Education research refers to various studies that aim to get details on how to improve student learning and the overall education process as a whole. Through educational research, various learning and school-related activities and processes are studied, evaluated, and analyzed in order to know the problems and concerns associated with them and to know which technique or procedure can better address related concerns. Various fields in education are studied and analyzed in educational research and these fields include the learning processes implemented for students, teaching techniques and methods, classroom and student group dynamics, and continuing education and training among instructors and teachers. Details on the most effective teaching methods and the most appealing learning techniques for students are gathered and analyzed to better understand an existing educational process and provide answers to possible problems. All these educational variables are also assessed with the help of various overlapping fields and disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and philosophy among many others.

There are two accepted approaches in conducting educational research and these are the basic research approach and the applied research approach. In basic educational research, the focus is on finding the actual truth in the educational elements and processes. Through educational theories, various scenarios are studied and assessed with the ultimate goal of improving existing education processes and standards. Applied educational research meanwhile are geared towards actual practice and this type of research enables people to come up with solutions to educational concerns that are currently existing in schools and institutions. Either approaches may be used and implemented with various research tools in the form of case studies, ethnographies, or narrative types of research. These tools may also be used in combination with each other to come up with the best possible solutions or improvements in the educational process. Through educational research patterns in teacher instruction behaviour and student learning concerns are assessed for the purpose of coming up with solutions and improvements for each specific education-related problem.