Many of the educational practices used in schools today have grown out of activities that resemble research techniques. Undoubtedly, the history of the growth of these practices would show that they were found to be sound through chance, trial-and- error, and practical experience. Hence, as educators began to reason and apply information, to repeat and perfect methods of instruction, new facts and ideas not previously known were obtained. From these grass roots have sprung the many facets of growth in the educator's present knowledge of research.
All educators can benefit from the knowledge of the nature, techniques, and procedures of scientific research. In the first place, this knowledge is useful because these skills will enable classroom teachers and other professionals to utilize scientific methods in attacking their own practical problems. Secondly, research knowledge is essential because it can furnish school personnel with the information necessary to make objective decisions concerning curriculum, methods, administrative procedures, and so on. Thirdly, knowledge of research permits the educator to be both a consumer and producer of research. It seems logical to assume that those who borrow from the research reservoir will desire to contribute to the ever increasing supply of valid knowledge of education through research.
School personnel are in a key position to study the effects of new materials, methodology, and similar innovations on the learning process. Research that actively involves the educator in a problem that has meaning to him, insofar as the results can be directly applied to his teaching or administrative position, can contribute substantially to improvement of the educational process.

WHAT CONSTITUTES RESEARCH?

Through the ages learned men have sought to solve problems of society scientifically. A succession of scientists have been the pathfinders and lamplighters to our nation's progress. As a result of their research efforts man lives longer, enjoys more leisure, and has greater use of intellectual power than ever before.
The chief purposes for conducting research are: (1) to determine the status of phenomena (past and present); (2) to ascertain the nature, composition, and processes that characterize selected phenomena; (3) to trace growth, developmental history, change, and status of certain phenomena-, and (4) to study the cause-and-effect relationships among and between certain phenomena.
Although man has not yet devised any perfect method of finding solutions to problems deemed worthy of investigation, progress has been made. There has been a gradual transition from seeking knowledge based purely on custom, tradition, authority, and personal experience, to appealing for evidence based on reasoning and scientific inquiry.
As Hillway states: 

No longer does man ascribe natural phenomena to supernatural influences, and no longer does he rely blindly upon accepted authority. He has developed an orderly system of searching for truth which, by basing conclusions upon factual evidence and by using logic as a means of showing relationships between related ideas, has given him better and more accurate answers to his many questions. This orderly system is what we call research.1

A more thorough understanding of what constitutes research may be obtained by examining experimental problems. McCall states that experimental problems can best be identified:

(1) by becoming a scholar in one or more specialties as early as possible; (2) by reading, listening, and working critically and reflectively; (3) by considering every obstacle an opportunity for the exercise of ingenuity instead of an insuperable barrier; (4) by starting an investigation and watching problems bud from it; and (5) by remembering those problems already found, that is, by keeping a systematic record of original ideas and problems.2

Thus, research is a formal, systematic, intensive process used in the investigation of a problem. In the educational realm, it may be carried on by an individual, team, or organization. It may be conducted in a class, school, or community. Research is not limited to a laboratory setting.