Robust (and ethical) educational research designs

Abstract

Educational research can be quite confusing to individuals without formal training in educational research methods. Many educators trained in ''high-consensus'' fields such as the health and medical sciences often expect to utilize the same esteemed experimental and quasi-experimental designs in their educational research efforts, but are surprised to learn that this is often impossible for ethical reasons. This article presents five robust research designs that generally are compatible with education studies, and discusses how each design may be used in a variety of educational research scenarios.