Educational Research

PREFACE

Human knowledge is a dynamic concept. Knowledge is advancing very rapidly in every discipline of knowledge. There are various sources of knowledge. These can be broadly classified into two category informal source and formal source. The formal source has evolved scientific and non-scientific methodology of research. The formal source is known as research process. There is separate course of research methodology in most of the disciplines. The scholars are trained for research methodology. The theory course of research process is taught and every student has to prepare a dissertation/project after conducting a research work. The research design has been provided in this book. This book is written for M.Ed. M.Phil and M.A. Education students.

In developing the book in such a concise manner, the author has attempted to make it easily readable, functional from a practical viewpoint, and completely adaptable as a supplement to the variety of teaching methods employed by present-day college teachers. Thus, it can serve as a helping hand to students, a good-quality reference guide for educational researchers, and a valuable teaching aid for the college teachers.

With these objectives, the formal technical vocabulary so frequently associated with research has been carefully defined in glossaries of terms in each chapter. The definitions given, plus the unique organization of the book into sequential presentation of the steps in developing research by the scientific process, simplify the understanding of all important concepts.

Throughout the text an effort is made to include only that which is useful. No superflous verbalization is added for the sake of being more academic or scholarly. The book is entirely designed as an introductory course in research techniques and is not written to pursue in depth individual phases of advanced research practices.

Finally, although some theory is advanced in the explanation of certain concepts, this book is practical rather than theoretical in nature. This is because theory is most valuable when used as a guide in the actual conducting of a research problem, particularly in the development