The Poorvu Center supports educational research that explores how people learn and how teaching practices affect that learning. Educational research can be formal or informal and can range in scale, duration, and methods used.
What is Educational Research?
Educational research refers to the systematic study of teaching and learning. It uses empirical methods to examine how people learn and how educational environments can support that learning.
It may include:
- Observational studies
- Interviews or surveys
- Experiments or quasi-experiments
- Analysis of existing data (e.g., grades, engagement metrics)
Educational research often includes collaboration across disciplines and values multiple ways of knowing.
What does Educational Research look like at the Poorvu Center?
The EPA team supports Yale educators in conducting educational research by co-developing research questions, identifying methodologies, supporting IRB processes, assisting with data collection and analysis, and co-authoring presentations and publications. The team also conducts its own research, shared through conferences and journals, focused on how Yale programs influence student learning and the educational environment.
Thank you for your guidance and supervision during my fellowship. The experience [on the Educational Program Assessment team] was more than I could have expected and allowed me the freedom to explore data analysis and visualization.”
We’re here to help!
Reach out to the Poorvu Center team if you have any questions or to learn more about our programs.