Interpreting Educational Research: An Introduction for Consumers of Research (3rd Edition)

We intend the third edition ofInterpreting Educational Research: An Introduction for Consumers of Researchto be used in introductory research courses in which elementary and early childhood education teachers, reading/literacy specialists, special education teachers, and content area teachers at the middle and secondary school levels are prepared as consumers rather than as producers of educational research. We provide preservice and in-service teachers with basic knowledge and skills for reading, interpreting, and evaluating both quantitative and qualitative educational research, so that they can make program, curriculum, and instructional decisions based upon those research results. This knowledge base is useful for teachers who collaborate in research projects with college and university faculty and other teachers. In addition, we provide a guide for composing teacher-as-researcher action research projects and syntheses of research. Through directed learning activities based on current integrated language arts principles and practices for reading and writing content area discourse, we guide readers to independence in the use of techniques for reading, interpreting, evaluating, and writing about education research. The evaluation of education research is approached by us so teachers will become research consumers by understanding the underlying methodological and procedural assumptions used by educators who are research producers. In essence, teachers are guided in research literacy learning to think as research producers. NATURE OF THE REVISION Our revisions consist of updating information about how research is produced, providing more recent examples of research methodology, replacing the complete research reports in Appendix B and adding an additional study, and providing current standards for producing action or program evaluation research. The discussions throughout the text are supported with examples of what we feel are good, curriculum-based, quantitative and qualitative research reports representing the fields of elementary-, middle-, and secondary-school general and content-area education, reading/literacy education, and gifted and special education. A very important revision we have made is to update and expand the explanation and interpretation of qualitative research. We have added information about the use of effect size in analyzing quantitative results. The discussion about interpreting and evaluating reviews of research has been revised to reflect current thought about syntheses of research. Information and strategies for locating research reports through the use of electronic databases and the Internet have been updated and expanded. Because we feel that all educators, whether consumers or producers of research, should know and appreciate the criteria for conducting instructional program evaluations, we have added the program evaluation standards that have been established by professional associations. ORGANIZATION In this revision, we have maintained the organization and chapter topics of the previous editions. The text is organized into eleven chapters and three appendices. In Chapters 1, 2, and 3, we lead the reader to an understanding of research designs, the general procedures of research producers, and a plan for reading research reports. In Chapters 4 through 9, we present extended discussions of the aspects of research design and methodology and illustrations of the manner in which research producers present them in research reports. In Chapters 10 and 11, we provide information about reading and writing reviews of research and about sources for locating research reports. In the appendices are a glossary of key terms, six complete research reports for additional study and analysis, and ethical standards for conducting educational and program evaluation research. We begin each chapter with a graphic overview of the content (as shown on page ix) and foAlan J. Simon is the author of 'Interpreting Educational Research: An Introduction for Consumers of Research (3rd Edition)', published 2001 under ISBN 9780130128591 and ISBN 0130128597.