This article is prepared by Su-Tuan Lulee for EDDE 802 at Ed. D., Athabasca University, Canada in 2010.

1. Educational Research & Practices 1
What History Teaches About the Impact of
Educational Research on Practice?
A Review of the Literature
Su-Tuan Lulee
Prepared for Assignment 2
EDDE 802: Advanced Research in Education
Professor: Terry Anderson
Athabasca University
February 26, 2010

2. Educational Research & Practices 2
What History Teaches About the Impact of Educational Research on
Practice?
A Review of the Literature
The author, William J. Reese, a professor of educational policy and history at University of
Wisconsin-Madison, used a historical research method to answer the question: How has the educational
research impacted on practice? He first examined the studies conducted by scholars in the first half of the
20th century to gather insights into the emergence of a science of education and its effects on public school
practices then explored some of the important historical scholarship in recent decades. He concluded that it
has been and would continue to be a difficult task to find evidence for the direct impact that the educational
research has on practice. The article was clearly written and well-organized but can be improved in some
areas to make the article more persuasive.
Statement of the Problem
The research question and hypothesis of this study were not explicitly stated however they can be
identified by reading between the lines. As the title suggested, the purpose of this applied research was to
find out what history teaches us about the impact of educational research on practice during the 20th century.
The hypothesis of the author was that “the relationship between education-related research and changing and
improving school practice is ambiguous, difficult to pinpoint, perhaps nonexistent” (p. 1).
In order to understand the impact of educational research on practice, one must first define the
“impact”. What kind of impact was under discussion? What indicators could be used to prove that
educational research had an impact on the practice? For example, one might define “impact” in terms of
“changes in curriculum, pedagogy, or assessment design”; another might define “impact” in terms of
“changes in teacher belief”; and the other might define “impact” in terms of “applying relevant rules for
immediate use”. Montessori schools were everywhere in urban areas in many countries during the 60’s &
70’s, was that a proof of “impact” from educational research? When I was a child, desks and chairs were
lined in rows in the classrooms. Now the teachers arrange desks and chairs in circle or in other shapes in
their classrooms. Is that an “impact” from a particular educational research? An operational definition would

3. Educational Research & Practices 3
make the “impact” observable and measurable (Mosenthal, 1985). “Impact” should not be measured simply
by asking teachers to answers questions like “How much do you know about xx research?” or “Have you
ever read the report of xx research?” The definition of the “impact” will influence the answer to the research
question. Since the author did not define this term clearly, the answer to the research question became
debatable.
Research Design and Methodology
The research design of this study was very straightforward. The author first gathered previous
studies that have attempted at understanding educational research and its effects on practices. Then he
categorized and interpreted the findings of each study and wove them into his conclusions. The data and
information from the collected materials seem to be authentic. However, there were three questionable points.
Firstly, among the many sources of data that the author used, only few research reports (Caswell,
1929; Clifford, 1973; Judd, 1938; Morrison, 1945) conducted in early days were primary sources. The other
data presented in this article such as the written history (Cuban, 1993; Lagemann, 1998; Travers, 1983) and
the argumentations or the commentaries (Flexner, 1930; Good, 1939; Horn, 1989; Hughes, 1964; Johnson,
1987; Ravitch, 1995; Tyack & Cuban, 1995) might all belong to the category of secondary source that are
usually considered containing more errors because the information was passed on from one person to another
(Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). We have good reasons to believe that there were many other sources of
data existed in the technology-rich 20th century including archives of official minutes or records, files,
official publications, films, and video recordings. What have these unpublished material said about the
impacts of educational research on the practices? The author could have selected more diverse sources of
data.
Secondly, while the 20th century is not so long ago, many educators, administrators, students, and
parents who witnessed the education practices during the time under investigation are still alive. The author
could have interviewed persons to trace past events rather than overly relied on the publications from
scholars to interpret what has happened.
The third point is with regard to whether or not the source selection has presented the balance of the
sources. According to Mosenthal (1985), there are two groups of educators: one group argued that there was

4. Educational Research & Practices 4
little relation between progress of practice and educational research; the other group held the belief that
educational research has or has the potential for improving practice. The author did not state how he selected
the literature for investigation. However, his choices seemed to favor the former group while keeping out of
the latter. He referred to the works of Clifford, Judd and some other scholars who tended to hold a skeptical
viewpoint on the impact of educational research to practice without presenting the works from the opposite
group (Tuthill & Ashton, 1983; Shavelson, 1988) simultaneously.
Findings and Discussion
The major findings of this study included:
1. The trend of scientific method was a negative influence to the quality of educational
research. Most of the educators and researchers over-simplified the method by adopting
poorly designed questionnaires and surveys. Others were scared away by the complexity of
the scientific methods because they found it difficult to mount with sufficient control over
external influences on learning.
2. The low quality of the so-called “scientific” method has led to the perception that
educational research did not contribute to practice and much research was useless (p. 3, 5, 9,
& 13). Many of the studies were conducted by amateur and part-time researchers therefore
“Education research was little more than the mere gathering of information” (p. 6).
Moreover, many of the research projects were dedicated to solve problems that were
replicable in the laboratory thus very limited in its influence (p. 6).
3. It’s nearly impossible to prove that the ties between research and practice were ones of cause
and effect and it’s not proper to assume that education research influenced practice (p. 5 &
pp. 12-17).
While reading this article, readers would gain a mistaken impression that the author was describing
an old story that was situated in the first half of the 20th century. It is true that for many years educational
research has taken a laboratory, experimental, and quantitative approach using mainly questionnaires and
surveys (Saba, 2000; Shulman, 1997). It might also be true that a large portion of the studies could barely
contribute to any optimal teaching practice. However, by the 1960s, educators started to question the impact

5. Educational Research & Practices 5
of the so-called “scientific” research (Reese, 1999). Later in the 70’s, educators began to accept the concept
and method of quasi-experimental research (Saba, 2000; Smith & Heshusius, 1986); and in the 80’s,
educators learned to transcend the debate of qualitative and quantitative methods (Salomon, 1991) and
adopted the more practical mixed approach in inquiry. The strong influence of the so-called “scientific”
method had weakened to the very least. Shavelson in his “The 1988 Presidential Address Contributions of
Educational Research to Policy and Practice” (1988) claimed that educational research has significantly
contributed in constructing, challenging, and changing how policymakers and practitioners think. The
research efforts of the later decades in the 20th century were not adequately explored in Reese’s article.
In reporting research findings, since this article contained a large amount of materials, the author
could have applied visualization skills, such as using tables, charts and figures to describe, compare, evaluate,
and interpret the relationships between historical materials so that the readers would not get confused.
Conclusions
In the final section, the author implied that it is policy that has caused the improvement of education
and research had little effect on shaping policymaking (p. 13). I found this difficult to accept. Although the
impact of educational research might not be as strong or effective as it might be, many research projects have
shown their positive influences on practices. For example, many projects from Project Zero at Harvard
Graduate School of Education such as Teaching for Understanding, Art People, and Assessing Historical
Understanding have been working collaboratively with K-12 teachers and administrators to improve the
effectiveness and learner satisfaction. Their research results and experiences have impacted thousands of
students and teachers as well as the policymakers.
However, it is acceptable to say that it is never easy to prove the direct causal impact that educational
research has on the practices because it is a complex question. Even so, it would increase the possibility of
getting the answers if the definition of the “impacts” could be further specified.
The main contribution of this article is that it retrieved a large amount of data from previous
historical studies to help readers understand what educational theories and practices have done and how they
have developed and evolved. Disregarding the defects in defining the problem and in the research methods,
the author has expanded his argument with supportive evidences.

6. Educational Research & Practices 6
References
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education (6th ed.). New York, NY:
Routledge.
Mosenthal, P. B. (1985). Defining Progress in Educational Research. Educational Researcher, 14(9), 3-
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Reese, W. J. (1999). What History Teaches about the Impact of Educational Research on Practice.
Review of Research in Education, 24, 1-19.
Saba, F. (2000). Research in Distance Education: A Status Report. International Review of Research in
Open and Distance Learning, 1(1).
Shavelson, R. J. (1988). The 1988 Presidential Address Contributions of Educational Research to Policy
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doi:10.3102/0013189X012010006
Grade: 19/20 by Terry Anderson