Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This is a new edition of one of our best-selling textbooks. The authors have thoroughly updated the fourth edition and included more text on current developments in research practice, action research, developments in ICT, questionnaire design, ethnographic research, conducting needs analysis, constructing and using tests, observational methods, reliability and validity, ethical issues and curriculum research.
The entire text has been redesigned to cater for the increasingly sophisticated needs of the educational researcher. The new edition is more comprehensive, up-to-date and user-friendly, with increased accessibility. The authors, who are experienced teachers in the field, have produced a better written book (if that's possible) containing readable and realistic views of research and methodology, and show how to interpret the data.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Part 1 The Context of Educational Research
• 1 The Nature of Inquiry
• Part 2 Planning Educational Research
• 2 The Ethics of Educational and Social Research
• 3 Research Design Issues - Planning Research
• 4 Sampling
• 5 Reliability, Validity and Triangulation
• Part 3 Styles of Educational Research
• 6 Naturalistic and Ethnographic Research
• 7 Historical Research
• 8 Surveys, Longitudinal, Cross-Sectional and Trend Studies
• 9 Case Studies
• 10 Correlational Research
• 11 Ex Post Facto Research
• 12 Experiments, Quasi-Experiments and Single-Case Research
• 13 Action Research
• Part 4 Strategies for Data collection and Researching
• 14 Questionnaires
• 15 Interviews
• 16 Accounts
• 17 Observations
• 18 Tests
• 19 Personal Constructs
• 20 Multi-Dimensional Measurement
• 21 Role Playing
• Part 5 Recent Developments in Educational Research
• 22 Recent Developments