This guide will help researchers design and implement impact studies in education so that the findings are more generalizable to the study's target population. Guidance is provided on key steps that researchers can take, including defining the target population, selecting a sample of schools--and replacement schools, when needed--managing school…

Teacher research is an extension of good teaching, observing students closely, analyzing their needs, and adjusting the curriculum to fit the needs of all. In this completely updated second edition of their definitive work, Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Miller Power present a framework for teacher research along with an extensive collection of…

Considers the doubts the author has had about the design of an award winning study, focusing especially on a researcher's obligation to help the teachers with whom the researcher is working, even at the risk of jeopardizing a study's design. Traces the way that her engagement with that question has led to her current professional commitments. (SC)

This paper explains how teachers can set up good research problems to study in their classrooms. The purpose of the research is to provide teachers with a tool for reflection, change, learning, and renewal in student-centered classrooms. Teacher-researchers learn to ask critical questions, collect data, document findings, and share results with…

This book is intended to explain principles of qualitative research to potential researchers and to provide them with a set of tools, and guidelines for critical thinking as they carry out such research. The chapters are organized around the elements of the research process which require decisions. Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2…

This article addresses issues in successful classroom research, especially single-subject research, including selecting the research topic, choosing a research design, maintaining a sufficient number of participants, management and logistical problems, creating classroom conditions favorable to research, and scheduling time for research. (DB)

This handbook is devoted to the process of teacher research. It shows teacher-researchers how they can pursue their research activities systematically and carefully and provides a number of research techniques, methods for categorizing data, and suggestions for publishing research. The chapters are: (1) "Try To Love the Questions Themselves:…

Argues educational researchers must recognize the need for a dialectic between theory and method. Proposes a quasi-historical methodology based on a theory of social action. Suggests a means for understanding the meanings of actions. Outlines a schema for the interpretation of text and offers researchers a form of disciplined inquiry. (Author/NL)

This paper discusses the nature of research and identifies some of the questions which it is important to address at the planning stage and to return to throughout the life of any research study. In a discussion of the nature of research, it is noted that research findings must be potentially generalizable. The criteria for identifying research…

Noting that teachers' research is found in personal journals, professional conversations, computer networking, formal research studies, and publications or presentations, this paper answers, in outline form, a series of questions on the expanding role for special needs educators. These questions are: what "teacher as researcher" means;…

Delineates three levels of participation for classroom employees in educational research and presents issues that must be considered at each level. Specific roles examined include: (1) subjects in research studies; (2) facilitators for others conducting studies; and (3) researchers. (SD)

Useful as a classroom text and self-teaching tool, this book outlines the process of designing and reporting action research projects in schools. The underlying assumption of the book is that research is not a domain that belongs only to academics, but is a powerful approach that can be used by practitioners to contribute to school renewal and…

Maintains that before teachers or administrators become involved in classroom research they should carefully assess the conceptual soundness, feasibility, and ethics of any proposed study. Also considered should be ways to facilitate research and the potential rewards of research involvement. (BB)

This booklet was written to help teachers plan their own research. It concentrates on how to translate an issue of general concern to a teacher or group of teachers into a worthwhile and feasible piece of research. The booklet is divided into four sections: section 1 deals with the purpose of doing research. It stresses that research questions can…

This manual explains how to construct a questionnaire. It is intended for the novice researcher who has little experience in questionnaire construction. The first seven chapters discuss the following seven stages in questionnaire development: (1) establishing the guiding questions; (2) operationalizing and clarifying the guiding questions; (3)…