Structured Abstracts for Education Research - An ERIC Initiative

Introduction
The education community has become increasingly focused on evidence-based decision-making and is seeking a concise way to rapidly identify, locate, and evaluate education research. Decision-makers and researchers want to be able to see at a glance such key elements as:

• Background
• Purpose
• Research design and
• Findings

Where applicable, they want to know what populations were studied in what setting, and how study data were collected and analyzed. In support of these goals, ERIC is taking steps to evaluate the use of structured abstracts within the ERIC database.

Characteristics of a Structured Abstract
Structured abstracts encourage explicit, factual reporting, with concrete details about study design and outcomes. They may be used for both qualitative and quantitative research. Structured abstracts differ from traditional narrative abstracts by including pre-defined headings, or elements, within the body of the abstract. They serve as an overview to the full research study.

History of Structured Abstracts
Structured abstracts have been used in scientific and medical fields for several years. They were established to support research syntheses and reduce reporting bias. They are now the predominant type of abstract found in major clinical journals. Many behavioral and social sciences journals are also following the convention of structured abstracts.

Key Benefits of Structured Abstracts
Structured abstracts:

• Provide readable, informative, and accurate summaries in a consistent format
• Help users identify studies and quickly extract desired information, such as all reports that relied on the same study dataset
• Encourage individuals to evaluate the quality of evidence
• Support accountability and consistency in reporting and interpretation of research findings
• Help ensure that studies are found and correctly reported on

ERIC Structured Abstracts
In developing the structured abstract format within the education research community, ERIC turned to several sources, including:

• Recommendations from the ERIC advisory groups, especially the ERIC Structured Abstract Working Group comprised of members from the ERIC Steering Committee and Content Experts
• The What Works Clearinghouse, charged by the Department of Education to provide a central, reliable source of scientific evidence of 'what works' in education
• Structured abstracts implemented in other disciplines

The resulting structured abstract template contains eleven elements and requires selection of a research design from a drop-down list.

ERIC requests that contributors provide structured abstracts as they submit their research reports through the Online Submission System located in the My ERIC section of the ERIC Web site. By participating in this initiative and providing feedback, researchers provide a valuable perspective that will help ERIC refine and improve its initial structured abstract template and help text. The U.S. Department of Education encourages the research community to work with ERIC to improve overall communication about education research. Click here for a self-paced video on structured abstracts in ERIC narrated by IES Commissioner Dr. Phoebe Cottingham.