This book was written as a text and
resource guide for graduate-level students, practitioners, and teachers
in the fields of special education, disability studies, early
intervention, school psychology, and child and family services. The
primary purpose of the book is to offer a broad-based examination of the
role of scientific inquiry in contemporary special education. The
authors aim was to provide a comprehensive overview of the
philosophical, ethical, methodological, and analytical fundamentals of
social science and educational research, as well as to specify aspects
of special education research that distinguish it from scientific
inquiry in other fields of education and human services. The book is
divided into ten chapters. Chapter 1 establishes the theoretical
underpinnings of social scientific inquiry; provides a foundation in the
philosophical, epistemological, and methodological considerations
related to the design and execution of research in general and special
education; and discusses the broad purposes of research in special
education and disability studies. Chapter 2 addresses issues that are
preparatory to designing and evaluating special education research.
Chapter 3 discusses key measurement and statistical concepts used in the
quantitative research tradition, including reliability and validity of
measurement instruments; the purposes of descriptive, inferential, and
nonparametric statistics in analyzing numerical data; and selected
methods of statistical analysis. Chapter 4 reviews ethical issues and
guidelines for the design, implementation, and reporting of research in
special education. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 review the wide range of
quantitative, qualitative, and integrative approaches to conducting
research in special education, while Chapter 9 presents a published
research article section by section, annotates the components and
composition of a research report, and provides a protocol that students,
practitioners, and educators can use to evaluate the technical
soundness and scientific merits of published research articles. The
final chapter addresses future trends in special education research as
they apply to a variety of stakeholders.