Research Methods for Education

Research Methods for Education, Second Edition employs a conversational tone to frame research as a logical, step-by-step process of making research decisions. Helping students translate their complex educational research questions into a plan for a research project, the text focuses on applying scientific methods in real-world educational contexts. Authors Sandra L. Dika, Lynn Ahlgrim-Delzell, and Gregory J. Privitera show how methods and analysis work together to create credible, reliable, and valid quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods educational research. Chapters logically follow the research design and analysis process as in the first edition, with a focus on ethics, measurement, literature reviews, and participant selection before moving through various research designs, including nonexperimental, quasi-experimental, experimental, qualitative, and mixed methods. Significant updates include a restructured table of contents with more emphasis on quasi-experimental research and single-case designs and more logical flow of content. New sections on validity incorporate national standards, while more clarification of qualitative and mixed methods designs helps students better understand these approaches. Throughout, new educational examples and data have been added, as well as updates for the APA 7th edition guidelines.