Evidence Based Research

With the advent of No Child Left Behind, and the increased emphasis on Scientifically Based Research as a measuring stick for effective programs and practices, the field of education leadership research has tended more towards quantitative research as opposed to qualitative research because of the underpinning scientific foundation of cause and effect within quantitative research. The aspect of quantitative research that deals with causal relationships by exploring independent and dependent variables along a hypothesis is what associates quantitative research with the "evidence based" term.

This type of search is preferred to qualitative research because qualitative research have tendencies towards bias, and has a focus on attitudes that do not provide an accurate cause/effect relationship when faced with replicating the study or implementing the practice/program. Quantitative studies seek the relational evidence that can be easier replicated and implemented because specific variables are studied and experimented for proving relationships.