Education Descriptive Reports: How to Publish Pragmatic Studies in Education

The purpose of this article is to describe the contents of an education descriptive report and to provide a useful publication format for educators in the health professions.

The education descriptive report is a pragmatic, empirical study that can contribute to the literature. Education descriptive reports describe an event or situation in an education setting, the resulting outcomes, and what new information can be learned. These reports may use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods and may be from organizational, academic, instructional, programmatic, or other educational perspectives.

The education descriptive report gives educators in the health professions a mechanism to introduce their scholarly efforts and observations in education environments in a manner that is consistent with the academic literature. This article describes the structure of an education descriptive report and includes a helpful template for academic authors to develop their own report so they may publish observational, reflective, and hypothesis-generating articles.