Educational Research and Inquiry Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

This comprehensive textbook encourages students to contextualise their understanding of quantitative and qualitative research methods by drawing links between the research question and its theoretical framework with the choice of the quantitative/qualitative methodology and analyses. It also encourages them to develop a theoretical appreciation of the field of inquiry and to balance the emphasis on methods with reviewing the literature and understanding the wider context of research. Each chapter contains user-friendly features designed to support the student, such as: key terms, summaries, case studies and examples. Exercises are suggested throughout the text, enabling students to look at easily accessible data sets and use prompts to formulate research questions to produce a mini study. Further reading material has been provided at the end of each chapter. A companion website supports the text, providing easy access to supporting material, including revision questions and an annotated list of useful websites. This text will be invaluable reading for research students in education embarking upon their PhD, EdD or MPhil. Research fellows and other educational researchers will also find this book a useful resource.

Authors' Biographies \ Preface \ Acknowledgements \ Introduction Dimitra Hartas Part I: Educational Research and Inquiry: Foundations \ 1. Educational Research and Inquiry: Key Issues and Debates Dimitra Hartas \ 2. The Epistemological Context of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Dimitra Hartas \ 3. Qualitative Research as a Method of Inquiry in Education Will Gibson \ 4. Quantitative Research as a Method of Inquiry in Education Dimitra Hartas \ Part II: Conceptualizing and Planning Research in Education \ 5. Research Questions and Research Design Denis Gleeson \ 6. Doing a Literature Review Dimitra Hartas \ 7. Ethical Considerations and Legal Issues in Educational Research Geoff Lindsay \ Part III: Methodology and Research Designs in Education: Strategies of Inquiry \ 8. Action Research Andy Townsend \ 9. Ethnographic Encounters with Children Pia Christensen \ 10. Children's and Young People's Participation within Educational and Civic Settings: A Comparative Case Study Approach to Research Michael Wyness \ 11. Researching Classroom Interaction and Talk David Wray and Kristiina Kumpulainen \ 12. Documentary Research Wendy Robinson \ 13. The Application of Visual Methodology in the Exploration of the Visual Culture of Schools Jon Prosser and Andrew Loxley \ 14. Interviewing as Educational Research Method(s) Andrew Hobson and Andrew Townsend \ 15. Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs in Educational Research Dimitra Hartas \ 16. Survey Research in Education Dimitra Hartas \ 17. Evaluation Research in Education Dimitra Hartas \ Part IV. Making Sense of Research in Education: Analyzing our Data \ 18. Qualitative Research Analysis in Education Will Gibson \ 19. Key Concepts and Assumptions in Quantitative Data Analysis Dimitra Hartas \ 20. Preparing and Inputting Data in SPSS15 Dimitra Hartas \ 21. Exploring Quantitative Data Dimitra Hartas \ 22. Between Group Differences: Comparing Two or More Means Dimitra Hartas \ 23. Correlation and Regression Steve Strand \ 24. Exploratory Factor Analysis Dimitra Hartas \ Part V. Presentation of Educational Research \ 25. Writing up and Presenting Research Alan Pritchard \ Epilogue Dimitra Hartas \ Glossary \ Index