"The pedagogical features are good and follow a learn-by-doing model; the helpful vignettes bring in real-world examples. Students who are new to the methods will be inspired by reading about studies on topics they are interested in or have experienced themselves."--Penny L. Burge, Department of Educational Research and Evaluation, Virginia Tech.

With expanded coverage of ethics, analysis processes and approaches, the authors have updated their text to reflect advances and challenges. It features updated references and further reading sections, postscripts at the end of each chapter, and a guide to crafting a project from start to finish.

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.

This book explains how to use and adapt these techniques and how to integrate these methods with more traditional qualitative research. Chapters offer step-by-step guidance to setting up various kinds of qualitative research projects, collecting data, organizing data, and analyzing data. Case studies show how a mix of qualitative and quantitative research can help planners build consensus and tackle large, complicated projects.