Education Research and Education

¶ … Porter (2007) decries the mismatch between education research and practice. He argues that much focus has been on the supply side, with little attention to the demand side. Education research is often concerned about aspects such as filling gaps in extant research, ensuring research rigour, and improving research methods. This problem is further compounded by inadequacies in the preparation of teachers for utilising education research. While the importance of these aspects cannot be overemphasised, focusing on providing research-based solutions may be more important.

In essence, the demand side is as crucial as the supply side. It is imperative for education researchers to consider how practical their research is. Action research emphasises the importance of practical research. Generally, action research is research conducted with the aim of solving a particular problem or issue. The research is carried out by and for the actors that participate in addressing the problem. This means that practitioners are involved in conducting the research. Indeed, this is what differentiates action research from most other types of research.

The fact that practitioners are involved in the inquiry process means that research findings that are relevant to practice are generated. As they are the primary users of the findings, educators do not conduct research just for the sake of it; they focus on issues that matter to them, notably their instructional practices and student learning outcomes. For practitioners, therefore, the research process turns out to be an empowering encounter. There is perhaps nothing more satisfying than educators seeing their evidence having positively impacted students' learning outcomes.

It is apparent that action research focuses on the demand side. It seeks to provide findings that are relevant to educators and practical in the classroom and the learning environment as a whole. As educators participate in inquiry aimed at facilitating change, the mismatch between research and practice is minimised. Porter (2007) asserts that addressing this mismatch is crucial if education research is to be more useful. Porter (2007) provides six suggestions for addressing the demand side.

First, it is imperative for practitioners to be well-educated for practical research to be quickly integrated into practice. Second, though costly, research that demonstrates the usefulness of education reforms can transform education practice in a significantly positive manner. Also, development efforts are important if instruction-focused education research is to be incorporated into practice. Porter (2007) further suggests that educators ought to be more charismatic in integrating research into practice. Without charisma, fruitful research findings may take a little bit longer before they find their way into the classroom.

The fairly slow adoption of technology in the classroom is an ideal example. While every other aspect of the society has substantially embraced technology, the education sector lags significantly behind, in large part due to practitioner reluctance. However, for reforms such as technology integration to be implemented as swiftly as desired, they must be backed up by a substantial amount of evidence. This further underscores the importance of action.