BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, ISSN 00071005

VOL. 47, NO. 2, JUNE 1999, PP 108121

WHAT IS EVIDENCE-BASED EDUCATION?

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by PHILIP DAVIES, Department for Continuing Education, University of

Oxford

ABSTRACT: This paper argues that education should become more

evidence-based. The distinction is made between using existing research
and establishing high-quality educational research. The need for highquality systematic reviews and appraisals of educational research is
clear. Evidence-based education is not a panacea, but is a set of principles and practices for enhancing educational policy and practice.
Keywords: evidence, research, systematic review, meta-analysis,
methodology, Cochrane Collaboration, sociology, professional
development
1. INTRODUCTION
In most societies education is constantly being asked to do more and
more things, to higher and higher standards, with greater accountability and finite (if not diminishing) resources. Its agenda is often
driven by political ideology, conventional wisdom, folklore, and
wishful thinking as it strives to meet the needs and interests of the
economy, business, employers, law and order, civil society, parental
choice, and, at least rhetorically, the children, young people, and
adults who make up the learning community (Apple, 1982; Apple
and Weis, 1983; Ball, 1990, 1993; Bowles and Gintis, 1976; Giroux,
1983, 1992; Willis, 1977). Much of this impetus represents the
triumph of hope over reason, sentiment over demonstrated effectiveness, intuition over evidence. Increasingly, the direction of
change in educational thinking and practice is top-down from
central governments, think tanks, opinion formers, educational
regulators (such as OFSTED), the media, and academic departments whose research is often selective, unsystematic, and prone to
political or scientific bias (or both). Some recent examples from the
United Kingdom include: the form and content of the National
Curriculum; the introduction of standardised tests and league tables
as a means of raising standards and supposedly increasing parental
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choice; the substitution of trendy teaching methods based on activity-based, student-centred, self-directed learning and problem solving, with whole-class teaching based on rows and columns
classroom organisation, didactic instruction, and a more passive
approach to learning, often by rote.
It is often unclear whether these developments in educational thinking and practice are better, or worse, than the regimes they replace.
This is in part because educational activity is often inadequately evaluated by means of carefully designed and executed controlled trials,
quasi-experiments, surveys, before-and-after studies, high-quality
observational studies, ethnographic studies which look at outcomes as
well as processes, or conversation and discourse analytic studies that
link micro structures and actions to macro level issues. Moreover, the
research and evaluation studies that do exist are seldom searched for
systematically, retrieved and read, critically appraised for quality, validity and relevance, and organised and graded for power of evidence.
This is the task of evidence-based education.
2. USING VS ESTABLISHING EVIDENCE
Evidence-based education operates at two levels. The first is to utilise
existing evidence from worldwide research and literature on education and associated subjects. Educationalists at all levels need to be
able to:
pose an answerable question about education;
know where and how to find evidence systematically and comprehensively using the electronic (computer-based) and non-electronic (print) media;
retrieve and read such evidence competently and undertake critical appraisal and analysis of that evidence according to agreed
professional and scientific standards;
organise and grade the power of this evidence; and
determine its relevance to their educational needs and environments.
The second level is to establish sound evidence where existing
evidence is lacking or of a questionable, uncertain, or weak nature.
Practitioners of evidence-based education working at this level need
to be able to plan, carry out, and publish studies that meet the highest standards of scientific research and evaluation, incorporating the
methods of the social sciences, the natural sciences, and the humanistic and interpretive disciplines. The objective of evidence-based
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education at this level is to ensure that future research on education

meets the criteria of scientific validity, high-quality, and practical
relevance that is sometimes lacking in existing evidence on educational activities, processes, and outcomes (Hargreaves, 1996, 1997;
Hillage et al., 1998; Tooley and Darby, 1998).
This view of evidence-based education is derived quite explicitly
from the University of Oxford Masters programme in EvidenceBased Health Care. This programme offers health professionals of
all types the opportunity to develop their professional skills whilst
maintaining full-time professional practice. A central feature of the
Oxford programme in Evidence-Based Health Care is that students
learn by attempting to solve clinical and population-based problems
that they bring to the course. This approach to learning, and teaching, is explicitly based on the problem-solving, self-directed model
of adult education developed by Knowles (1990) and derived from
the learning theory of Piaget, Bruner, Vygotsky, and the constructivist school of learning (Davies, 1999).
The need for both levels of evidence-based practice in education
seems clear. There have been a number of recent criticisms about
the gap between the teaching and the research communities, the
relevance, applicability and quality of educational research, the noncumulative nature of good educational research, and its effective
dissemination (Hargreaves, 1996, 1997; Hillage et al., 1998. Tooley
and Darby, 1998). Hargreaves (1996:7), for instance, has called for
an end to:
second-rate educational research which does not make a serious
contribution to fundamental theory or knowledge; which is irrelevant to practice; which is uncoordinated with any preceding or
follow-up research; and which clutters up academic journals that
virtually nobody reads.
Such broad-brush characterisations of educational research
have, not surprisingly, received a strong and critical response from
the educational research community (Norris, 1996; Gray, 1996;
Edwards, 1996; Hammersley, 1997), and a debate that has often
shed more heat than light. There is a risk that observations such as
those of Hargreaves may promote a narrowly utilitarian and philistine approach to research and intellectual life. What constitutes the
relevance of research, for instance, depends to a large extent on
what questions are being asked, in what context, and for what practical ends. The demands of practice in one context may make a
seemingly narrow and esoteric piece of research highly relevant
and very enlightening for those who use it. Similarly, research that
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is apparently more generalisable, cumulative, and based on highly

representative samples for some purposes may be of little value to
those with different practice needs and in quite different contexts
from those in which the research took place. There is no such thing
as context-free evidence.
Some of the criticisms of educational research, however, do have
some validity. Hammersley, who has responded most critically to
Hargreaves 1996 lecture, acknowledges, with apparent sincerity,
that educational research does lack a cumulative character and that
it needs to move to a situation where new research builds more
effectively on earlier work, and where greater attention is given to
testing competing interpretations of data, whether descriptive or
explanatory (Hammersley, 1997: 144). Also, the claim that there is
a gap between educational research and teachers (Hargreaves, 1996;
Hillage et al., 1998) is undoubtedly true, though perhaps in different ways to those suggested by these critics. The problem is not so
much that teachers do not undertake research, or that they are
often excluded from determining the research agenda (both of
which may be true), but that there is often not a culture of teachers
using research to inform their everyday school practice. Contrary to
Hargreaves claim about medicine, the same situation prevails in
many areas of clinical practice. One of the ways in which evidencebased health care has had some influence in recent years is in
getting clinicians to be clearer about the clinical problems for which
they require solutions, and utilising existing evidence effectively and
critically to help them solve these problems. There is no question of
evidence replacing clinical judgement or experience, but of uniting
these two dimensions of knowledge to provide a sound basis for
action. Evidence-based practice can provide a similar basis for
professional knowledge and action in education. It can also ensure
that those who undertake educational research are properly trained
in research methods, and understand its underlying theoretical and
methodological principles, thereby enhancing its quality.
3. SOME OBJECTIONS
Some objections from the educational community to such a model
of evidence-based education can be anticipated, and have been
expressed by respondents to Hargreaves (1996) call for teaching to
be a research-based profession (Norris, 1996; Gray, 1996; Edwards,
1996; Hammersley, 1997). It is claimed that education is unlike
health care, and medicine especially, because its activities, processes,
and outcomes are complex and culturally, or contextually, specific.
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Consequently, it is argued, there are problems of measurement and

causation in educational research that are not found in medicine
and health care. Medicine and health care, however, face very similar, if not identical, problems of complexity, context-specificity,
measurement, and causation that Hammersley (1997) has identified
in education. The activities, processes, and outcomes of health care
are also highly complex, often indeterminate, and context/culture
specific, making their measurement both difficult and controversial
(Le Grand and Illsley, 1986; Wilkinson, 1986; Samphier, Robertson
and Bloor, 1988; MacBeth, 1996). The generalisability of evidencebased health care is one of its major concerns, as it is of all epidemiology and clinical practice. The uncertain relationship between how
people behave in hospitals and in their own and other environments
(i.e. ecological validity) is a well documented problem in the
medical and health care literature (Christmas et al., 1974; Andrews
and Stewart, 1979; Newcombe and Ratcliff, 1979; Davies and Mehan,
1988; Davies, 1996), with clear parallels with students educational
performances in schools and colleges on the one hand and in the
real world on the other. Greenhalgh and Worrall (1997) have
recently argued that the concept of context-sensitive medicine is
appropriate to describe the skill of applying the findings of research
to the demands of everyday clinical practice.
So far as the measurement of outcomes is concerned, the only
discrete and (usually) uncontroversial outcome of health care is death
(or survival). Almost every other outcome of health care depends on
whether one is concerned with objective or subjective dimensions of
health and illness, the contexts within which health and illness occur,
or the improvement, maintenance, or deterioration of peoples
health status. Central to these problems is the interaction of signs and
symptoms on the one hand and variations in health and illness behaviour according to social class, gender, ethnicity, and cultural practices
on the other. For Hammersley to claim that unlike in most areas of
medicine, in education the treatments, consist of symbolic interaction, with all the scope for multiple interpretations and responses
which that implies, is to ignore his own detailed knowledge of both
medical practice and the extensive sociological work on health and
illness that has been inspired by symbolic interactionists such as
Goffman (1959, 1963, 1964), Glaser and Strauss (1965, 1967), Davis
(1963), Fagerhaugh and Strauss (1977), and Strong (1979).
The claim that medicine and health care are based on the natural
sciences and their methodologies, whereas education is much more
firmly embedded in social science and its approaches to research
and evaluation, is also unsustainable. The rejection of natural
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science as the only basis of modern health care has come from such
diverse sources as Balint (1957), Capra (1982), Laing (1965) and
Sacks (1990), and the professional training and accreditation bodies
of nursing and almost all allied professions, including medicine.
Similarly, educational research draws upon the methodological principles and practices of the natural and the social sciences. Whilst it
is undoubtedly the case that experimental and quasi-experimental
research is harder to achieve in many aspects of education than it is
in some aspects of health care, it is not unknown in educational
research and other areas of social scientific inquiry (Oakley, 1998).
Randomised controlled trials are difficult to undertake in evaluations of teaching or learning effectiveness, though their potential
has been recognised by some researchers (Boruch et al., 1978;
Oakley and Harris, 1996; Oakley, 1998). Consequently, researchers
who evaluate educational methods or initiatives tend to rely more
heavily on controlled comparisons of matched schools, classrooms,
or communities, and to develop models of the effects of extraneous
variables (Anderson, 1998).
An associated problem, often mentioned by people in the educational community, is that education is, and must be, concerned with
qualitative research whereas health care is much more concerned
with quantitative research and evaluation. This is also a false polemic,
and one that is unsustainable when one examines research studies
in education and health care. A recent review article on research
methods in American educational research concluded that
results are consistent with those of other studies in that the most
commonly used methods were ANOVA and ANCOVA, multiple
regression, bivariate correlation, descriptive statistics, multivariate
analysis, non-parametric statistics and t-tests. The major difference in current methodology is the increase in the use of qualitative methods.(Elmore and Woehlke, 1996)
The journals reviewed by Elmore and Woehlke represent the more
positivistic tradition of American educational research. Other journals, such as the Harvard Educational Review, Anthropology and
Education Quarterly, Qualitative Studies in Education, Social Psychology of
Education, and Linguistics and Education have a tradition of publishing more qualitative research, and the proliferation of articles using
qualitative methods and discourse analysis confirms the increase in
these types of research in the educational field. This trend is also
evident in the British educational research literature.
Another common feature of educational and health care research is
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the use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Indeed, meta-analysis

and systematic reviews have their origins in educational research
following the pioneering work of Glass (Glass, McGaw and Lee Smith,
1980). Glasss work on meta-analysis, like that of Kulik and Kulik
(1989), has been described as a form of literature review (that) is not
meant to test a hypothesis but to summarise features and outcomes of
a body of research (Bangert-Drowns, 1985). Others in the educational research field (Hunter and Schmidt, 1995; Hedges, 1992;
Rosenthal, 1995) have used meta-analysis in a way that is more akin to
that found in health care research, as a way of data-pooling and the
use of statistical methods to combine the results of independent
empirical research studies (Hedges, 1992). Meta-analysis in educational research has the same problems as in health care research, such
as ensuring the comparability of different samples, research designs,
outcome and process measures, identifying confounding factors and
bias, and determining the attributable effects of the intervention(s)
being assessed. As Preiss (1988) points out the researcher will have
several options when cumulating empirical studies and readers will
have questions regarding judgment calls made during meta-analysis.
4. WHAT IS EVIDENCE?
A key issue in developing evidence-based education, and evidencebased health care, is the uncertainty as to what counts as evidence.
For those who ask questions such as does educational method (or
health care intervention) x have a better outcome than educational
method (or health care intervention) y in terms of achieving
outcome z, evidence consists of the results of randomised
controlled trials or other experimental and quasi-experimental studies. Other types of question, for which valid and reliable evidence is
sought in both educational and health care research, require
evidence about the strength and pattern of relationships between
different variables that effect the processes and outcomes of education (and health care). These are best provided by survey and correlational research using methods such as simple and multiple
correlation, regression analysis, and analysis of variance.
Yet other questions are more concerned about the processes by which
educational and health care activities are undertaken and the meanings that education or health care have for different people (e.g.
learners/patients, teachers/health care professionals, school governors, health care executives, purchasers, etc). The ways in which
teachers and doctors typify students and patients, and use categories
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and practices that open up, and close down, opportunities for
advancement in education (Cicourel and Kitsuse, 1963; Cicourel
and Mehan, 1985; Mehan et al., 1996) or health care (Strong, 1979;
Davies, 1979), are important topics about which high quality
evidence is needed. Evidence is also required about the consequences
of educational and health care activities on students and parents
sense of self and their sense of social worth and identity. These types
of question require more qualitative and naturalistic research
methods such as ethnography, detailed observations, and face-toface interviews.
Other evidence may be sought about the patterns and structures of
interaction, conversation, and discourse by means of which both
educational and health care activities are accomplished. Such questions focus on naturally occurring activities between teachers and
students, health professionals and patients, and between professionals. Studies such as those by Button and Lee (1987); Fisher and Todd
(1983); Silverman (1987), in health care and by Cazden (1988);
Mehan (1977, 1996), and Spindler, D (1982) in education represent
types of research and evidence from within the conversation analysis and discourse analysis tradition.
Evidence is also required about ethical issues of educational or health
care practice, such as whether or not it is right or warrantable to
undertake a particular educational activity or health care intervention. Each of the methodological approaches mentioned above may
inform these issues, but none will resolve them without additional
considerations about the moral and ethical issues of universal versus
selective action, informed choices, social inequalities and social
justice, resource allocation and prioritisation, and the values underlying education and health care. There is a considerable literature on
the ethics of research and professional practice in health care
(Brazier, 1987; Fulford, 1990; Gillon, 1985; Veatch, 1989; Weiss, 1982)
and education (Adair, Dushenko and Lindsay, 1985; Frankel, 1987;
Kimmel, 1988) which the competent practitioner needs to include in
his or her considerations of appropriate evidence for best practice.
5. BIBLIOGRAPHIC AND DATA-BASE PROBLEMS
A third objection to evidence-based education is that the data-bases
which serve educational research are less developed, and contain lowerquality filters, than those found in medical and health care research. It
does seem that the ERIC Clearing House for educational research is less
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universal, comprehensive and systematically indexed than MEDLINE

and other data-bases in health care (e.g. CINAHL), social science
(SOCIOFILE, PSYCLIT, ECONLIT) and biological sciences (BIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS), and that many studies in education fail to appear
on it. This is an issue of improving the reporting and indexing of educational research and changing its reporting practices.
Educational research has also lacked a centralised data-base for the
preparation, maintenance and dissemination of systemic reviews of
education such as the Cochrane Collaboration, Best Evidence, and the
Centre for NHS Reviews and Dissemination. The Cochrane
Collaboration has already begun to assemble a data-base of reviews and
meta-analysis of social and educational research. The Social,
Psychological and Educational Controlled Trials Register (SPECTR) is
an extension of The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register in health
care (Milwain, 1998; Petrosino et al., 1999). To date, handsearching,
electronic database searching and the searching of reference lists have
identified over 5000 references to studies in education, criminology
and psychosocial-learning research. These studies do not include
research which uses methodologies other than experimental or quasiexperimental designs. Such studies also need systematic identification,
review, and critical appraisal if the full range of educational research is
to be used in the ways suggested in this paper.
This indicates an urgent need for the development of such infrastructural arrangements in education (see Hillage et al., 1998: 53),
and the financial support of central governments and the major
research councils to develop and maintain them. The existence of
many high-quality educational research centres throughout the
world which can undertake systematic reviews and meta-analyses on
different aspects of education suggests that a similar network of
collaboration in educational research is feasible.
In short, the inadequacy of data-bases and bibliographic sources
in education is a real problem, but one that is surmountable with
appropriate effort and resources. The need for the continuing
professional development of teachers, educational researchers,
policy makers, and school governors, so that the principles and practices of evidence-based education can be nurtured and introduced
into everyday educational life, is also clearly indicated.
6. EVIDENCE AND PROFESSIONAL JUDGEMENT
Establishing best practice, in both education and health care, is
more than a matter of simply accessing, critically appraising, and
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implementing research findings. It also involves integrating such

knowledge with professional judgement and experience. Much
professional practice in education and health care is undertaken on
the basis that things have always been done a certain way, or they
carry the authority and legitimacy of some charismatic, highly
valued practitioner. The role of common-sense and back to basics
is also favoured by politicians and those charged with developing
national educational policy.
Whilst tradition, charismatic authority, and experience can work
against change and the development of best practice, they do have
some merit. A teachers experience and judgement can be much
more sensitive to the important nuances of contextual and cultural
factors than the findings of research alone, however thorough and
valid that research may be. The question of the relevance of highquality research to more local issues of teaching and learning (or
treatment and change of health status) has already been noted, and
is one which demands the highest levels of professional skill, judgement, and experience. Just as evidence-based health care means
integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available
external evidence from systematic research (Sackett et al., 1996), so
evidence-based education means integrating individual teaching
and learning expertise with the best available external evidence
from systematic research. Indeed, a central feature of evidencebased education must be the two-way process of broadening the
basis of individuals experience and judgement by locating it within
the available evidence, and generating research studies and
evidence which explore and test the professional experience of
teachers, students and other constituents of learning communities.
7. CONCLUSION
Education seems to be in a position remarkably similar to that of
medicine and health care five or ten years ago. There are many
research journals which contain a broad range of reports on
research using different methodologies and addressing a diverse
range of educational issues. Some of this research is of a high quality, some less so. The demands being made upon teachers and
others who provide education call out for educational practice to be
based on the best available evidence as well as the professional skills,
experience, and competence of teachers. To do this, the educational
research literature needs to be better registered, indexed, classified,
appraised, and made accessible to researchers and teachers alike.
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Educators need access to this research and to be able to search and

critically appraise it in order to determine its relevance (or lack of
relevance) to their schools, students, and educational needs,
Whether this is called evidence-based education, research-based
education (Hargreaves, 1996), literature-based education (Hammersley, 1997), or context-sensitive practice (Greenhalgh and
Worrall, 1997) is immaterial.
Evidence-based education, like evidence-based health care, is not
a panacea, a quick fix, cookbook practice or the provider of readymade solutions to the demands of modern education. It is a set of
principles and practices which can alter the way people think about
education, the way they go about educational policy and practice,
and the basis upon which they make professional judgements and
deploy their expertise.
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Correspondence
Dr. Philip Davies
Department for Continuing Education
University of Oxford
1 Wellington Square
Oxford OX1 2JA
email: [email protected]

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