Synopsis
This book was written as a text and resource guide for graduate-level students, practitioners, and teachers in the fields of special education, disability studies, early intervention, school psychology, and child and family services. The primary purpose of the book is to offer a broad-based examination of the role of scientific inquiry in contemporary special education. The authors aim was to provide a comprehensive overview of the philosophical, ethical, methodological, and analytical fundamentals of social science and educational research, as well as to specify aspects of special education research that distinguish it from scientific inquiry in other fields of education and human services. The book is divided into ten chapters. Chapter 1 establishes the theoretical underpinnings of social scientific inquiry; provides a foundation in the philosophical, epistemological, and methodological considerations related to the design and execution of research in general and special education; and discusses the broad purposes of research in special education and disability studies. Chapter 2 addresses issues that are preparatory to designing and evaluating special education research. Chapter 3 discusses key measurement and statistical concepts used in the quantitative research tradition, including reliability and validity of measurement instruments; the purposes of descriptive, inferential, and nonparametric statistics in analyzing numerical data; and selected methods of statistical analysis. Chapter 4 reviews ethical issues and guidelines for the design, implementation, and reporting of research in special education. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 review the wide range of quantitative, qualitative, and integrative approaches to conducting research in special education, while Chapter 9 presents a published research article section by section, annotates the components and composition of a research report, and provides a protocol that students, practitioners, and educators can use to evaluate the technical soundness and scientific merits of published research articles. The final chapter addresses future trends in special education research as they apply to a variety of stakeholders.
About the Author
Phillip Rumrill, PhD, CRC, is a nationally Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. He is Professor and Coordinator, Rehabilitation Counseling Program and Director, Center for Disability Studies, Kent State University, OH. Dr. Rumrill has authored or co-authored more than 200 professional journal articles; 50 book chapters, monographs, measurement instruments, and training manuals; and 12 books. He has also guest-edited 21 special issues of professional and academic journals in the fields of education and rehabilitation. Dr. Rumrill is a highly sought speaker at national and international conferences and has delivered more than 350 addresses to consumer, professional, academic, and policymaking audien ces over the past two decades. From 2006-2011, he served as Co-Principal Investigator and Research Director of the Coordination, Outreach, and Research Center for the Americans with Disabilities Act National Network, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). He has received honors and recognition for his work from such organizations as the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, the National Council on Rehabilitation Education, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, the International Organization of Social Science and Behavioral Research, and the National TRIO Foundation. Dr. Rumrill has held Distinguished Lecturer or Visiting Scholar appointments at University of Pittsburgh, Ohio State University, University of Hawaii, University of Leeds Medical School in England, University of Glasgow in Scotland, and the Arla Institute of Finland. He co-authored Sandwich Generation's Guide to Eldercare, which won the Gold Medal in the Foreword's 2013 Book of the Year Awards in the Family and Relationship Books category.
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