Educational Researchers and Practicality

Abstract

In this article, an attempt to identify further directions in research designs that researchers can use to contribute to the relevance of educational research findings, by including teachers’ practicality issues, is presented. Sixty experienced teachers in secondary education read the reporting of modified experimental research findings about an unfamiliar teaching method for promoting students’ conceptual understanding via historical information and filled in open-ended questions that included general opinion, professional judgment, and research interpretation to capture their practicality issues. The teachers’ answers were analyzed to deduce a hierarchy of themes. The results suggest that the teachers’ practicality issues, which included mainly (a) students’ long-term achievement results, (b) the utility of the teaching method, (c) student experiences, and (d) comparison with other teaching methods, can point to a research program that includes teachers’ practicality issues.