Perry F.L. Research in applied linguistics

Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. - 251 p.Part I Fundamentals for discerning consumers1 Understanding the Nature of ResearchWhat Is All This Research About?
Who Is All This Research For?
Is All of This Research Really That Important?
If Applied Linguistics Research Is So Important, How can We Understand It Better?
Who Is a Discerning consumer of Research?
Why Be a consumer of Research?
The Motivation Behind Research
Demythologizing Research
The Meaning of True Research
Identifying Important Questions
Where Are the Answers?2 How to Locate ResearchWhere to Look and What to Look For
Preliminary Sources
Secondary Sources
Tables of References/Bibliographies
Is All Primary Research of Equal Weight?
Differentiating Primary From Secondary
How to Obtain Research Articles
What Journals Are Related to Applied Linguistics?Part II The major components of published research3 Understanding the Framework of a Primary Research ArticleThe Framework of a Research Article
The Title
The Abstract
The Introduction of a Study
Methodology
Results
Discussion/Conclusion4 Understanding Where Data come From: The SampleSampling Terminology
Sampling Paradigms
The Information-Rich Paradigm: Sample Strategies for Maximizing Information
The Representative Sampling Paradigm
Sampling Strategies for Making Generalizations
Ethics in Sampling of Human Participants5 Understanding Research DesignsSection 1: classifying Research Designs
The Basic–Applied continuum
The Qualitative–Quantitative continuum
The Exploratory–Confirmatory continuumSection 2: Questions and Designs
The What questions
The Why questionsSection 3: Internal Validity6 Understanding Data GatheringSection 1: Procedures for Data Gathering
Observational Procedures
Instrumental ProceduresSection 2: Qualities of Good Data-Gathering Procedures
Reliability
Validity7 Understanding Research ResultsIntroduction to Data Analysis
Numerical Versus Verbal Data
Common ProcedureSection 1: Presentation and Analysis of Verbal Data
Evaluating the Quality of Data
Evaluating Patterns and Themes
Evaluating Explanations and conclusionsSection 2: Presentation and Analysis of Numerical Data
Overview of Statistics
Understanding Descriptive Statistics
Understanding Inferential Statistical Procedures8 Discerning Discussions and conclusions:Completing the Picture
Chapter Overview
The Needed Ingredients
Questions Every consumer Should Ask
Appendix A constructing a Literature Review
Why Do a Review of Research?
Where to Begin
Abstracting Primary Literature
Writing a Review of Research
Appendix B Going to the Next Level of Statistics
More About Descriptive Statistics
Types of Scales
Shape of the Data Distribution
The Average
Data Variance
More About Inferential Statistics
Univariate Versus Multivariate Procedures
Degrees of Freedom
Type II Error and Power
Effect Size
More on the Null Hypothesis
The Logic of Testing the Null Hypothesis
Appendix C Journals Related to Applied Linguistics