Education Research That Matters: Ways of Researching

Learn about key education research methods and how to use them

Connecting insights from existing research to practice and building on this to design realistic and high-quality research projects can be challenging. Understanding research methods is crucial to making this simpler.

On this course, you’ll get a grounding in the key research methods used in education research and consider the benefits and pitfalls of different methods.

You’ll engage critically with research methods that will help you to be better informed when reading research and better able to select the best methods to use when designing research in your own setting.

This course is for teachers working in early years, primary, secondary and further education settings. It would also be of interest to other education professionals.

• Qualitative and action research - research with teachers and children
• Welcome to the course
• Qualitative methods and action research
• Researching with children
• Reflecting on this week's learning
• Quantitative methods and statistical analysis - interrogating school performance
• Welcome to Week 2
• Education statistics
• Using data
• Reflecting on this week's learning
• Research synthesis and review - using synthesis and review to support evidence-based practice and policy
• Welcome to week 3
• Meta-analysis and synthesis
• Systematic Reviews and Rapid Evidence Assessments
• Reflecting on this week's learning
• Mixed methods and interdisciplinary research - engaging with 'learning science'
• Welcome to week 4
• Exploring the new
• Reviewing your learning
• Reflecting on the course's learning