Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Citation

Creswell, J. W., & Guetterman, T. C. (2024). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (7th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The seventh edition is a core text of about 700 pages in three parts, followed by four appendices. Pearson calls it a practical, step-by-step text with a balanced, inclusive and integrated overview of planning, conducting and evaluating research: it first examines the general steps in the research process and then details the procedures for specific quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies. Direct guidance on reading research is offered throughout, with features that let readers practice and apply what they learn. According to the publisher, the seventh edition adds significantly expanded coverage of mixed methods design, new research design tables to help match research questions to designs, and new examples and references.

Part 1: An Introduction to Educational Research

Part 1 is a single chapter, "The Process of Conducting Research Using Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches". As its title says, it introduces the process of conducting research with quantitative and qualitative approaches, the frame for the eight step chapters of Part 2 and the design chapters of Part 3.

Part 2: The Steps in the Process of Research (Identifying a Research Problem; Reviewing the Literature; Specifying a Purpose and Research Questions or Hypotheses)

The first three step chapters follow the order in which a study is planned: identifying a research problem, reviewing the literature, and specifying a purpose together with research questions or hypotheses.

Part 2: The Steps in the Process of Research (Collecting Quantitative Data; Analyzing and Interpreting Quantitative Data; Collecting Qualitative Data; Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative Data)

The middle of the sequence pairs collecting and analyzing data, first for quantitative and then for qualitative approaches. This arrangement lets a reader follow the same steps in the two traditions side by side.

Part 2: The Steps in the Process of Research (Reporting and Evaluating Research)

The last step chapter covers reporting and evaluating research, which links the book's two aims: writing up one's own study and judging the studies of others.

Part 3: Research Designs (Experimental Designs; Correlational Designs; Survey Designs)

Part 3 moves from steps to designs. The first three chapters deal with the main quantitative designs: experimental, correlational and survey.

Part 3: Research Designs (Grounded Theory Designs; Ethnographic Designs; Narrative Research Designs)

The next three chapters cover qualitative designs: grounded theory, ethnographic and narrative research.

Part 3: Research Designs (Mixed Methods Designs; Action Research Designs)

The last two chapters deal with mixed methods designs, the area the publisher says is significantly expanded in this edition, and with action research designs.

Appendices

The four appendices are: Determine Size Using Sample Size Tables; Commonly Used Statistics in Educational Research; Nonnormal Distribution; and Strategies for Defending a Research Proposal.

Key Concepts

Part 1 and Part 2: Process and Steps

• The research process: the sequence of steps from problem to report that the book applies to both quantitative and qualitative studies.
• Research problem, purpose, questions and hypotheses: the elements specified before data collection.
• Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis: treated in parallel pairs of chapters.
• Reporting and evaluating research: writing up a study and judging published ones.

Part 3: Research Designs

• Quantitative designs: experimental, correlational and survey designs.
• Qualitative designs: grounded theory, ethnographic and narrative designs.
• Mixed methods design: combining quantitative and qualitative approaches in one study.
• Action research: research carried out by practitioners to address problems in their own settings.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• An integrated framework. The publisher stresses a balanced and integrated treatment of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. The structure, with shared steps in Part 2 and one chapter per design in Part 3, makes it easy to compare approaches.
• Steps before designs. Placing the steps of the research process before the designs gives readers a common vocabulary for every method, which suits first-time researchers.
• Coverage of reading as well as doing. The publisher highlights guidance on reading research throughout and features for practice, and Part 2 ends with a chapter on evaluating research.
• Current design guidance. The seventh edition adds design tables for matching questions with designs and expanded mixed methods coverage.
• Practical end matter. The appendices cover sample size tables, common statistics and strategies for defending a proposal.

Limitations

• Breadth over depth. Seventeen chapters cover quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs in about 700 pages, so each design is introduced rather than treated at specialist depth. Readers needing advanced qualitative practice or causal inference will need further books.
• Statistics kept brief. Statistics appear in the chapter on analyzing quantitative data and in one appendix (Commonly Used Statistics in Educational Research), so students who need to run advanced analyses will need a separate statistics text.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the educational-research-methods list this is the broad core text for a first graduate course. Two gentler books serve students who must complete a small project: Bell, Waters and Johnson's Doing Your Research Project and Thomas's How to Do Your Research Project walk through choosing a topic, ethics, collecting evidence and writing up a small project. Creswell and Guetterman places such work within the full range of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs.

For deeper treatments, Cohen, Manion and Morrison's Research Methods in Education is a comprehensive reference on the philosophy of educational research, design, instruments and analysis, Tisdell, Merriam and Stuckey-Peyrot's Qualitative Research goes much further on qualitative design and practice, and Murnane and Willett's Methods Matter is the graduate text on causal inference. A common sequence is Creswell and Guetterman first, then one specialist book matching the method the student will use.

How to Use This Book

The publisher offers the book for courses in educational research and research methods, and it suits practitioners who need to read or conduct studies. No previous research-methods course is required, and a little statistics helps with the quantitative chapters.

A practical plan for a semester: read Part 1 and the eight step chapters in order, since each builds on the last. Use the practice features while developing a research question of your own, so that the steps become a draft proposal. In Part 3, read first the design chapter that matches your own study, then skim a design from the other tradition to see the contrasts, and read the mixed methods chapter if you plan to combine approaches. Use the appendix on defending a proposal before a proposal meeting, and the sample size and statistics appendices as references while planning data analysis. For independent study, apply the guidance on reading research to published articles in your own field.