Chapters cover the essential character traits and skills that are necessary to become an effective researcher, walk through the main steps for completing a research project from start to finish, and discuss considerations when building a career and research program. Rather than the nitty-gritty of research methods, authors Joshua N. Hook, Don E.…

Across all social science disciplines, but in particular public administration, there is a shared concern about the costs of using traditional random samples to generate data, and its impact on researchers' ability to engage in "quality" research. As a result of these costs, more academics, practitioners, and students are turning to…

The book provides a grounded, narrative exploration of contemporary qualitative PhD research in the fields of language education and applied linguistics. The chapters are authored by current and former PhD candidates studying in New Zealand, with commentaries from international experts in the field. The book contains ten chapters in addition to…

California has long been a national and global leader in developing and maintaining quality higher education options, as well as in providing financial aid and consumer protections for Californians who access that education. However, although California's colleges and the state government do collect, receive, and report a great deal of data, these…

This manual is a practical training guide for graduate and undergraduate research assistants (RAs) working in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. It may also be applicable to research assistants working in other fields or institutions. The purpose of this manual is to train RAs on how to plan and conduct focus groups for…

We all think of a marathon as a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometers (26 miles and 385 yards). Throughout time marathon runners have pursued their longest goals by allowing their body to adapt to the new stresses through training. Training for a marathon takes intense preparation, dedication and skill. It is…

Survey sampling is fundamentally an applied field. The goal in this book is to put an array of tools at the fingertips of practitioners by explaining approaches long used by survey statisticians, illustrating how existing software can be used to solve survey problems, and developing some specialized software where needed. This book serves at least…

As the demand for college graduates increases, it is critical (from both supply and demand perspectives) that students choose the postsecondary option that best meets their needs. Improved college readiness is an important first step to better informed choices about college. Parents and students need access to easy-to-understand data to make the…

Embarking in an educational research paper is one of the daunting processes any scholar can go through. And the process is even harder for novice education students who wander through the plethora of terminology, styles and paradigms trying to figure out their way in that jungle called educational research. The following of the review presents the…

This seventh report on the quality of America's teacher preparation programs and novice teachers presents data reported to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) in October 2007 by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the outlying areas, which include American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the…

The purpose of this guide is to help readers clarify their roles in the college access and success system and to identify how they might use data to create change for students. This guide shows how data can strengthen current programs and support broader changes that ease the path to college for students. This guide illuminates how a long-term…

This text teaches an often intimidating and difficult subject in a way that is informative, personable, and clear. The author takes students through various statistical procedures, beginning with correlation and graphical representation of data and ending with inferential techniques and analysis of variance. In addition, the text covers SPSS, and…

This article draws attention to local and global attendance monitoring in higher education. The paper outlines benefits of attendance monitoring for both the individual learner and university, and compares traditional paper-based attendance monitoring systems with an electronic system piloted in the Business School and School of Technology at the…

This book is developed to enable students to think clearly and critically about the scientific process of research. The author emphasizes that the ability to think clearly about research methods, reason through complex problems, and evaluate published research are important in today's changing educational landscape. Students using this book will…