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An Introduction to Educational Research: Connecting Methods to Practice



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Author: Chad R. (Richard) Lochmiller and Jessica N. (Nina) Lester

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Publish Date: January 22, 2016

ISBN-10: 1483319504

Pages: 336

File Type: PDF

Language: English

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Book Preface

There are many introductory educational research textbooks available. The majority of these textbooks provide a balanced discussion of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches to research and discuss the basics of how to conduct educational research and evaluate published research studies. Similarly, this textbook offers a balanced discussion across research methodologies and presents the basics of the research process. However, when we set out to write this textbook, we wanted to take a slightly different approach to the discussion of educational research. The majority of research textbooks present research in a research-first manner, with research methodologies and methods as the prime focus and implications for practice dealt with last or as separate “case studies.” While this approach is useful for many students, in our own teaching we have found that students who are currently immersed in professional practice often struggle to see the connection between learning about the details and language of evaluating and conducting educational research and their own professional practice. Further, many students find research-first discussions of educational research intimidating or simply disconnected from their daily lives. As such, we wanted to write a book for practitioners who inherently strive to understand their professional work in more detail and who may also seek to improve schools, districts, and educational organizations by conducting research within these contexts. We refer to these individuals—indeed, to you—as practitioner-scholars because we believe that it captures the nature of your work and the strength of your interest in improving schools. More specifically, we wrote this book for classroom teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators—those who individually and collectively act as leaders in schools and districts.

The students we have worked with come from a diverse array of professional experiences, many of which uniquely equip them to understand research through the lens of a practitioner-scholar. Many of these practitioner-scholars enter our research methods classrooms with a comprehensive understanding of the work that takes place on a daily basis in their schools, districts, and educational organizations. They ask compelling and interesting questions related to the problems of practice that they face each day. Many of these same problems are found in the annals of educational research and are the focus of scholars’ lives and careers. Recognizing the relationship between problems of practice and educational research, in An Introduction to Educational Research: Connecting Methods to Practice, we adopt a practice-first orientation. We aim to provide the reader with an introduction to educational research in a way that aligns with their professional experiences and illuminates the ever-present connections between these experiences and educational research. Throughout the textbook, we incorporate problems of practice, linking these problems to particular steps of the research process, theoretical perspectives, research methodologies, and methods. In addition, we present links to specific research practices throughout the textbook to highlight how practitioner-scholars undertake research and, in practical terms, what that undertaking involves.

More particularly, this book serves five purposes. First, we provide you with a broad introduction to the research process. Second, we assist you in becoming conversant in the language of research, which will support you as you develop abilities related to the critical consumption of research and the process of conducting research. Third, we offer illustrative problems of practice that illuminate the connections between research and your practice as a practitioner-scholar. Fourth, in exposing you to these problems of practice, we hope to prepare you to identify research topics and ideas that you might study independently or with your colleagues. Fifth, through reflective opportunities staged throughout the book, we assist you in considering your identity as a researcher, identifying your assumptions about responsibly conducting research, and weighing various approaches to research given your particular interests and values.

Brief Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. About the Authors
  4. PART I EXAMINING THE FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
    1. CHAPTER 1 • Studying Education Practice With Research
    2. CHAPTER 2 • Designing a Research Study
    3. CHAPTER 3 • Reviewing the Literature
    4. CHAPTER 4 • Considering Research Ethics
  5. PART II CONSIDERING APPROACHES TO EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
    1. CHAPTER 5 • Introducing Qualitative Research
    2. CHAPTER 6 • Introducing Quantitative Research
    3. CHAPTER 7 • Collecting Qualitative and Quantitative Data
    4. CHAPTER 8 • Completing Qualitative Data Analysis
    5. CHAPTER 9 • Completing Quantitative Data Analysis
    6. CHAPTER 10 • Introducing Mixed Methods Research and Analysis
    7. CHAPTER 11 • Introducing Action Research
  6. PART III PRODUCING RESEARCH TO IMPROVE PRACTICE
    1. CHAPTER 12 • Writing the Research
    2. CHAPTER 13 • Using and Sharing Research to Improve Practice
  7. Glossary
  8. References
  9. Index

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