Education researchers often encounter scenarios where an abrupt policy change occurs within or across jurisdictions or populations that affect key student outcomes. Difference-in-differences is a research design analysts can use to estimate causal effects of these "natural experiments." This article introduces education researchers to…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused tremendous upheaval in schooling. In addition to devasting effects on students, these disruptions had consequences for researchers conducting studies on education programs and policies. Given the likelihood of future large-scale disruptions, it is important for researchers to plan resilient studies and think critically…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused tremendous upheaval in schooling. In addition to its devasting effects on students' academic development, the disruptions to schooling had important consequences for researchers conducting effectiveness studies on educational programs during this era. Given the likelihood of future large-scale disruptions, it is…

The COVID-19 pandemic posed many ethical and practical challenges for academic research. Some of these have been documented, particularly in relation to health research, but less attention has been paid to the dilemmas encountered by educational and social science research. Given that pandemics are predicted to be more frequent, it is vital to…

Purpose: This article aims to subvert the nature/culture and subject/object divides that structure the dominant Western educational research paradigm by stepping beyond an exclusively human conversation and activating our ecological imaginations in the face of intensifying anthropogenic climate change. Design/Approach/Methods: Informed by animist…

Given decades of lucid, blunt admonitions that statistical significance tests are often misused, and that the tests are somewhat limited in utility, what is needed is less repeated bashing of statistical tests, and some honest reflection regarding the etiology of researchers' denial and psychological resistance (sometimes unconscious) to improved…

Suggests that the growing demand for educational research to be more relevant and increasing concerns about the generalizability and utility of research findings are related to the concept of "socially responsible research." Identifies problems with educational technology research. Outlines major types of educational technology research…

Narrative research offers unique possibilities for fostering dialogues of discovery between oneself and others. There is an increasing use of narrative inquiry within the field of educational research. A researcher's work with a Hmong refugee from Laos illustrates representational and interpretive dilemmas in narrative research. Narrative…

Twelve proposed priorities, drafted by the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement, will dictate the aims and lines of inquiry of research centers whose contracts will expire next year. The new competition is especially large because the contracts for 14 of the 21 present centers expire. (MLW)