Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer, Fifth Edition

James H. McMillan

“Our faculty reviewed all the available texts in the field and felt Educational Research best fit our needs. We teach this course to a wide variety of students in a variety of majors (counseling, physical education, curriculum and instruction, educational administration, etc.) and it did the best job of providing for all these individual needs.”

–Steve Neill, Emporia State University

“I think the features add a nice element and are helpful for students to better understand the text. I direct students to the research articles and use some of the charts and tables in my lectures. I point out the outlines in the front of the chapters and direct them to the website for practice exam questions.”

–Anastasia Elder, Mississippi State University

Designed to help students become intelligent consumers of educational research, the fifth edition of this text introduces basic research principles to those who may later use research in their work. The author utilizes aids to facilitate student learning, including chapter concept maps, study questions, a book website, and more than 90 examples from published articles, including 11 full-length articles.

New features in this edition include the following:

• Completely revised Chapter 3, Locating and Reviewing Related Literature, consistent with new features of ERIC and online searching
• Revised Chapter 1, which now discusses the nature of research consistent with Scientific Research in Education
• New chapter on mixed-method and action research
• Expanded treatment of qualitative data analysis in response to instructor’s needs
• More detail about research ethics
• Examples and excerpts from published articles representing more than 50 different journals to illustrate the range of current thinking
• A new Exercise Manual available to be packaged with the text at no extra cost developed to provide more application exercises for students

Principles for conducting research and criteria for evaluating its overall credibility are presented in a concise manner, with numerous excerpts from published studies, to enable students to learn to read, understand, and evaluate research, and judge the usefulness of the findings for educational practice. The book is designed to enable readers to become intelligent consumers of educational research and to introduce basic research principles to those who may eventually be involved in research in their work. -Principles for conducting research and criteria for evaluating its overall credibility, understanding the intent of the researcher, the procedures, and the results -Instruction on how to analyze and evaluate research and judge the usefulness of the findings for educational practice. For anyone interested in educational research.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Research in Education

Why Research?

Sources of Knowledge

Characteristics of Scientific Inquiry

Applying Systematic Inquiry to Education

Type of Educational Research

Educational Research Report Formats

Anatomy of a Research Article

Chapter 2: Research Problems, Variables and Hypotheses

Research Problems

Sources for Research Problems

Quantitative Research Problem Statements and Questions

Hypotheses

Qualitative Research Problem Statements and Questions

Chapter 3: Locating and Reviewing Related Literature

The Purpose of Reviewing Related Literature

Steps to Review Related Literature

Chapter 4: Using the Internet for Educational Research

Introduction to the Internet

Organization of Information on the World Wide Web

Internet Search Strategies

Beyond Web Pages: Scholarly Communication Strategies

Review of Education Web Sites

Statistics

Association and university web pages

Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

Using Educational Research: Internet Search Samples

Chapter 5: Subjects, Participants, and Sampling

What is a Participant, a Subject, and a Sample?

Types of Sampling Procedures for Quantitative Studies

Types of Sampling Procedures for Qualitative Studies

How Participants and Sampling Affect Research

Chapter 6: Foundations of Educational Measurement

Introduction to Measurement

Principles of Descriptive Statistics for Understanding Measurement

Validity of Measurement

Reliability of Measurement

Chapter 7: Types of Educational Measures

Classifying Educational Measures

Tests

Questionnaires

Observations

Interviews

Locating and Evaluating Educational Measures

Chapter 8: Nonexperimental Quantitative Research Designs

The Purpose of Nonexperimental Research

Descriptive Studies

Relationships in Nonexperimental Designs

Comparitive Studies

Correlational Studies

Casual-Comparitive Studies

Using Surveys in Nonexperimental Research

Anatomy of a Nonexperimental Quantitative Research Study

Chapter 9: Experimental and Single-Subject Research Designs

Characteristics of Experimental Research

Types of Experimental Designs

Single-Subject Designs

Chapter 10: Understanding Statistical Inferences

The Purpose and Nature of Inferential Statistics

Interpreting Results of Inferential Tests

Chapter 11: Qualitative Research Designs and Analysis

Introduction to Qualitative Research

Characteristics of Qualitative Research

Ethnographic Studies

Case Studies

Phenomenological Studies

Grounded Theory Studies

Credibility of Qualitative Studies

Chapter 12: Mixed Method and Action Research

Mixed Method Research

Action Research

Chapter 13: Analyzing Discussion and Conclusions

Purpose and Nature of the Discussion

Interpretations of the Results

Conclusions

Chapter 14: The Intelligent Consumer: Putting it all Together

Questions for Quantitative Studies

Questions for Qualitative Studies

Examples of Research Articles