Decide what type of study is appropriate for the issue. Descriptive, comparative or meta-analysis are the most workable designs for most research into education issues.
Define the research question or problem that you want to investigate.
Locate previous research studies by searching databases and by using search engines on the web. As you research previous studies, note the methods and conclusions of each study. Read the studies and decide what the research question is and whether the study answers the research question. Note the results and find out if there are different explanations for those results.
Select as many articles as possible that deal with the research questions or problems that you have defined for study.
Read each article carefully and assess the quality of each section. Create a "1 to 10" number scale for quality, for example, assign a "1" for lowest quality and a "10" for the highest quality. Record the value numbers for each study's sections in a spreadsheet and total each study's numbers. This will help to separate the high-quality or well-designed research from the weaker or poorly designed studies.
Read the abstract to see if it provides a comprehensive overview that includes the problem or question for the research, related earlier studies, the reason for the study and hypotheses.
Assess the methods section of each article. It should describe the design of the study and how it was done, a description of the participants and how they were selected, what data-collection instrument (form) was used and how the data was analyzed. Make note of the number of participants. A larger number is usually better.
Assess the results or findings section. It should explain how the results relate to the study question given in the article's summary.
Read the conclusions section. It should summarize the study and explain why the results answer or do not answer the study question or problem. It should also provide possible other explanations for the results and any limitations of the study. The discussion section often suggests for future research.