research Journal, the Journal ofEducational Psychology, and Reading Research Quarterly are examples of journalsthat conduct peer reviews and contain empirical evidence about teachingtechniques.

8 Phi Delta Kappan and Educational Leadership, by contrast, containoriginal thought, but neither publishes peer-reviewed original journals on other topics such as cognitive psychology andother social sciences can also make useful contributions to educational of results by other scientistsTeachers should look for evidence that an instructional technique has been proveneffective by more than one study. Knowledge generated by one study without scrutinyand criticism by others cannot be fully scientific. To be considered Scientifically Based , aresearch finding must be presented in a way that enables other researchers to reach thesame results when they repeat the scientific knowledge is public and open to challenge.

9 It is held tentatively,subject to change Based on contrary within a research communityA single experiment rarely decides an issue, supporting one theory and ruling out allothers. Issues are most often decided when the community of scientists in a field comesto agreement over time that sufficient evidence has converged to support one theory overanother. Scientists do not evaluate data from a single, perfectly designed evaluate data from many experiments, each containing some flaws but providingpart of the INVESTIGATION PROCEEDS BY STAGESB ecoming more aware of how the scientific process manifests itself every day in bothresearch and teaching can enhance a teacher s effectiveness, depth of expertise, andability to justify the choice of instructional methods to parents, peers, and in formal evaluations of educational programs, the tenets and themes of scientificresearch have relevance and application in the classroom.

10 But because there are differentstages of scientific investigation, teachers should take care to use data generated ateach stage in appropriate example, some teachers rely on their own observations to make judgments aboutthe success of educational strategies. A collection of observations leads to someunderstanding of the world, but observations have limited value. Scientific observationsmust be structured in order to support or reject theories about the causes that underlieevents. Scientists and teachers make predictions about causes Based on theirstructured observations and then use other techniques to test specific the early stages of investigation, case studies highly detailed descriptions ofindividuals or small groups and the context surrounding them can be useful.