Understanding and Evaluating Research
A Critical Guide
- Sue L. T. McGregor - McGregor Consulting Group
Educational Research Methods | Research Methods (General) | Sociological Research Methods
Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide shows students how to be critical consumers of research and to appreciate the power of methodology as it shapes the research question, the use of theory in the study, the methods used, and how the outcomes are reported. The book starts with what it means to be a critical and uncritical reader of research, followed by a detailed chapter on methodology, and then proceeds to a discussion of each component of a research article as it is informed by the methodology. The book encourages readers to select an article from their discipline, learning along the way how to assess each component of the article and come to a judgment of its rigor or quality as a scholarly report.
View the brief Table of Contents for this book.
Supplements
The password-protected Instructor Resources include the following:
• Editable, chapter-specific Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides created by the author offer you flexibility in creating a multimedia presentation for your course.
• Guidelines for facilitating a roundtable on research methodologies include discussion questions and exercise ideas that can be used in-class or as assignments.
The open-access Student Study Site includes a downloadable, editable version of the Appendix, "Worksheet for Critiquing a Journal Article or Research Report".
“Understanding and Evaluating Research is a great resource with many examples to beginners and seasoned qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods researchers.”
“Sue L. T. McGregor provides what is missing in most textbooks on research methods—deeper explanations. New researchers will find detailed explanations of difficult-to-understand research concepts, and professors will find a wealth of teaching tools that can be tailored for each lesson. Few textbooks on research methods are so comprehensive and practical.”
“This is an exceptional instructional book written for students and experienced researchers. It’s a thorough guide that explains the entire process and provides a complete understanding of research. I highly recommend Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide for both inexperienced and experienced researchers!”
“This powerful, well-crafted book provides novice and advanced researchers the tools to fully understand and execute research.”
“This ambitious volume provides depth and explanation to the basics of research methods and goes beyond to demystify many elements of academic writing. The book is accessible to novice researchers across disciplines. It is evident how much care and thought went into developing each chapter of this text to illuminate for novice researchers the guidelines and the quirkiness of academic writing.”
Adopted across 4 RES core courses to allow progression and understanding.
This is a book about evaluating and reporting research in any discipline. There are useful and elaborate details about peer reviewed journals, literature reviews, writing the introduction, discussion and other parts of a research paper. However, the book cannot be used as a textbook for undergraduate or even graduate students. It is useful more as a reference book for researchers writing a paper or critically reviewing a paper. As this book is not targeted specifically at students of Psychology, it cannot be used as a useful textbook.
