Conducting Educational Research

Conducting Educational Research, Sixth Edition thoroughly addresses the major components of research design and methodology. The text is especially useful for inexperienced student-researchers and doctoral students in the early stages of preparing a dissertation. The early chapters of the text clearly describe the process of selecting a problem, reviewing the literature, constructing a hypothesis, identifying and labeling variables, and constructing operational definitions. The later chapters assist students in refining methodological procedures, analyzing data, and writing the final research report. The clarity of the text and the numerous practical examples help to reinforce important concepts and key ideas, increasing the efficacy of the text for even the most inexperienced student-researchers. Additionally, sample studies are included as models of acceptable published research and serve as a guide against which students may evaluate their own work.

Changes in New Edition
More illustrations, tables, figures, and bulleted lists to enhance understandingMore and simpler explanations of complex process A greater balance between the various approaches to research, ranging from experimental to qualitative, with causal-comparative, survey, and evaluation in-betweenPart I
Expanded to include additional ethical considerations when conducting research. Part II:
Renamed "Carrying out Fundamental Steps of Research"Additional details regarding measurement and observation Expanded discussion of the application of design criteriaPart III:
Renamed "Carrying out Quantitative Research"Additional chapters on experimental research, correlational and causal-comparative research, survey research, and evaluation research.

Bruce W. Tuckman is professor of educational psychology at the Ohio State University, where he is also Founding Director of the Walter E. Dennis Learning Center. Tuckman is an American Psychologist, who has carried out seminal research into the theory of group dynamics. In 1965, he published a model of group development called Tuckman’s Stages, with stages of Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. In 1977, he added a fifth stage named Adjourning. Tuckman's current scholarly interest focuses on the topic of motivation: its manifestation in the form of self-regulatory behavior, and its absence in the form of procrastination, particularly as applied to the behavior of studying. He is building a model linking motivational factors to school achievement, and is examining specific interventions that enhance the self-regulatory behavior of students. He is also interested in study strategies that help students learn from text.

Brian E. Harper is associate professor of educational psychology at Cleveland State University. A former classroom teacher in the Philadelphia , Pennsylvania public school district, Dr. Harper completed his doctoral work at The Ohio State University in Educational Psychology. His research interests include African American racial identity development and motivational psychology, particularly as it applies to students in urban settings. His current work focuses on African American students and the factors that promote or inhibit academic self-regulation.