This substantially revised text provides a comprehensive, highly accessible, and student friendly introduction to the principles, concepts, and methods currently used in educational research. This text provides a balanced combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and enables students to master skills in reading, understanding, critiquing, and conducting research. Many examples and article excerpts are used throughout the text to demonstrate and highlight best practices in educational research. Evidence-based inquiry is emphasised in two ways: (1) Introductory chapters focus on the added importance of data driven decision-making, (2) Methodological chapters provide explicit guidelines for conducting empirical studies.