Introduction to Educational Research

Features

• The most practically oriented research methods textbook on the market!

• Focuses on eight types of quantitative and qualitative research studies to highlight applications students will actually use.
• “Developmental Activity” sections in Chapters 1 through 9 help students break down the research process into easy-to-follow steps and then integrate those steps into their final research projects.

• Many pedagogical features include chapter previews, graphic organizers of chapter contents, in-text application exercises, end-of-chapter activities, an extensive glossary, “Targeted Learning” objectives, and progress checks in each chapter to clarify concepts and help students better comprehend the material.

• “Applying Technology” sections in each chapter provide students with related Websites and technology applications that help them understand and apply chapter contents.

• TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE - TakeNote!, an innovative Web tool, facilitates the writing process and assists struggling students in developing their research proposal (Appendix B).

•  TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE - A Companion Website, www.ablongman.com/mertler6e, provides professors with supplementary updated PowerPoint lectures, chapter quizzes, activities, a message board, sample research proposals and surveys, a sample data file, and statistical decision-making trees. Research Navigator is also integrated with the text by means of key work icons and chapter activities.

New to this Edition

• A new chapter titled Mixed-Methods Research Designs has been added as Chapter 14
• The 5th edition's Chapter 10 (ethnographic research) and part of Chapter 12 (historical research) have been combined into a new chapter titled Qualitative Research Methods (Chapter 10), which includes a broader, more comprehensive overview of approaches to qualitative research
• The remaining part of the 5th edition's Chapter 12 (descriptive  research) has been revised into a new chapter titled Survey Research (Chapter 11)
• Correlational research (formerly Chapter 13) and causal-comparative research (formerly part of Chapter 14) have been combined into a new chapter titled Nonexperimental Quantitative Research (Chapter 12)
• Expanded sample research proposals and final research report sections present easy-to-access examples for both professor and student.
• Nine new, more current exemplar studies (all published between 2002 and 2005) have been incorporated into Chapters 10-15
• The additional research articles, all available through Research NavigatorTM and in full-text, which appear in Chapters 10 through 15 have been updated.
• In Chapters 1 through 9, brief suggestions for online activities to instructors of online courses are provided in sections titled Tips for Online Courses.