 Educational psychology, as much as any other field of psychology heavily relies on a balance of pure observation and quantitative methods in psychology.The study of education generally combines the studies of history, sociology, and ethics with theoretical approaches.Smeyers and Depaepe explain that historically, the study of education and child rearing have been associated with the interests of policymakers and practitioners within the educational field, however, the recent shift to sociology and psychology has opened the door for new findings in education as a social science.