The Purpose of Research

Research is what gives the researchers, storyteller, student or scientist the means to make a conclusion. When you’ve done
proper research, you’re then able to spend time analyzing all of the moving parts, the variables and thus make an informed
observation or conclusion on the subject.

When you’re exploring the topic, you want to gather as much evidence, experience and observation for you to
begin building your theories. By familiarising yourself as much as possible with the subject you’re researching you begin to
have objective and subjective observations. Exploration is the first phase of the research. The exploration aspect stokes the
curiosity of the researcher, which then brings up questions that spur into further discovery, digging and study. The second p art is
built upon the desire to better understand the subject. For the researcher, they must have a deep yearning to find the answers, or
the research can become dull and cumbersome.

Without the passion, research can suffer or the researcher can begin to come to final conclusions, without diving deeper into the
exploration of more. The depth of the research is imperative to finding the proper answer. Even with depth and understanding,
there is often more research to be done.

Conceptual use of research can take different forms

1. First, engagement with research can introduce new concepts. In our recent study, we asked district leaders across three major
districts to name a piece of research that they have found useful in the last year, if any. One district leader named a researcher and
reported:

He makes me think conceptually. He wrote an article, which is what got me into multiplication as scaling: “Stop teaching
multiplication as repeated addition.” I’ve been thinking about what that means, how it could happen, how you could do that. That’s a
huge mind-bender for me. It’s more conceptual, I guess.

Reading this article caused the district leader to think differently about mathematics teaching. This new insight had broader impact
as well. The leader incorporated these new ideas into the district core curriculum and professional development for teachers.
2. Another form of conceptual use is that engagement with research enables people to see a problem they didn’t see before, or see a
problem in a new light. In an earlier longitudinal study of district policymaking in English and mathematics, one of us saw conceptual
use of research in close to half of the decisions that unfolded in the central office over three years. For instance, after discussing
research on professional development with an outside provider multiple times across a year, district leaders began to see their then-
current approach to professional development as problematic.

Here, the ideas from the research (along with their engagement with the consultant) helped leaders to reframe their conceptions of
what constitutes high-quality PD. As a result, they not only began to shift their PD offerings from one-off workshops to more
extended and in-depth offerings rooted in the districts’ curriculum, they also shifted district policy, changing school schedules to
allow for time during the school day for ongoing, situated training.
3. Third, findings from research can help broaden or narrow understandings about the kinds of solutions should be considered and are
most appropriate to pursue. In our recent three-district study, leaders charged a task force with developing a new policy on middle-
and high-school mathematics courses, given the reorganization of mathematics content in the Common Core State Standards. Early
on in the debate, we observed meetings where task force members considered a range of possible policy solutions, including
honors courses in middle school.

During this deliberation, they read research on the impact of detracking and heterogeneous mathematics courses. Soon thereafter,
the honors options were taken off the table, and the task force ultimately advocated for a heterogeneous approach to middle-school