A Study on the Super- & Infra-structure of Education Research in the United States

To outline and interpret the major concerns of education research all over the world, we propose to conduct a three-year research project titled “An International Comparison of Education Research Organizations, Research Policies, Quality-Standards Construction, and the Relationship between Research and Practice with a View to Improve Education Research Mechanisms in Taiwan.” The study will include case studies of OECD, EU, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It will also cover eight sub-themes with education research: (1) educational research agency affiliated with higher education institutions, (2) governmental education research agencies, (3) nongovernmental research agencies, (4) education research policies, (5) education research quality indicators, (6) education research review and evaluation mechanism, (7) research staff evaluation and promotion in universities and research agencies, and (8) researcher empowerment in universities and research agencies. This particular research project focuses on issues associated with the study of education research super-structure and infrastructure in the United States. It also examines an international comparison of nongovernmental education research agencies with a goal to improve the construction of nongovernmental education research agencies in Taiwan. To overcome the research purposes we mentioned in the beginning, we will collect an extensive literature review related to education research agencies, education research policies, education research quality indicators, and schooling in the first year of the research study. Moreover, we will visit the primary education research agencies including higher education institutions, National Research Council (NRC), Institute for Education Science, the RAND Foundation, and the Carnegie Foundation along with interviewing key stakeholders of education research to discuss the development and transformation of education research in the United States. In the second year, we will aim at the issue related to nongovernmental education research agencies in eight case countries or international organizations to analyze the problems and struggles along with education research policies, education research quality indicators, and education practice via field study and in-depth interview data collection methods in each case country. Finally, we will juxtapose and compare the development and models of nongovernmental research agencies in the world along with current issues in Taiwan. By conducting a series of focus group discussion panels on the issues of nongovernmental