Organizing and Managing Your Research


Book Description

`As research guides go, this is probably the best, most readable and encouraging books for nurses that I have come across....I recommend this volume to students and researchers at all levels, and at all stages of their professional careers. It is an excellent read′ - Nursing Standard ′[This book] is an ideal reader for someone who is thinking about starting a research project with no or limited previous experience. This is because it outlines the whole research process from start to finish. It also provides useful tips for those who are more experienced′ - Nurse Researcher Organizing and Managing Your Research: A Practical Guide for Postgraduates deals with the practical, day-to-day aspects of managing and organizing research. Its focus is on strategies, skills, and systems that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of research practice across all research disciplines. Written in an accessible, non-technical style that speaks directly to the reader in a personal and collegial voice, this text gives practical advice and offers many tips and strategies gleaned from experienced researchers. The written text is accompanied by a website that provides downloadable templates and live links to appropriate sites. Key Features include: - Tips boxes to outline useful strategies and shortcuts based on day-to-day practice of experienced researchers. - Feature examples illustrate the practical application of some of the concepts covered - `Want to know more about ...?′ boxes offer pointers to further sources of information - `Over to you′ questions at the end of each chapter prompt the student to reflect on how the strategies and concepts can be applied to their own research project




Research and Education Reform


Book Description

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education has a mandate for expanding knowledge of teaching and learning and for improving education in this country. This book focuses on how OERI can better fulfill that mission in light of what is known about why prior education reforms have often failed, what is needed to enhance the effectiveness of such efforts, and what education research and development can contribute to better schools. The history, mission, governance, organization, functions, operations, and budgets of OERI are analyzed. Recommendations are made for restructuring OERI, expanding funding, involving scholars from many fields, and engaging teachers and school principals in improvement efforts.




Introduction to Educational Research


Book Description

W. Newton Suter argues that what is important in a changing education landscape is the ability to think clearly about research methods, reason through complex problems and evaluate published research. He explains how to evaluate data and establish its relevance.




Methods in Educational Research


Book Description

Methods in Educational Research Methods in Educational Research is designed to prepare students for the real world of educational research. It focuses on scientifically-based methods, school accountability, and the professional demands of the twenty-first century, empowering researchers to take an active role in conducting research in their classrooms, districts, and the greater educational community. Like the first edition, this edition helps students, educators, and researchers develop a broad and deep understanding of research methodologies. It includes substantial new content on the impact of No Child Left Behind legislation, school reform, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, logic modeling, action research, and other areas. Special features to assist the teaching and learning processes include vignettes illustrating research tied to practice, suggested readings at the end of each chapter, and discussion questions to reinforce chapter content. Praise for the Previous Edition "A new attempt to make this subject more relevant and appealing to students. Most striking is how useful this book is because it is really grounded in educational research. It is very well written and quite relevant for educational researchers or for the student hoping to become one." -PsycCRITIQUES/American Psychological Association "I applaud the authors for their attempt to cover a wide range of material. The straightforward language of the book helps make the material understandable for readers." -Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation




Qualitative Inquiry in Higher Education Organization and Policy Research


Book Description

This book provides readers with the theoretical foundations and innovative perspectives for undertaking qualitative research to influence policy and practice discussions.




Ready, Set, SCIENCE!


Book Description

What types of instructional experiences help K-8 students learn science with understanding? What do science educators, teachers, teacher leaders, science specialists, professional development staff, curriculum designers, and school administrators need to know to create and support such experiences? Ready, Set, Science! guides the way with an account of the groundbreaking and comprehensive synthesis of research into teaching and learning science in kindergarten through eighth grade. Based on the recently released National Research Council report Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8, this book summarizes a rich body of findings from the learning sciences and builds detailed cases of science educators at work to make the implications of research clear, accessible, and stimulating for a broad range of science educators. Ready, Set, Science! is filled with classroom case studies that bring to life the research findings and help readers to replicate success. Most of these stories are based on real classroom experiences that illustrate the complexities that teachers grapple with every day. They show how teachers work to select and design rigorous and engaging instructional tasks, manage classrooms, orchestrate productive discussions with culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students, and help students make their thinking visible using a variety of representational tools. This book will be an essential resource for science education practitioners and contains information that will be extremely useful to everyone �including parents �directly or indirectly involved in the teaching of science.




Introduction to Educational Research


Book Description

This practical introductory text helps students understand, conduct, and interpret both qualitative and quantitative paradigms in educational research methods. This book is organized around eight research methods to help users plan and conduct their first educational research projects. By proceeding through chapter contents and completing the in-text exercises, readers will simultaneously prepare a research plan and learn how to obtain and analyze data, address research questions and hypotheses, and prepare a report of their projects. In keeping with the main purpose of helping users clearly understand and apply research concepts, many pedagogical features have been included in the book. Additionally, each chapter contains one or more special sections titled "Applying Technology."




A Guide to the Scientific Career


Book Description

A concise, easy-to-read source of essential tips and skills for writing research papers and career management In order to be truly successful in the biomedical professions, one must have excellent communication skills and networking abilities. Of equal importance is the possession of sufficient clinical knowledge, as well as a proficiency in conducting research and writing scientific papers. This unique and important book provides medical students and residents with the most commonly encountered topics in the academic and professional lifestyle, teaching them all of the practical nuances that are often only learned through experience. Written by a team of experienced professionals to help guide younger researchers, A Guide to the Scientific Career: Virtues, Communication, Research and Academic Writing features ten sections composed of seventy-four chapters that cover: qualities of research scientists; career satisfaction and its determinants; publishing in academic medicine; assessing a researcher’s scientific productivity and scholarly impact; manners in academics; communication skills; essence of collaborative research; dealing with manipulative people; writing and scientific misconduct: ethical and legal aspects; plagiarism; research regulations, proposals, grants, and practice; publication and resources; tips on writing every type of paper and report; and much more. An easy-to-read source of essential tips and skills for scientific research Emphasizes good communication skills, sound clinical judgment, knowledge of research methodology, and good writing skills Offers comprehensive guidelines that address every aspect of the medical student/resident academic and professional lifestyle Combines elements of a career-management guide and publication guide in one comprehensive reference source Includes selected personal stories by great researchers, fascinating writers, inspiring mentors, and extraordinary clinicians/scientists A Guide to the Scientific Career: Virtues, Communication, Research and Academic Writing is an excellent interdisciplinary text that will appeal to all medical students and scientists who seek to improve their writing and communication skills in order to make the most of their chosen career.




Organizing Schools for Improvement


Book Description

In 1988, the Chicago public school system decentralized, granting parents and communities significant resources and authority to reform their schools in dramatic ways. To track the effects of this bold experiment, the authors of Organizing Schools for Improvement collected a wealth of data on elementary schools in Chicago. Over a seven-year period they identified one hundred elementary schools that had substantially improved—and one hundred that had not. What did the successful schools do to accelerate student learning? The authors of this illuminating book identify a comprehensive set of practices and conditions that were key factors for improvement, including school leadership, the professional capacity of the faculty and staff, and a student-centered learning climate. In addition, they analyze the impact of social dynamics, including crime, critically examining the inextricable link between schools and their communities. Putting their data onto a more human scale, they also chronicle the stories of two neighboring schools with very different trajectories. The lessons gleaned from this groundbreaking study will be invaluable for anyone involved with urban education.




Organizational Research Methods


Book Description

`This text provides a timely and comprehensive introduction to major research methods in the Organizational sciences. It will be a boon to all students conducting their projects in this area, and may well become a standard reference for staff teaching research methods to undergraduate and postgraduate students of business studies or organizational behaviour′ - Professor Neil Anderson, Goldsmiths College, University of London ′This reasonably priced text would provide an invaluable starting point for those considering undertaking research in organisational settings′ - Paula Roberts, Nurse Researcher This book provides the reader with clear pointers for how to conduct organizational research appropriately, through planning and making informed and systematic research decisions, to understanding the ethical implications of applied organizational research, to implementing, reporting and presenting the findings to the highest possible standards. It provides an overview of a wide variety of research strategies, methods of data collection (both qualitative and quantitative) and analysis in a volume accessible to both an undergraduate, postgraduate and practitioner readership alike. Organizational Research Methods also represents a useful aid to the report writing task, indicating ways in which the project material can be most effectively organised for academic and feedback purposes, and by drawing upon real-life organizational contexts and examples to help the reader understand the core issues. Finally, the book offers a clear, manageable procedure for preparing a presentation to an academic or an organizational audience. Providing practical guidance on all elements of the research process, this book will be essential reading to all undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers, in psychology, organizational studies and management disciplines.