Evaluating whether and how educational research is conducted in a particular country is of great importance because it can help stimulate the scientific community to improve its quality. In particular, the investigation methods it uses, the relationship between them and the aims assigned to the research itself are important. This work examines the articles published during six years (from 2016 to 2021) in the most qualified scientific journals dealing with teaching in Italy. The questions to answer are about how much the overall educational research emphasizes the empirical dimension, what kind of research designs are prevalent, what qualitative and experimental approaches are present.