Making sense of research : what's good, what's not, and how to tell the difference /: what's good, what's not, and how to tell the difference. (2003)

• Record Type: Book
• Further Information: Note: Elaine K. McEwan, Patrick J. McEwan.
• Authors: McEwan-Adkins, Elaine K, 1941-; McEwan, Patrick J
• Contents: Cover; Contents; Foreword; Preface; The Goals of This Book; Who This Book is for; What This Book is Not; Overview of the Contents; A Few Words of Explanation; Acknowledgments; About the Authors; Chapter 1 -- Asking the Right Questions; What is our Approach to Making Sense of Research?; Five Questions about Research; The Causal Question: Does it Work?; The Process Question: How Does it Work?; The Cost Question: Is it Worthwhile?; The Usability Question: Will it Work for Me?; The Evaluation Question: Is it Working for Me?; Four Case Studies of Education Research Class Size Reduction: Does Size Matter?Phonics: can it Teach Them all to Read?; Vouchers: Are Private Schools in the Public Good?; Whole-School Reform: Greater Than the Sum of its Parts?; Further Reading; Chapter 2 -- Behind the Scenes in the World of Education Research; The World of Education Research; The Worldviews of Researchers; Research Methodologies; The Purposes of Research; Who Does Education Research?; Who Pays for it?; Where is it Published?; Can You Trust Education Research?; What Does the Future Hold for Education Research?; Does Education Research Really Matter?; Further Reading Chapter 3 -- The Causal Question: Does it Work? (Part I)The Causality Conundrum; Simple (Minded) Methods of Establishing Causality; The before-and-after Approach; The Comparison Group Approach; Internal Validity; The Elements of an Experiment; Why Random Assignment?; Units of Randomization; Defining the Treatment, Outcomes, and Sample; What is the Treatment?; What are the Outcomes?; What is the Sample?; Analyzing Experimental Results; What can Go Wrong with Experiments?; Why are Experiments So Unpopular with Education Researchers?; Does Class Size Reduction Work? Does Phonics Instruction Work?Do Private-School Vouchers Work?; Does Whole-School Reform Work?; Further Reading; Chapter 4 -- The Causal Question: Does it Work? (Part II); Quasi-Experiments and Non-Experiments; What They are Not; What They are; The Researcher's Bag of Tricks; Design; Statistics; Quasi-Experimental Approaches; Matching; Interrupted Time Series; Bad Quasi-Experiments; Non-Experimental Approaches; Correlational Studies; "Natural" Experiments; Bad Non-Experiments; Does Class Size Reduction Work?; Does Phonics Instruction Work?; Do Private-School Vouchers Work? Does Whole-School Reform Work?Further Reading; Chapter 5 -- The Process Question: How Does it Work?; What is Qualitative Research?; The Qualities of Qualitative Research; Naturalistic; Descriptive; Focused on Meaning and Explanation; The Power of Qualitative Research; Qualitative Research Methods; Interviewing; Observing; Analyzing Documents; From Whence Comes the Quality in Qualitative Research?; How Does Class Size Reduction Work?; How Does Phonics Instruction Work?; How Do Private-School Vouchers Work?; How Does Whole-School Reform Work?; Further Reading Chapter 6 -- The Cost Question: Is it Worthwhile?
• Publisher Details: Thousand Oaks, California : Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Date: 2003
• Copyright Date: 2003
• Extent: 1 online resource (199 pages), illustrations
• Subjects: 370/.7/2; Education -- Research -- United States; School improvement programs -- United States; Education -- Research; School improvement programs; United States; Electronic books
• Languages: English
• ISBNs: 9781452299839; 1452299838; 9781483360928
• Related ISBNs: 148336092X; 9780761977087
• Notes: Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Note: Print version record.
• Access Rights: Legal Deposit; Only available on premises controlled by the deposit library and to one user at any one time; The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK).
• Access Usage: Restricted: Printing from this resource is governed by The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK) and UK copyright law currently in force.