Are you looking for a book that would be an awesome conversation starter at a party hanging out with a group of friends? Then, you should definitely check out Applying Educational Research by M.D. Gall, Joyce Gall, and Walter Borg. Because I realize that I do have a tendency to be a bit on the sarcastic side on occasion, I should pull over for just a minute to let you know that I am actually serious. This is a great book! I started reading this book in January and yesterday I finished Chapter 20…all 500 pages of information about educational research and how to employ different methods and strategies to get the most efficient results. This book is for one of my doctoral classes, but definitely falls in the category of very practical learning as there is a ton I can apply in my role as a high school principal.
Here are the chapters that the book covers…
- Using Research Evidence to Improve Educational Practice
- Doing Your Own Research: From Proposal to Final Report
- Conducting and Writing Your Own Literature Review
- Using Search Engines in a Literature Review
- Making Use of Available Literature Reviews
- Analyzing and Evaluating Reports of Quantitative Research Studies
- Using Descriptive Statistics to Study Problems of Practice
- The Practical Significance of Statistical Results
- Tests of Statistical Significance
- Descriptive Research
- Group Comparison Research
- Correlational Research
- Experimental Research
- Case Studies in Qualitative Research
- Narrative Research
- Ethnography and Critical Research
- Historical Research
- Mixed-Methods Research
- Action Research
- Evaluation Research
Here are some notes I took away from studying this book…
- Educational research is the systematic collection and analysis of empirical data in order to develop valid, generalizable knowledge that involves (1) descriptions of educational phenomena, (2) predictions about future events or performance, (3) evidence about the effects of experimental interventions, and (4) explanations of observed phenomena in terms of the basic processes that underlie them.
- In contrast to basic research, the purpose of applied research is to develop and test interventions that can be used directly to improve practice.
- The book talks specifically about how critical it is for educators to constantly be evaluating their methods and comparing their notes with other educators.
- Collaboration is key in applying educational research. Everyone grows as we try new things and learn from things that work…or avoid things in the future that didn’t work!