Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Integrating Diversity With Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods, Edition 4

Donna M. Mertens

Mar 2014 · SAGE Publications

About this ebook

Focused on increasing the credibility of research and evaluation, the Fourth Edition of Donna M. Mertens’s comprehensive Research and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Integrating Diversity with Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods incorporates the viewpoints of various research paradigms into its descriptions of these methods. Providing specific advice on conducting research in culturally complex communities, the new edition has been updated to align with the American Psychological Association and the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education accreditation requirements. Approximately sixty percent of the content in the Fourth Edition is new, updated with numerous contemporary examples, making this book one of the most comprehensive, accessible, and practical methods books available.

Praise for the previous edition:

“The organization of the text reflects the author’s intent, philosophy, and objectives . . . [Mertens] clearly presents approaches, descriptions, and many examples useful in conducting studies; she is to be commended for the thoroughness of her work.”

—Frank D. Adams, Wayne State College

“Excellent descriptions, definitions, examples, and narrative about social science theory and the various paradigms. Mertens’ use [of] a wide variety of social identities to provide her examples makes the text inclusive of a variety of diverse identities. It is also useful to see the differences between [research and evaluation] and to select methods appropriate to the intention of the inquiry.”

—Katrina L. Rodriguez, University of Northern Colorado

About the author

Donna M. Mertens is Professor Emeritus, Department of Education, at Gallaudet University. She taught research methods and program evaluation to deaf and hearing students at the MA and PhD levels for over 30 years. She now teaches courses and professional development workshops around the world.She conducts research and evaluation studies on such topics as improvement of special education services in international settings, planning for the inclusion of students with disabilities in neighborhood schools, enhancing the educational experiences of students with disabilities, preventing sexual abuse in residential schools for deaf students, improving access to the court systems for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, and improving the preparation of teachers of the deaf through appropriate use of instructional technology. Her research focuses on improving methods of inquiry by integrating the perspectives of those who have experienced oppression in our society. She draws on the writings of feminists, racial and ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities, as well as Indigenous peoples who have addressed the issues of power and oppression and their implications for research methodology.Dr. Mertens has made numerous presentations at the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, American Evaluation Association, Australasian Evaluation Society, Association for College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, International Sociological Association, Mixed Methods International Research Association, American Psychological Association, African Evaluation Association, Canadian Evaluation Society, Visitors Studies Association, and other organizations that explore these themes. She served as president and board member of the American Evaluation Association from 1997 to 2002 and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation, 2002–2003. She served as editor for the Journal of Mixed Methods Research 2009-2014.Her publications include four edited volumes, Indigenous Pathways to Social Research (coedited with Fiona Cram and Bagele Chilisa, 2013), Handbook of Social Research Ethics (coedited with Pauline Ginsberg, 2009), Creative Ideas for Teaching Evaluation (1989), and Research and Inequality (coedited with Carole Truman and Beth Humphries, 2000), and several authored books, including Mixed Methods Design in Evaluation (2018), Program Evaluation: A Comprehensive Guide (2nd ed.) (with Amy Wilson, 2018), Transformative Research and Evaluation (2009), Research and Evaluation Methods in Special Education (coauthored with John McLaughlin, 2004), and Parents and Their Deaf Children (coauthored with Kay Meadow-Orlans and Marilyn Sass Lehrer, 2003). She also publishes many chapters and articles in edited volumes, encyclopedias, handbooks, and journals, such as Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Qualitative Social Work, Eye on Psi Chi, Educational Researcher, International Journal of Mixed Methods Research, New Directions for Program Evaluation, American Journal of Evaluation, American Annals of the Deaf, Studies in Educational Evaluation, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.