Educational Research
The goal of the Office of Educational Research is to assist investigators in developing high quality research projects designed to address compelling questions.
The Office of Educational Research (OER) provides services to faculty and staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center conducting medical education research to guide them through the research process by helping medical education researchers understand how to:
- Determine whether the project proposed constitutes a research study, or routine evaluation and assessment
- Develop a research idea or interest into a testable question
- Explore relevant literature
- Formulate hypotheses
- Select and describe a study design
- Define and describe methodological details, including measurement and data collection
- Conduct basic data analyses, and seek appropriate assistance with more complex analyses
- Identify and address issues around feasibility of conducting the research
- Identify and address regulatory requirements for conducting human subject research
A well designed research study is critical to ensuring that results will have valid and measurable impact and be generalizable. The goal of the OER is to assist investigators in developing high quality research projects designed to address compelling questions that elucidate something enduring about learners and the learning process. By contrast, projects that seek to address learner assessment (for example, knowledge, skills, attitudes), curriculum development or assessment, or program evaluation for the purposes of evaluating and/or improving current practices are likely to require assistance from the Office of Educational Assessment.