Collaborative Human–AI Research Practices: Identifying Critical Touchpoints for Human Intervention in Educational Research

This study investigates how educational researchers integrate artificial intelligence (AI) tools into their workflows, with a focus on balancing automation and human judgment. The study, which provides a mixed method approach with a survey and interview questions, utilized an international sample of 65 educational research fields. The findings reveal that AI-supported tools help reduce the burden while carrying out research processes, so that more time can be spent on basic and innovative activities. In addition, ethical and practical guidelines have emerged on how to optimize human–AI collaboration. It has been determined which tools researchers use and how. This study attempts to explain how AI can be effectively integrated with human intelligence. Considering this, it emphasizes the need to create strong policies and standards on the use of AI, to raise awareness of users about technology use, and to ensure that ethical practices are observed. This article offers a roadmap outlining which AI tools can be used and in what ways. It also makes significant contributions to the literature in this field by emphasizing the indispensable importance of human intervention in intelligence-supported education research.