Research Methods in School Psychology: An Overview

Abstract

This article introduces a mini-series on research methods in school psychology that will appear across six issues of this journal. It is argued that to apply research to practice, school psychologists must read research and evaluate critically the research they read. The research methods used in school psychological research are quite varied, however, and often do not correspond to our formal research training. Many of us, therefore, feel ill-equipped to evaluate critically the research we read. This introductory article provides a conceptual overview to the research methods used in school psychology, and focuses in particular on the degree to which each method allows us to infer that a treatment affects an outcome. Future articles in the mini-series will focus on a particular research question, with researchers providing short descriptions of how different research techniques could be used to answer those research questions. Research questions for those future issues are listed and readers are encouraged to submit manuscripts addressing those research questions.