Understanding and Evaluating Educational Research, 4th edition

Published by Pearson (July 2, 2009) © 2010
  • James H. McMillan
  • Jon Wergin

Title overview

  • NEW! Revision of research typology discussed in the first chapter
    • Readers gain useful insight on how to classify research studies, and present criteria by which all educational research should be judged. 
  • NEW! Addition of a chapter on Mixed-Method Designs (Chapter 5), and two mixed-method studies.
  • NEW! Revised and expanded discussion of qualitative methods and designs.
    • Includes characteristics of mixed-method designs and the criteria for how this type of research should be evaluated.
  • NEW! Eight new articles on descriptive quantitative non-experimental designs.
  • NEW! The most current, relevant articles included from a wide variety of journals and of varied reading levels. Promotes student appreciation of the diversity of published research.
    • Representing both quantitative and qualitative methods, selected articles have been published within the past five years, representing a diverse range of topics found in education (e.g., educational administration, counseling, special education, curriculum, adult education, early childhood education).
  • NEW! More emphasis is placed on randomized designs for the published articles found in each chapter.
  • Credibility scorecard–Provides a scale designed to spark class discussion.
    • Assists students in evaluating each component of an article.
  • Coverage of important topics–Includes analytical research methods, qualitative methods and designs, descriptive quantitative nonexperimental designs, and graphic presentations of data.
  • Research flow chart.Helps students understand the different types of educational research and the terminology associated with each type.
  • Concept overview–Opens each chapter.
    • Gives students definitions of key concepts and ideas associated with each kind of research.
  • Evaluation criteria–Closes each article.
    • Lists criteria for evaluation with the authors' answers so students can see how to analyze each article.
  • Questions for discussion–Provided for each article.
    • Facilitates class discussion of the important concepts for each study.
  • NEW! Revision of research typology discussed in the first chapter
    • Readers gain useful insight on how to classify research studies, and present criteria by which all educational research should be judged. 
  • NEW! Addition of a chapter on Mixed-Method Designs (Chapter 5), and two mixed-method studies.
  • NEW! Revised and expanded discussion of qualitative methods and designs.
    • Includes characteristics of mixed-method designs and the criteria for how this type of research should be evaluated.
  • NEW! Eight new articles on descriptive quantitative non-experimental designs.
  • NEW! The most current, relevant articles included from a wide variety of journals and of varied reading levels.
    • Selected articles have been published within the past five years, representing a diverse range of topics found in education (e.g., educational administration, counseling, special education, curriculum, adult education, early childhood education).
    • More emphasis is placed on randomized designs for the published articles found in each chapter.

Table of contents

Chapter 1  Introduction to Reading Educational Research

Chapter 2  Quantitative Nonexperimental Designs

Chapter 3  Experimental Designs

Chapter 4  Qualitative Designs

Chapter 5  "Mixed-Method" Designs

Chapter 6  Action/Practitioner Research

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