Educational Research: An Introduction, Eighth Edition, is the most comprehensive and widely respected text for scholars and for the preparation of graduate-level students who need to understand educational research in depth and conduct original research for a dissertation or thesis. A comprehensive introduction to the major research methods and types of data analysis used today, this text provides in-depth coverage of all facets of research, from the epistemology of quantitative and qualitative scientific inquiry to the design, data collection, analysis, and reporting of a completed study.
Used this research textbook during my doctoral studies and have used it ever since in my teaching. Would recommend for any upper level research course.
So, I got this book about 8 months ago, as part of a bridge course to prepare one for the rigorous Ph. D. work in statistics. At that time, I read 3 pages, closed the book, and put it on my shelf. It is NOT a beginner's book. Now that I have a rough working knowledge of different statistical procedures, I picked back up this book and leafed through some procedures I found easy and difficult. The book makes more sense, now. However, I do feel this is a sort of encyclopedia for stats. 2-3 pages describing a procedure, with one or two articles/studies that typify that type of design. This might be useful for a reference once you have some background, but it is not a good preliminary text or a way to learn about different procedures.