Research methods in education philanthropy

This chapter presents the rich variety of research methods currently informing practice and discourse in education philanthropy. It reviews prevailing approaches, methodological innovations, and promising methods for future inquiry. This expanding and diversifying body of work is methodologically distinct for its contributions across a range of qualitative, quantitative, experimental, and integrative approaches. Recent years have brought new work by scholars from myriad disciplines spanning various lines of inquiry—from the lived experience of fundraisers including academic deans and presidents to growing private investments in K-12 education, experiential learning programs in philanthropy, transnational education philanthropy, and more nuanced, identity-related factors in giving decisions. Better integration of this work across academic fields, with the world of practice, and throughout the public realm could deepen understanding of increasingly complex and consequential phenomena, and enhance dialogue among education philanthropy's many and diverse stakeholders.