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Martella, Ronald C.; Nelson,
Ronald; and Marchand-Martella, Nancy E. (1999). Research
Methods: Learning to Become a Critical Research Consumer.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon
Pp. xix + 586
$83 ISBN
0-205-27125-1
Reviewed by Ann M. Jablonski
Marywood University
December 2, 2001
With the publication of
Research Methods: Learning to become a critical consumer,
Ronald Martella, Ronald Nelson, and Nancy Marchand-Martella join
a small cluster of research text authors who direct their efforts
toward educational practitioners as consumers of research
(Hittleman & Simon, 2002; McMillan, 2001; McMillan &
Wergin, 2002). The uniqueness of this text is that Martella,
Nelson and Marchand-Martella target the specific niche of special
education professionals. Their goal, however, is similar to that
of the other research-consumer-oriented authors: to enable
students "to think critically about research rather than to
actually conduct research." (p. xvii) They argue that the
skill of thinking about research is necessary for anyone who
would actually carry out a study.
Research Methods
consists of seven major topics that are further divided 15
chapters. The chapters are sequenced so that chapter builds on
previous ones. Each chapter begins with a list of behavioral
objectives and ends a summary and combination of factual and
discussion questions. Throughout, the text conveys a partnership
between the authors and reader with a balance between explanation
and invitation to think about real-life issues as examples.
In Part 1 "Understanding
Research" the authors set the tone and course for the
reader’s opportunity to become a critical consumer of
research. This single chapter section contains the rationale for
the research endeavor, an overview of research processes and the
categories of research. This chapter ends with a discussion of
the importance of replication studies. Indeed this section is
valued plus for practitioners who may want to replication the
design in their environment.
Part 2 "Critical Issues in
Research" consists of two chapters in which the fundamental
issues for interpreting research--research validity and
measurement validity—are discussed thoroughly. Here the
authors emphasize the principles of design and instrumentation
for both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Part 3 (Chapters 4,5,6, and 7)
addresses quantitative methodologies and related statistical
analyses. Emphasis to sampling, appropriate use of various
research designs (). Sample studies using group experimental,
causal comparative and correlational designs are
included.
Qualitative research methods are
treated in Part 4 (Chapters 8 and 9). In this section the authors
not only present the types of qualitative approaches in clear
concise summaries, but also address the concerns issues related
to qualitative procedures. Especially helpful is the
presentation of evaluative criteria for judging the reliability
and validity of qualitative research and data analysis and
triangulation. The sample research by Scruggs and Mastropieri
(1994) is a classic study used in other research
texts.
Part 5, Single Case Research
Methods, is without question the best part of this text. No other
general educational research text today provides as comprehesive
treatment to single-subject designs as does Research
Methods. Withdrawal and associated designs, multiple-baseline
designs and changing-criterion, multitreatment and alternating
treatment designs are examined in separate chapters each with an
accompanying sample study. Numerous figures showing baseline
and condition effects aid the reader in acquiring and
understanding of the research method and findings.
Chapter 13 (Part 6, Additional
Research Methods) covers survey, historical and program
evaluation in 28 pages. Although the coverage of these topics is
scant, the authors would probably argue that with the exception
of program evaluation, these approaches are less relevant to
special education practitioners. Even so, a survey study
conducted by one of the authors of this text is provided as an
example.
Unlike most other research texts
that devote initial chapters to procedures for conducting a
review of literature, Research Methods presents the topic
Chapter 14 as part of the discussion on conducting research
syntheses. In a half dozen pages, handle the main aspects of
identifying primary and secondary sources, search strategies and
Boolean rules. The challenge of the presentation of research
syntheses rests with the effect sizes. In particular, a table of
common effect size formulas makes this chapter unlike the rest of
the text as well as the most daunting to the professional
educator.
Martella and colleagues provide
significant improvements over other research texts with their
coverage of action research (Part 7, Chapter 15). Here they set
the stage for encouraging the reader to carry out research in the
field by explaining the principles and procedures. Also embedded
here are the discussion of ethics in research and the role of
institutional review boards. "Dyads and data in peer
coaching" (Vail, Tschantz, & Bevill, 1997) is presented
as an excellent example of action research using multiple
baseline techniques.
The comprehensiveness of
Research Methods as described in this review makes it a
desirable choice for courses with special education
practitioners. Overall the authors write in an inviting voice
evidenced in their use of "we." A random sample of
three paragraphs indicate that approximately 70% of the text is
written in active voice. The same analysis yielded a
Flesch-Kincaid Reading level of 12th grade and Flesch
Reading ease level of 32 (1=easy to 100=difficult) thus
suggesting that the text is better suited for graduate
students.
An important feature of the text
is that the discussion questions for each chapter focus on
real-life problems that require readers apply what they have
learned in the chapter. These problems support active learning
strategies. The supplementary instructor’s manual is useful
but disappointing. It contains instructor outlines for lectures,
answers to the end of chapter questions, and test questions
(multiple choice and short answer/essay questions, but no
suggestions for teaching. A web site provided through the
publisher contains the figures and tables from the text for on
screen projection, but no information to further
instruction.
At first glance this reviewer
identified Research Methods as a costly hardback text,
thick with words and scant on white space and pictures except for
serious tables and figures. How would this text appeal to special
education practitioners? Only in careful reading and evaluation
has uncovered its intrinsic value and potential for introducing
special education professionals to the rigors of reading
research.
References
Hittleman D. R. & Simon A.J.
(2002) Interpreting education research: An introduction for
consumers of research (3rd edition).Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc..
Martella, Ronald C., Nelson,
Ronald, and Marchand-Martella, Nancy E. (1999). Research
Methods: Learning to Become a Critical Research Consumer.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Martella, Ronald C., Nelson,
Ronald, and Marchand-Martella, Nancy E. (1999).
Instructor’s resource manual for Research Methods:
Learning to Become a Critical Research Consumer. Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.
McMillan, J.H. (2000).
Educational research: Fundamentals for the consumer. NY:
Longman.
McMillan, J. H. & Wergin, J.
F. (2002) Understanding and evaluation education research
(2nd edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Scruggs T, E. & Mastropieri M.
A. (1994). Successful mainstreaming in elementary science
classes: A qualitative study of three reputational cases.
American Educational Research Journal 31(4)
785-811.
Vail, C. O., Tschantz, J. M. &
Bevill, A. (1997). Dyads and data in peer coaching. Teaching
Exceptional Children, 30(2), 11-15.
About the
Reviewer
Ann M. Jablonski is assistant
professor in the Department of Graduate Education at Marywood
University, Scranton, Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses in
educational psychology and research theory to teaching
certification candidates including special educators. Her
research interests include self-efficacy, collective efficacy,
and expert-novice cognitive processes.
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