Research Methods in Education

Research Methods in Education introduces research methods as an integrated set of techniques for investigating questions about the educational world. This lively, innovative text helps students connect technique and substance, appreciate the value of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and make ethical research decisions. It weaves actual research "stories" into the presentation of research topics, and it emphasizes validity, authenticity, and practical significance as overarching research goals.

The text is divided into three sections: Foundations of Research (five chapters), Research Design and Data Collection (seven chapters), and Analyzing and Reporting Data (three chapters). This tripartite conceptual framework honors traditional quantitative approaches while reflecting the growing popularity of qualitative studies, mixed method designs, and school-based techniques. This approach provides a comprehensive, conceptually unified, and well-written introduction to the exciting but complex field of educational research.

Joseph W. Check, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership in the Graduate College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Boston. He completed his B.A. at Boston College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English at Tufts University. His prior publications include Politics, Language, and Culture: A Critical Look at Urban School Reform (Praeger, 2002), co-editorship of Writing Within School Reform, a monograph series of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and book chapters and articles on literacy, practitioner inquiry, and urban school reform. He has supervised dissertations in school reform, professional development, literacy, home/school interactions, and special education. He has served as Principal or Co-Principal Investigator for numerous grant-funded professional development programs including a 4-year, $4M practitioner inquiry project in 14 urban school districts, funded by the DeWitt-Wallace Reader’s Digest Foundation. He is an experienced classroom instructor in master’s and doctoral level research courses.

Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received the 2007 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service and taught from 1979 to 2022. He is also a Clinical Research Scientist I at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University. In addition to ten editions of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and seven editions of Making Sense of the Social World, with Daniel F. Chambliss, PhD, as well as coauthored versions for criminal justice, psychology, and education, his other books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (2011), Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited, 2015), and Organization in a Changing Environment (1986). He has authored and coauthored more than 70 peer reviewed journal articles, as well as more than 30 non-refereed articles and book chapters on social support, mental and physical health, health services, organizations, homelessness, law, and teaching research methods. His research has been funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the National Science Foundation, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.