The main purpose of this book is to address the statistical issues for integrating independent studies. There exist a number of papers and books that discuss the mechanics of collecting, coding, and preparing data for a meta-analysis, and we do not deal with these.
Because this book concerns methodology, the content necessarily is statistical, and at times mathematical. In order to make the material accessible to a wider audience, we have not provided proofs in the text. Where proofs are given, they are placed as commentary at the end of a chapter. These can be omitted at the discretion of the reader.
Throughout the book we describe computational procedures whenever required. Many computations can be completed on a hand calculator, whereas some require the use of a standard statistical package such as SAS, SPSS, or BMD. Readers with experience using a statistical package or who conduct analyses such as multiple regression or analysis of variance should be able to carry out the analyses described with the aid of a statistical package.

Your #1 resource for carrying out educational research as part of postgraduate study. High-quality educational research requires careful consideration of every aspect of the process. This all-encompassing textbook written by leading international experts gives you considered overview of principles that underpin research, and key qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods for research design, data collection and analysis. This third edition includes four new chapters: Disseminating your research Data science and computational research methods Observational methods Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Plus a new Research essentials feature that highlights key 'must-haves' or misconceptions relating to each methodological approach, research design or analytical tool discussed. This is essential reading for postgraduate students on education courses and early career researchers looking to sharpen their research practice.

Your #1 resource for carrying out educational research as part of postgraduate study. High-quality educational research requires careful consideration of every aspect of the process. This all-encompassing textbook written by leading international experts gives you considered overview of principles that underpin research, and key qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods for research design, data collection and analysis. This third edition includes four new chapters: Disseminating your research Data science and computational research methods Observational methods Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Plus a new Research essentials feature that highlights key 'must-haves' or misconceptions relating to each methodological approach, research design or analytical tool discussed. This is essential reading for postgraduate students on education courses and early career researchers looking to sharpen their research practice.