An Introduction to Machine Learning for Educational Researchers

The past 10 years have produced enormous changes by providing researchers with increased access to large datasets as well as the methods available to analyze these large datasets. Techniques such as data mining, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and related methods have become commonplace. Machine learning is one area under this broad umbrella of methods that is rapidly gaining popularity. Given that many educational researchers are interested in understanding the basics of machine learning and exploring how these methods may be useful in education, the goal of this chapter is to introduce educational researchers to this area. The relationship of machine learning to related fields and ways to conduct machine learning are discussed. Finally, the intersection of machine learning and educational research is explored with an applied example. Recommendations for future research are discussed.