Educational Research : An Integrative Introduction

Are your beginning students sometimes overwhelmed by the prospect of reading research articles or writing a research proposal? Does the notion of educational research make them anxious to begin with? Is research a mystery to them? This text will help. Educational Research: An Integrative Introduction is a brief, basic, paperback alternative to the typically long, weighty, hardcover educational research tome. It takes a practical approach to educational research for beginning students. Students who study its chapters critically learn to read research reports and to produce a proposal for their own research project. Nine complete research reports in Appendix A provide illustrations of major ideas in the text chapters and are used in the end-of-chapter exercises. The reports read include experimental, descriptive, qualitative, and historical approaches. The book presents qualitative and quantitative research as complementary approaches to educational research.

Evelyn J. Sowell is currently Professor of Education at Arizona State University West. She received her Ed.D. in education from Northern Illinois University. A former elementary teacher, she has authored articles, reports, and books. In addition to educational research methods, her special interests include mathematics education and curriculum.