Educational Research
Students study standardized testing design, program evaluation methods, educational statistics, and data-driven approaches to improving schools and learning outcomes. Graduates typically pursue careers as assessment specialists, program evaluators, educational researchers, and testing company analysts. This data-focused field is essential for school accountability and evidence-based education reform.
What Educational Research graduates do
Your work will focus on a single, critical question: "Is this working?" You won't be guessing; you'll be using data to find the answer. As a management analyst, you might be embedded in a school district, evaluating the impact of a new teaching method on student test scores. As a training manager for a large corporation, you’ll design systems to measure if a multi-million dollar leadership program is actually producing better leaders.
Early in your career, you’ll focus on data collection and analysis. As you advance, you’ll shift to designing the evaluations, managing research projects, and advising senior executives. Paths for management analysts and statisticians are growing quickly due to the universal demand for data-driven decisions. However, some traditional roles like survey researcher are declining.
With moderate AI exposure, expect technology to automate routine data cleaning and analysis. Your job will become less about crunching numbers and more about asking the right questions, interpreting nuanced results, and persuading people to change course based on the evidence.
Related majors worth comparing: Social Sciences, Economics, and Management Sciences.
Where Educational Research graduates work
Common career paths for Educational Research graduates, with median salaries, projected growth, and AI exposure per role. Roughly 127,400 combined openings per year across these roles.
| Role | Median Pay | Annual Openings | 10-yr Growth | AI Exposure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Training and development managers
|
$127,090
$96K–$169K
|
3,800 | +5.8% | High · 50% |
|
Statisticians
|
$103,300
$79K–$138K
|
2,000 | +8.5% | High · 66% |
|
Management analysts
|
$101,190
$77K–$133K
|
98,100 | +8.8% | Moderate · 40% |
|
Social scientists and related workers, all other
|
$100,340
$79K–$128K
|
3,200 | -1.7% | High · 52% |
|
Social sciences teachers, postsecondary, all other
|
$75,040
$60K–$105K
|
1,500 | +1.7% | Low · 0% |
|
Education teachers, postsecondary
|
$72,090
$51K–$96K
|
5,600 | +2.1% | Moderate · 49% |
|
Survey researchers
|
$63,380
$46K–$85K
|
700 | -5.2% | High · 62% |
|
Educational instruction and library workers, all other
|
$48,400
$33K–$69K
|
12,500 | +1.5% | Low · 0% |
Best schools for Educational Research
Schools ranked by DegreeOutlook Score (earnings × AI resilience × ROI × job-market size). Top 2 of 2.
Highest Earnings Top 5
| Ashford University
CA |
$33,086 |
| University of Arizona
AZ |
$26,457 |
Best ROI Top 5
| University of Arizona
AZ |
7.9x |
| Ashford University
CA |
6.6x |
Related majors
Similar fields of study often offered alongside Educational Research.
Frequently asked about Educational Research
How much do Educational Research graduates earn?
First-year earnings for Educational Research graduates average $29,772 annually, based on data from 2 programs. The range spans $26,457 at the low end to $33,086 at the top.
Will AI affect Educational Research careers?
AI exposure for Educational Research is rated "High." With 48% of tasks potentially affected by large language models, some career functions face meaningful automation pressure in the coming decade.
Where should I study Educational Research?
Our data ranks University of Arizona first among 2 Educational Research programs. Its score of 34/100 reflects strong outcomes across earnings ($26,457/yr), return on investment, and career durability.
What's the ROI on a Educational Research degree?
Typical graduates earn 7.2 times what they paid in tuition within a decade. This is a moderate return — school choice matters significantly. Look at per-school ROI in the table above — averages can mask significant variation.