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The SAGE Handbook for Research in Education
Pursuing Ideas as the Keystone of Exemplary Inquiry

Second Edition
Edited by:


June 2011 | 528 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

The SAGE Handbook for Research in Education: Pursuing Ideas as the Keystone of Exemplary Inquiry, edited by Clifton F. Conrad and Ronald C. Serlin stimulates and encourages students, faculty, and educational practitioners, including individuals in Pre K–16 education, government, and the private sector who conduct applied and policy-oriented educational research, to place the pursuit of ideas at the epicenter of their research—from framing meaningful problems to identifying and addressing key challenges to the reporting and dissemination of their findings. As well as supporting readers to place the pursuit of ideas as the keystone of exemplary inquiry, the Handbook draws on the perspectives of scholars representing diverse fields within the field of education—from pre-kindergarten to elementary and secondary school to higher education—as well as qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to inquiry. The chapters are punctuated throughout by the voices of authors who wrestle with the formidable challenges of framing and conducting and reporting meaningful inquiry.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgements
 
Introduction
 
Part One. Exploring Ideas: Embracing Inquiry and the Craft of Framing Meaningful Problems
Section I: Exploring the Multiple Purposes of Inquiry and Key Stakeholders

D.C. Phillips
D.C. Phillips
Chapter 1: Muddying the Waters Even More: The Many Faces of Empirical Educational Inquiry
Robert E. Floden
Chapter 2. Speaking Truth to Policy and Practice
David N. Plank
Chapter 3. Minding the Gap Between Research and Policy Making
Section II: Formulating Meaningful Problems

Daniel K. Lapsley
Daniel K. Lapsley
Chapter 4. Developing and Framing Meaningful Problems
Ronald C. Serlin
Chapter 5. Inquiry Through a Keyhole: Retroduction
Carolyn Kelley
Chapter 6. Reviewing Literature and Formulating Problems
Susan Harter
Chapter 7. The Challenge of Framing a Problem: What is Your Burning Question?
Kathryn R. Wentzel
Chapter 8. Developing and Nurturing Interesting and Researchable Ideas
James Youniss
Chapter 9. Situating Ourselves and Our Inquiry: A First-Person Account
 
Part Two. Pursuing and Sharing Ideas: The Design and Conduct of Inquiry and the Communication of Results
Section III: Opportunities and Challenges in Designing and Conducting Inquiry

Ronald C. Serlin
Michael R. Harwell
Chapter 10. Research Design in Qualitative/Quantitative/Mixed Methods
John P. Bean
Chapter 11. Intellect, Light, and Shadow in Research Design
David Phillips
Chapter 12. Comparative Education: An Approach to Educational Inquiry
Ronald H. Heck
Chapter 13. Conceptualizing and Conducting Meaningful Research Studies in Education
Kadriye Ercikan and Wolff-Michael Roth
Chapter 14. Constructing Data
Michael Seltzer and Mike Rose
Chapter 15. Constructing Analyses: The Development of Thoughtfulness in Working With Quantitative Methods
J. Douglas Toma
Chapter 16. Approaching Rigor in Applied Qualitative Research
King D Beach, III, Betsy Jane Becker, and Mary M. Kennedy
Chapter 17. Constructing Conclusions
Anna Neumann and Aaron M. Pallas
Chapter 18. Windows of Possibility: Perspectives on the Construction of Educational Researchers
Richard Halverson and Erica Rosenfeld Halverson
Chapter 19. Education as Design for Learning: A Model for Integrating Education Inquiry Across Research Traditions
Section IV: Writing, Voicing, and Disseminating Research

Elizabeth Graue
Laura A. Dunek and Clifton F. Conrad
Chapter 20. Cultivating Idea-Centric Writing in Our Teaching of Writing
Elizabeth Graue
Chapter 21. Writing in Education Research
Elizabeth G. Creamer
Chapter 22: Experimenting With Voice and Reflexivity to Produce Multi-Voiced Texts
Gerald W. Bracey
Chapter 23. Getting the Word Out: Challenges and Opportunities in Explaining Educational Research to the World
 
Part Three. Engaging Ideas: Reflections of Scholars
Section V: Reflections on Critical Incidents in Exemplary Inquiry

Elfrieda H. Hiebert
Marybeth Gasman
Chapter 24. Using Historical Methods to Explore Educational Questions
Elfrieda H. Hiebert
Chapter 25. Texts for Beginning Readers: The Search for Optimal Scaffolds
Karen Seashore Louis
Chapter 26. Conducting Research on Leadership and Change in Education
Ryan Evely Gildersleeve and Patricia M. McDonough
Chapter 27. College Access and Educational Research: Persistent Problems and New Perspectives
William G. Tierney
Chapter 28. The Arc of Research
 
Index
 
About the Editors
 
About the Section Editors
 
About the Contributors

“Such a Handbook is extremely needed and should become an important resource. I have taught statistics and research methods courses for doctoral students in a College of Education for about 20 years and have never found a book that includes the elements proposed for this Handbook. Most research methods texts that I have reviewed do not help a student (or researcher) learn how to think about inquiry from a perspective of ‘developing meaningful knowledge and understanding.’ [This Handbook does.] I look forward to making use of it with my own students.”

Gabriella Belli
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University

“The book takes an interesting, refreshing, and even provocative approach to Educational Research. I think that faculty who want to teach their students not just how to do research, but also how to think about research, will be delighted with this work."

Gregory R. Hancock
University of Maryland

“The Handbook does an excellent job of discussing the integration of intellectual reasoning and scientific methodology to create a more comprehensive scholarly product. The Handbook also expounds on additional essential topics in generating research outcomes that will produce meaningful results contributing to the various paradigms. There is a definite need for this type of Handbook in education. More specifically, it is needed to develop an appreciation in education for this type of inquiry and to support the academics who strive to grow this understanding of research in graduate students and colleagues.”

Sean Mulvenon
University of Arkansas

”The book promises to be more advanced than the typical survey text, and it looks to me like it will be more advanced without being more technical. What we need, I believe, are volumes that raise the intellectual level of discussion about research in education. We too often jump from the elementary to the arcane. This volume could help fill that gap.”

Paul Vogt
Illinois State University
Key features

New to the Second Edition:

  • The Handbook has been re-conceptualized into three parts: Part One.Exploring Ideas: Embracing Inquiry and the Craft of Framing Meaningful Problems; Part Two, Pursuing and Sharing Ideas: The Design and Conduct of Inquiry and the Communication of Results; and Part Three, Engaging Ideas: Reflections of Scholars.
  • Section II has been completely revised to include new chapters focused on formulating meaningful problems.
  • Eleven new chapters have been added on the following topics: developing and framing meaningful problems; reviewing literature and formulating problems; research design in qualitative/quantitative/mixed methods; integrating education inquiry across research traditions; writing, voicing, and disseminating research; using historical methods; appropriate scaffolds for new researchers; conducting research on leadership and change in education; and the arc of research.
  • Chapters by the following scholars have been added: Laura Dunek, Marybeth Gasman, Michael R. Harwell, Erica Rosenfield Halverson, Richard Halverson, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Carolyn Kelly, Karen Seashore Louis, Ronald C. Serlin, and William G. Tierney.

Key Features:

  • Highlights animating purposes and key stakeholders of research to situate and motivate inquiry
  • Identifies and explores potentially fruitful research problems to help formulate important questions for students, faculty, and researchers
  • Includes explicit discussion of the fundamental challenges that researchers must consciously address throughout their inquiry to help future researchers overcome similar obstacles
  • The imaginative, spirited, and disciplined pursuit of ideas is placed at the epicenter of educational research in order to situate and motivate inquiry
  • Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method approaches are integrated into discussions of inquiry, intertwining the goal of engaging ideas with choices of analytical path
  • Auto-ethnographic voice of authors invites reader to reflect on and engage ideas in enriching their research

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