Jump into the Montessori Research Pool!
By Julia Volkman
A new database of participants for researchers to explore
We hear all the time about how research needs to drive our teaching. Everyone is clamoring for evidence-based instruction. But what does that mean for Montessori practitioners? While we have over 100 years of experience with the Montessori method, there is still only a small body of research studies that directly analyze it. (Ed. Note: You can catch up on a lot of the latest research at public-montessori.org/research-and-resources.)
Now let’s say you’re a researcher who is ready to dive in and study something about the method. Where do you begin? How do you find schools, teachers, administrators, and/or parents who are willing to participate? That’s the question Dr. Kateri Carver, Dr. Susan Zoll, and I asked when we were discussing research projects in the spring of 2023.
The answer we came up with was to create a university-based database where Montessori researchers could look to find participants for their studies. This is different from a database housed with one organization or another. A university-based database reaches Montessorians from all denominations and can be maintained over the long-term. So, we spoke with the powers that be at Dr. Carver’s University (University of Wisconsin, River Falls), did some testing and adjusting, and we set one up.
We’re very excited to announce that the Montessori Research Pool is live and has already registered over 1,100 potential research participants! Here’s how it works.
Anyone who is interested in participating in Montessori research can sign up by filling out the form linked from the QR code to the right. Signing up does not mean you will automatically be included in a study; it just gives researchers a way to find people who precisely meet their study’s focus (e.g., people working with dementia, early childhood, adolescence, in public/private schools, etc.).
Not just any researcher can access the database. First, they need to have approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB). This is a group (usually at a university) that reviews each study to make sure it meets ethical standards and adequately protects the safety of potential study participants. Once a researcher has IRB approval, they can forward it to [email protected] to gain database access.
I have personally already used the research pool to find Montessori guides to participate in a year-long research study I’m conducting with Dr. Ann Epstein, Dr. Heather Gerker, and Dr. Ian Becker. We’re evaluating the efficacy of an evidence-based approach to mentoring Montessori guides. Once we had IRB approval, it was quick and easy to filter the database and find people who matched our study criteria.
You can help
If we really want the Montessori Research Pool to be helpful in the long-term, we need people to continually spread the word. The 1,100 participants enrolled so far have all signed up because they saw this QR code at the end of a webinar or conference presentation or clicked on the sign-up link they saw in an email. If everyone starts including this code or the form above as a standard footer in their newsletters or closing screen in their presentations, we’ll be able to keep the sign-ups coming in! So, please add the Montessori Research Pool to all your communications. Together, we can get the data we need to keep Montessori going strong well into the future.