Educational Research: Principles and Practice

This work facilitates an understanding of education research as a scientific method aimed at providing a systematic and rigorous approach to professional knowledge. Readers will develop the research skills necessary to evaluate interventions designed to bring about change within the learning-teaching environment. More specifically, the reader will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to: (1) promote critical skills for developing, implementing, and critiquing research problems and questions appropriate to educational practice; (2) select appropriate quantitative and qualitative approaches to guide research on a particular topic, including the use of experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental designs; (3) critique existing research in terms of its ability to rule out other possible explanations for purposes of generalizability; (4) implement procedures for assuring ethical conduct of research.Dr. Takona provides a concise, easy to understand coverage of activities comprised in modern education research and specifically aims to describe the mechanics of education research within the context of developing nations.

Prof. James Takona, a Kenyan national, received his Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago. Takona has been involved in the past decade in research and the teaching research methods and design courses in universities in Africa and the US. Takona is an Associate Professor of Technology and Media at LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee.