EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The phrase research and development (R & D),

according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), refers to
"creative work undertaken on a systematic basis
in order to increase the stock of knowledge,
including knowledge of man, culture and society,
and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise
new applications".
Research and development is often scientific or
towards developing particular technologies and is
frequently carried out as corporate or governmental
activity.
R&D (also called research-based development) is a
process used to develop and validate products. The
steps of this process are usually referred to as the R & D
cycle. The basic cycle consists of:
(1) studying research findings related to the product to
be developed (identifying needs),
(2) developing the product based on these findings,
(3) field testing in the setting where it will be used, and
(4) revising it to correct the deficiencies found in the fieldtesting stage.

In the industrial sphere (e.g. in car industry), this cycle

is repeated over and over until the field testing
indicates that the desired product is achieved. In the
educational context (educational R & D), however, the
cycle can be flexible. In the educational R & D, the
main goal can be either:
(1) to develop products or
(2) to discover new knowledge or to answer
specific questions about practical problems
(through applied research).
If the goal is to develop instructional media to be reported as
a thesis, with a prospect of being used beyond the testing
field or to be marketed commercially, rigorous repeated
testing and revising should be conducted. However, if the
developed media are used for a research project to compare
the effectiveness of two teaching methods (for example, the
effectiveness of teaching reading with and without schema
activation), the cycle will not require rigorous repeated
testing as that of the former does.
The researcher may develop media that incorporate
each method because suitable media are not available.
In this regard, the media are developed and refined only
to the point where they can be used to test the
researchers hypothesis. Consequently, the developed
media may not be ready for operational use in the
schools.

As the process of testing and revising is inherent to

educational R & D, the understanding of evaluation
process is paramount. In addition, many of the data
are quantitative in nature. In the evaluation process,
therefore, knowledge of statistical analysis and
interpretation is required.
THE MAJOR STEPS IN THE R & D CYCLE:
1) Collect information on the need for development;
2) Design the prototype of the components to be
developed including the definition (specification) of the
product to be developed, formulating the goals,
determining the sequence of the activities, developing
the scale for the measurement (research instrument);
3) Develop the prototype of the product used as a model;
4) Getting the conceptual model validated by the experts
and practitioners/users;
5) Conducting limited (first stage) try-out on the first
model;
6) Revising the first model based on the result of the early
stage try-out and data analysis;
7) Conducting field (second stage) try-out;
8) Making the final revision or refinement of the model, if
the researcher and the parties involved consider that
the process and product resulted are still unsatisfactory;
9) Writing the research report and disseminating it to the
relevant parties.

Research and development (R&D) is a phrase

that means different things in different
applications. In the world of business, research
and development is the phase in a product's life
that might be considered the product's
'conception'. That is, basic science must exist to
support the product's viability, and if the science is
lacking, it must be discovered - this is considered
the research phase. If the science exists, then
turning it into a useful product is the
development phase. Further terminology
refinements might call it engineering to refine
production so that the product can be made for a
cost that appeals to consumers.