394 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



ity for this change rests with those of us who are college 

 teachers of education, most of our research will be frag- 

 mentary with resulting waste. As long as present condi- 

 tions prevail we should ask ourselves, "Is educational 

 research paying appropriate dividends upon its invest- 

 ment?" 



"When the proposal was first made that mooted ques- 

 tions relative to school practice could be answered by 

 scientific methods, there were- many unbelievers. For 

 years the conservatives far outnumbered the progres- 

 sives, but gradually the skeptics have been converted to 

 the belief that educational experimentation is possible. 

 Today these same people are among those who are ac- 

 cepting the fragmentary and imperfect findings of edu- 

 cational research as comprehensive and final. It is not 

 at all unusual for a person who avows a belief in educa- 

 tional research to make dogmatic endorsements of the 

 results of studies which meet few if any of the require- 

 ments of scientific procedure. For example, a teacher 

 in a certain city school system recently asserted that the 

 teachers of that system had solved the problem of con- 

 structing a curriculum in history. It was obvious that 

 this teacher believed the work was finished and, because 

 methods called scientific had been used, nothing more 

 was to be said in the matter. This is not an isolated 

 case, but unfortunately it is typical of the attitude of 

 many toward educational research. 



As I talk with superintendents and others, includ- 

 ing university professors, who have not had intimate 

 experience with educational research, I am surprised 

 and distressed by their childlike faith in the con- 

 clusion? based upon very imperfect studies. It 

 appears that in our effort to convert those who 

 hesitated to believe in educational research as a 

 means of answering questions that Ave have over- 

 done the matter. The possibilities of educational re- 

 search have been advertised, and like all good advertis- 

 ers we have extolled the good features and have failed 

 to mention the limitations, or if mentioned we have sug- 

 gested that they could easily be overcome. The result 

 of our selling campaign begins to be apparent. In gen- 



