Understanding Educational Research

Exloring scientific research in education and the behavioural sciences, this text is designed to prepare readers to understand research by actually carrying out their own research. It focuses on the methodology involved in scientific research and illustrates the necessary techniques for doing the first research project and the reasons for using those techniques. Highlights of this unique resource include an easy-to-read, non-threatening writing style providing full coverage of virtually all research strategies in education and psychology; explanations of basic research strategies and the basic experimental designs; actual research studies taken from educational literature; a chapter on the use of computers in education and research covering literature searches as well as statistical analysis; and a research simulations chapter in which readers check off the critical decisions needed to carry out the research while being exposed to some of education's most important studies.