Practical Research : Planning and Design

Written in uncommonly engaging and elegant prose, Practical Research: Planning and Design is a "do-it-yourself, understand-it-yourself" manual designed to help students in any discipline understand the fundamental structure of quality research and the methodical process that leads to valid and reliable results. The authors emphasize two things: 1) that quality research demands planning and design; and, 2) how research projects can be executed effectively and professionally. This text guides the reader, step-by-step, from the selection of a problem, through the process of conducting authentic research, to the preparation of a completed report, with practical suggestions based on a solid theoretical framework and sound pedagogy. With broad coverage applicable to any discipline, Practical Research is valuable to students planning to conduct their own research projects as well as to anyone wanting to participate in thoughtful, methodical evaluation of published research reports.

Paul D. Leedy is late of the American University. Jeanne Ellis Ormrod holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Brown University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from The Pennsylvania State University. For more than twenty years she was a faculty member at the University of Northern Colorado, where she taught courses in learning and cognition, educational psychology, measurement, and research methods; she is currently Professor Emerita of Psychological Sciences at UNC. Dr. Ormrod has published numerous research articles but is probably best known for this textbook and several other Pearson books: Human Learning (6th ed., 2012); Educational Psychology: Developing Learners (7th ed., 2011); Essentials of Educational Psychology (3rd ed., 2012); Our Minds, Our Memories: Enhancing Thinking and Learning at All Ages (2011); and Child Development and Education (with Teresa McDevitt; 5th ed. in press).