Leedy, Paul. D, and Ormrod, Jeanne E. (2001). Practical Research: Planning and Design. (7th Ed.). Reviewed by Marie Miller-Whitehead, Tennessee Valley Educators for Excellence

Leedy, Paul. D, and Ormrod, Jeanne E. (2001). Practical Research: Planning and Design. (7th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Pp. xx + 318 $55     ISBN 0-13-960360-3 Reviewed by Marie Miller-Whitehead Tennessee Valley Educators for Excellence July 29, 2001 It is difficult to argue with success. Practical Research: Planning and Design has taken the buffet table approach: it provides an overview, compendium, and thesaurus of general principles of qualitative and quantitative research quite remarkable in breadth. Continuously in print since 1974, the seventh edition of Leedy and Ormrod's paperback research handbook has gone high-tech, now featuring a Companion Website online research tutorial designed by Dan Kaufman as well as a syllabus management system for professors. Following the precepts of programmed instruction, the new features provide additional distance learning capability to a book intended by its authors to be suitable for self-instruction (Gagné, 1985; Gagné, Briggs, & Wager, 1992). The online ancillaries could prove more tempting to professors than their students, products of the information age and computerized classrooms, although the content may seem overly simplistic to experienced researchers seeking the theoretical, the arcane, or detailed and indepth analyses specific to their particular field of research such as social work, education, English literature, chemistry, or history. However, Practical Research is quite readable, and eminently suitable as a resource for the undeclared major seeking direction or for an introductory graduate or undergraduate course on the scientific method, providing a soupçon of examples ranging from accounting, cartography, history, international relations, and education to urban studies. Beginning researchers who wonder what they will be doing for the next 30 years in their chosen field of research may find some of the answers here. The text provides content analyses of parts from six different dissertations and while not a style manual the brief examples generally conform to either APA or the Chicago Manual of Style. Students who intend to submit formal research proposals would be well advised to obtain a copy of the appropriate style manual. The book is well organized into five sections: fundamentals, focusing the study, qualitative methodologies, quantitative methodologies, and preparation of the research report. Each of the twelve chapters provides an overview of accepted standards and practices relative to the chapter topic, with step-by-step directions for its completion. While the authors emphasize the use of electronic media, e-mail, and online database resources as organizational tools for research they do not omit discussion of the pencil and paper, note and bibliography card method for those who prefer or are limited to the more traditional approach. Each chapter contains visual organizers, suggestions for use of figures, graphs, and tables, brief examples of actual research and results, checklists, a project, at least one quiz, and concludes with a brief list of references to established authorities. The layout is visually pleasing and computer prompts appear in appropriate places to direct the student to an online tutorial or class bulletin board. The authors emphasize the importance of inquiry and familiarity with the data, suggesting that their data be organized in as many ways as possible to identify patterns that might lead to research questions and significant discoveries; however, several of the examples could lead the unwary student to make the assumption that cause and effect relationships exist in the data when this is unlikely to be true, for example a data set in which test scores are progressively higher according to alphabetical order of the students' names. Therefore, each chapter should be read and studied carefully and visualized within the context of the preceding chapters. Although sections on content analysis and factorial designs are included, research questions related to more specialized qualitative and quantitative techniques might naturally lead to reading additional texts. Research ethics, permissions, and protection of subjects are mentioned in this latest edition, albeit briefly, but an important area for most student researchers and their professors that receives little attention here is selecting and working with a faculty committee who will approve and direct the research, a step that generally precedes the IRB approval process (Cone & Foster, 1993; Sjoberg & Nett, 1968; Sproull, 1995). This is an area that should be addressed by the course professor as early as possible so that students will be aware of the importance of the role of student and faculty committee relationships in completion of a research program. References Cone, J. D., & Foster, S. L. (1993). Dissertations and theses from start to finish: Psychology and related fields. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Gagné, R. M. (1985). The conditions of learning. (4th Ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. Gagné, R., Briggs, L., & Wager, W. (1992). Principles of instructional design. Fort Worth: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. Sjoberg, G., & Nett, R. (1968). A methodology for social research. New York: Harper. Sproull, N. (1995). Handbook of research methods: A guide for practitioners and students in the social sciences. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. About the Reviewer Marie Miller-Whitehead, Ph.D. Director Tennessee Valley Educators for Excellence TVEE.ORG P.O. Box 2882 Muscle Shoals, AL 35662 Research interests include program evaluation and research, school district accountability indicators, computer assisted learning, educational politics and policy, educational equity for minorities and underserved populations.