Describing what is Special about the Role of Experiments in Contemporary Educational Research?: Putting the “Gold Standard” Rhetoric into Perspective

Abstract

These remarks deal with vexing issues of method choice that are currently bedeviling the educational research community as it seeks to ground educational policy decisions in better evidence. Of particular importance are debates in American educational circles about the need for experiments versus multi-method studies, and it is on this issue that we focus here. The remarks are organized around the exposition of a limited number of basic points. The emphasis is on clarity of presentation rather than mellifluous prose.

Keywords

• causal inference
• evidence-based policy
• RCT
• educational research methods