Detailed Changes

Detailed list of Changes Made to the Second Edition

1. The book has a modified title to reflect recent changes in the field of educational research. The title now is Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches. (Mixed Approaches was not on the first edition title)

2. Chapters now have opening vignettes.

3. Study questions are now interspersed throughout the chapters contiguous to the relevant material needed to answer the questions.

4. We have lots of new end of chapter material: discussion questions, more exercises, internet links, suggested readings, some research forms

5. Old chapter one is now broken down into two chapters (because it was too long). The two chapter titles now are 1) Introduction to Educational Research and 2) Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Research.

6. The appendices include links to three full text articles available on the companion website (a quantitative research article, a qualitative research article, and a mixed research article).

7. Chapter one (Introduction to Educational Research) changes.

Added a Table 1.2: Summary of General Kinds of Research (i.e., basic, applied, evaluation, action, and orientational research). Note: orientational research is sometimes called critical theory but our term is broader and included any type of ideological research.
Added Table 1.3: Summary of Common Assumptions Made by Educational Researchers.
Added Figure 1.1: The Research Wheel
Added Table 1.4: How to Evaluate the Quality of a Theory or Explanation
Changed the section on Proof to “The Principle of Evidence” (i.e., the idea that empirical research gives us evidence, not proof)
The five objectives of science are now called the five objectives of educational research (exploration, description, explanation, prediction, and influence).

8. Chapter two (Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Research) changes. Most of this material was in the old chapter one. Here are the main changes:

We now talk about three research paradigms rather than two. The new one is mixed research.
Table 2.1 includes characteristics of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research.
Added Table 2.2: Common Types of Variables Classified by Level of Measurement and by Role of Variable
Included more scatterplots of correlations of different directions and strengths (Figure 2.2)
Under the section on qualitative, we now briefly introduce all of the major qualitative methods: historical, phenomenology, ethnography, case study, and grounded theory.
Added a new section on Mixed Research Methods. This includes an introduction to the two types of mixed research: mixed method and mixed model research (which are fully covered in the new chapter 14 on mixed research).
Added a final section on Our Research Typology, which shows the three major types of research and the major types under each of these.

9. Chapter three (Developing Research Questions and Proposal Preparation) changes.

We now discuss the process of developing a research idea that follows the flowchart shown in new Figure 3.1. It includes the following: (1) Research topic, (2) Research problem, (3) Research purpose, (4) Research question, and (5) Hypothesis.
We include more material on qualitative versus quantitative approaches to 1-4.
Added Table 3.1 Ways in Which Prior Studies Can Provide Ideas for New Studies
Added Table 3.3 Databases Incorporating Educational Publications
Added Table 3.4 Steps in Searching the ERIC Database
Added Table 3.5 Internet Search Tools
Added Table 3.6 Evaluating Internet Resources
Added Table 3.7 Writing Quantitative Research Questions (includes templates)
Added template like examples for qualitative research questions.
Added Table 3.8 Checklist for Evaluating a Quantitative Study
Added Table 3.9 Checklist for Evaluating a Qualitative Study

10. Chapter 4 (Research Ethics) changes:

Took out the four page set of AERA Guidelines, and put them on the companion website.
Added a section on Passive versus Active Consent
Added Table 4.1 Information to Include in a Consent Form
Added Table 4.2 Information to Be Included in a Research Protocol
Added margin definitions of ethics, exempt studies, expedited review, and full board review.
Added Table 4.3 Exempt Categories.

11. Chapter 5 (Standardized Measurement and Assessment) changes:

Reorganized reliability and validity material. It now falls under the general heading of “Identifying a Good Test or Assessment Procedure”
Started the section just mentioned with a new overview section called “Overview of Reliability and Validity.” In this subsection we get the basic ideas in students’ heads and show how the ideas are related.
We took out the formulas for Spearman-Brown and the Kuder Richardson. These are now on the companion website under bonus material.
We replaced the formula for Coefficient Alpha with a more intuitive formula.
We took out the material on expectancy data (and put it on the companion website).
We updated our section on Validity following this source:

American Educational Research Association, American Psychological

Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (1999). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: AERA.

Based on that and other sources we use the unified approach to validity (i.e., all validity is construct validity which simple means it all deals with measuring something). The types of evidence are summarized in Table 5.6 Summary of Methods for Obtaining Validity Evidence. The methods include evidence based on content, evidence based on internal structure (factor analysis, homogeneity via item-to-total correlations), and evidence based on relations to other variables (concurrent evidence, predictive evidence, convergent and discriminant evidence, and known-groups evidence).

We took out some tables showing different intelligence tests, personality tests, and standardized achievement tests. These tables are available on the companion website.
Added Table 5.8: Internet Sources Helpful in Locating Tests and Other Measurement Instruments.

12. Chapter 6 (Methods of Data Collection) changes:

· Added discussion of the “fundamental principle of mixed research”

· Added discussion of Tests.

· Added Table 6.1 Type of Question Matrix, with Examples.

· Added one new principle of questionnaire construction (Consider using multiple methods when measuring abstract constructs) and de-emphasized one principle because of recent research (Use caution if you reverse the wording in some of the items to prevent response sets in multi-item scales). There are now 15 principles of questionnaire construction.

· Filter questions are now called “contingency questions.”

· Added margin definition of web surveys

· Added Table 6.4 Tips for Conducting an Effective Interview

· Added Table 6.6 Tips for Conducting Fieldwork and Qualitative Observation

· Under the section on Secondary or Existing Data we added discussion of physical data.

· The companion website material for this chapter includes a table for each of the six major methods of data collection showing the strengths and weaknesses for each method.

13. Chapter 7 (Sampling) changes:

Reduced the amount of material on the sampling with versus without replacement distinction
Added Table 7.1 Survey Research Sites Providing Useful Sampling Information and Links.

14. Chapter 8 (Validity of Research Results) changes:

Essentially, we updated this chapter based on the third edition of Campbell and Stanley that just came out. Here is the reference:

Shadish, W.R., Cook, T.D., & Campbell, D.T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Added brief discussion of statistical conclusion validity.
Under internal validity, we made the distinction between causal description and causal explanation.
Added threat to internal validity: Ambiguous Temporal Precedence.
Regression is now called “Regression Artifiacts”
Selection is now called “Differential Selection”
The interactions with selection are now called Additive and Interactive Effects” We only specifically talk about the selection-history effect and the selection-maturation effect.
Mortality is now called “differential attrition.”
External validity now includes brief discussions of two new types: treatment variation validity and outcome validity.

15. Chapter 9 (Experimental Research) changes:

The table showing the threats to internal validity for the weak designs (Table 9.1) and the table showing the threats to internal validity for the strong designs (Table 9.2) now include pictures/depictions of the designs.
The old “static-group comparison design” is now called the Posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups”
Added marginal definitions of ordinal and disordinal interaction effects.

16. Chapter 10 (Quasi-Experimental and Single-Case Designs) changes:

The nonequivalent control-group design is now called the Nonequivalent Comparison-Group Design.
Added Table 10.1 Potential Biases That Exist in the Nonequivalent Comparison-Group Design.
Removed the section on multiple time-series designs to companion website bonus materials.
Added the strongest quasi-design of all, the Regression-Discontinuity Design with Figures showing no effect and effects.
Added Table 10.2 Requirements of the Regression Discontinuity Design.
Added Figure 10.14 which shows the a clear pattern of results for a multiple-baseline design.
Moved the Methodological Issues in Single-Case Studies to a Table (Table 10.3).

17. Chapter 11 (Nonexperimental Quantitative Research) changes:

Made the table showing the relationship between number of fire trucks and amount of fire damage before and after controlling for size of fire clearer by showing the original relationship at three levels of size of fires (small, medium, and large) rather than two.
Added Figure 11.3 Depiction of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and retrospective research design.
Added Table 11.3: Types of Research Obtained by Crossing Research Objective and Time Dimension.

18. Chapter 12 (Qualitative Research) changes:

Added Figure 12.1: Steps in a qualitative research study.
The old ten major characteristics of qualitative research based on Patton is now Table 12.1 Twelve Major Characteristics of Qualitative Research.
Included “foundational question” for each of the four major types of qualitative research covered in this chapter: phenomenology, ethnography, case study, and grounded theory.

19. Chapter 13 (Historical Research). Made no significant changes other than the changes made to all chapters (vignette, movement of study questions into chapter, addition of end of chapter materials).

20. Chapter 14 (Mixed Method and Mixed Model Research). This is a new chapter that was written to reflect current educational research. Here are some of the things we have in this chapter:

Margin definitions; mixed research, compatibility thesis, pragmatist philosophy, fundamental principle of mixed research, mixed model research method, within-stage mixed model research, across-stage mixed model research, mixed method research, quantitizing, and qualitizing.
Table 14.1 Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative Research
Table 14.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Research
Table 14.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Mixed Research
Figure 14.1 The Research Continuum.
Figure 14.2 Monomethod and Mixed Model Designs
Figure 14.3 Mixed Method Design Matrix. Mixed method research designs are shown in the four cells.
Figure 14.4 Important Steps in a Mixed Research Study
Table 14.4 Greene, Caracelli, and Graham’s List of Purposes for Mixed Research
The chapter is divided into the following major headings: The Research Continuum, Types of Mixed Research Methods (which included mixed model and mixed method as subheadings), Stages of the Mixed Research Process, and Limitations of Mixed Research.

21. Chapter 15 (Descriptive Statistics) changes:

Added brief discussion on histograms
In the discussion on contingency tables, we now talk about rates and the comparison of rates for determining relationships.
Added a marginal definition of Partial Regression Coefficient.

22. Chapter 16 (Inferential Statistics) changes

Added a quote about practical significance
Put the section “Understanding Probability Value and Significance Level” in Exhibit 16.2.
Added margin definition of power.