Reexamining the Methodology of Research on Media and Technology in Education

Research on media and technology in education covers a wide and diverse r ange of topics, se t t ings, and domains. I t s methodologies vary from basic experimental work in the labora tory through field experiments in educational institutions, to large-scale evaluations of programs and products in current use by schools. No single research methodology can accurately cover this range, nor can the field be made uniform to fit some arbitrary conception of the best approach to research. However, underlying this diversity there are common research objectives that guide the field and allow us to classify diverse studies, such as those resulting from a systems approach to gether with studies of one- vs. two-channel inputs, under the heading of media research. Three major objectives of media research can be identified. The first is to obtain knowledge about the instructional effectiveness of a chosen medium, or technol ogy. Researchers who emphasize this first objective attempt to A paper comissioned by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Informational Resources,