This paper contends that much of what passes as "educational research" has all the appearance, but little of the substance, of scientific research and that the educational community should realize this fact and condemn the imitation, while working to improve scientifically based and conducted projects. Problems in the field center around (1) the mechanisms, attitudes, political structures, and reward systems existing in elementary and secondary education; (2) the time span allowed in developing proposals and conducting research and for results to become evident; (3) the self-reinforcing attitude of distrust and doubt among educators, who are wary of new research because of previous unfavorable research. Responsibility for changing the quality of research rests in four basic areas: (1) the financial support system, (2) participatory school systems, (3) the researchers, and (4) research training programs. Given the problems involving current systems which do not, and cannot, effect rigorous applied research in education and the general distrust regarding research as an effective change agent, the author makes nine recommendations to improve the situation, involving (1) organizational systems, (2) legal status of research organizations, (3) regional orientation, (4) materials and equipment identification and acquisition, (5) model research activities, (6) communication and implementation of data, (7) information dissemination, (8) communication and implementation of successful programs, and (9) feedback into training programs. (MB)