Research Methods and Applications for Student Affairs

Chapter OneStudying Research

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Describe several reasons for the importance of research.
• Identify the historical and contemporary context of research.
• Explain why practitioners need to be researchers.
• Articulate the need for research skills and competencies.
• Relate research skills to student affairs practice skills.

Research is essential to student affairs. It chronicles the history of professional practice, informs contemporary work, and recommends how the field must shift to address future challenges and opportunities. Practitioners who are skilled and proficient research consumers, capable of understanding, reading, evaluating, and applying evidence-based information, ...