This book educates students to become intelligent consumers of educational research and introduces basic research principles to those who may eventually use research in their work.

Principles for conducting research and criteria for evaluating its overall credibility are presented in a concise manner, with numerous excerpts from published studies, to enable students to learn to read, understand, and evaluate research, and judge the usefulness of the findings for educational practice. There is extensive use of aides to facilitate student learning, including chapter objectives, roadmaps and concept maps, study questions, consumer tips, over 150 examples from published articles (also includes full length articles), and author reflections. The Sixth Edition includes a more extensive presentation of experimental and quasi-experimental design, consistent with the current emphasis on conducting scientific research, qualitative data analysis, effect size, and two new chapters devoted to mixed-method studies and action research.