| What
is Scientifically Based Research?
Descriptive
Studies
In
this type of research, schools or districts involved
in implementing an innovation are studied in detail,
mainly by means of such qualitative methods as case
studies, interviews, observations, and focus groups,
in order to learn the details of implementation processes,
relationships among program components, professional
development requirements, barriers, and needed organizational
changes. Such research can help other schools
decide whether or not to adopt an innovation and,
once a decision has been made, capitalize on the
experiences of other schools and districts.
Well-executed
descriptive studies can play an important role in helping
to build a theory of the innovation. By supplying a
detailed, context-based history of a program’s
development through sophisticated observation and data
analysis, this type of research can be a rich source
of hypotheses about causal relationships and can play
a major role in shaping innovations and later causal
research.
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