On October 29^th-30^th, the 8^th Forum on Empirical Education Research was successfully held at East China Normal University. It was held in a combination of offline and online formats. Seventeen 17 research institutions and organizations from China hosted parallel sub-forums on specific research methods and topics.

On October 30^th, the parallel sub-forum of “the application of generalizability theory in empirical education research” was successfully co-held by the Evidence-based Research Center for Educational Assessment (ERCEA) and School of Teacher Education of Jiangsu University, China. More than 600 researchers, university teachers, and students from all over the country participated in this parallel sub-forum.

The National Forum on Empirical Education Research was organized by the Department of Education of East China Normal University, the Department of Education of Beijing Normal University, the Office of the National Education Science Planning Leading Group and the Education Research Center of Guangming Daily, which is a highly anticipated academic event in the field of education in China.

Professor Jiajia Wang, dean of the School of Teacher Education, Jiangsu University, chaired this parallel sub-forum. Dean Wang addressed in the opening ceremony. He first introduced both the School of Teacher Education and the ERCEA at Jiangsu University, and then described the agenda of this parallel sub-forum.

The Opening Ceremony of the Forum

On the morning of October 30^th, Professor Jinyan Huang, the director of the ERCEA of Jiangsu University delivered a workshop on generalizability theory. Specifically, he explained to the audience what it is, what it can do in empirical research, and how we can use it to design a study and analyze the data. During the workshop, Professor Huang also had heated discussions with the participants about the content of the presentation.

The Generalizability Theory Research Design and Data Analysis Workshop

The afternoon session included five article presentations about generalizability theory. Dr. Liu Yingliang, professor from Wuhan University of Technology, Dr. Li Junfei, lecturer from Shanghai Dianji University, Dr. Jinyan Huang, professor from Jiangsu University, and his outstanding graduate students Yaxin Dong and Danni Zhu, presented their research studies that used generalizability as a theoretical and methodological framework. They presented their research findings and shared their experience of using generalizability theory in conducting empirical research. These presentations have become important resources for the audience to understand generalizability theory and its application in educational research.

Empirical Research Presentations on Generalizability Theory

Through a combination of the workshop and article presentations, this parallel sub-forum provided the audience with a wonderful and comprehensive learning opportunity for generalizability theory. It provided researchers in the field of education with new methods and approached in conducting empirical research in education and other humanities and social sciences fields.