Research Methods and Methodologies in Education

This straightforward and jargon-free book will provide students with the theoretical understandings, practical knowledge and skills they need to carry out independent research. The international contributors identify key research methodologies, data collection tools and analysis methods, and focus on the direct comparisons between them.

Each chapter sets out the strengths and weaknesses of a key research method by:

• identifying specific research designs
• presenting a series of relevant data collection tools
• highlighting which analytical methods which can be used.

The chapters cover the full range of methods and methodologies, including internet research, mixed methods research and the various modes of ethnographic research.

Additional online materials are also available including links to useful journal articles enabling further reading and exploration of each chapter.

This is a key book for M-level students and other postgraduates within Education and Educational Research Methods courses.

James Arthur is Head of School and Professor of Education and Civic Engagement at the University of Birmingham, UK. Michael J. Waring is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport, Exercise and Human Sciences at Loughborough University, UK. Robert Coe is Professor in the School of Education and Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM), Durham University, UK. Larry V. Hedges (PhD) is Board of Trustees Professor of Statistics and Social Policy, at the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, US.

Professor James Arthur, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Education and Civic Engagement, University of Birmingham. He is Director, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, an inter-disciplinary research centre focussing on character, virtues and values in the interest of human flourishing. He has written widely on the relationship between theory and practice in education, particularly the links between communitarianism, social virtues, citizenship, religion and education. He is Secretary to the Society for Educational Studies.

Dr Michael Waring, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Australia. He sits on the executive of the Society for Educational Studies, and is on the editorial board of the British Journal of Educational Studies and Higher Education Pedagogies. His research interests focus on the development of inclusive participatory pedagogy, assessment feedback, research literacy and the use of learning technologies as part of distance and blended learning in higher education and initial teacher education contexts. Generally, and as part of the exploration of this personalised learning agenda, he is interested in the use and innovative development of qualitative research methodology.

Robert Coe, Director of Research and Development at Evidence Based Education, Senior Associate at the Education Endowment Foundation and Honorary Professor of Education at Durham University.  His research interests focus on the application of research to supporting improvements in educational practice, drawing on experience as a university professor and high school teacher, with particular expertise in evaluation methodology and educational assessment.

Larry V. Hedges is one of eight Board of Trustees Professors at Northwestern, the university’s most distinguished academic position. He holds appointments in statistics and data science, psychology, education and social policy, and medical social sciences. Previously, he was the Stella M. Rowley Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He received the Yidan Prize in Education Research in 2018 and the José Vasconcelos World Award of Education from the World Culture Council in 2023 He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Educational Research Association. He is also a member of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, which established an annual endowed lecture in his honor. He was selected to give the inaugural Hedges Lecture in 2016. Hedges was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2012, and was elected Chair of the Board in 2016. Widely published, he has authored or co-authored 250 journal articles and 13 books including Coe, Waring, Hedges, & Day Ashley, Research Methods and Methodologies in Education, 3rd edition (2021, Sage London). He has also co-directed  research training institutes on research design  funded by the US Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation for the last 20 years.