The book is designed to enable students to become intelligent consumers of educational research in order to help create effective and acoountable learning environments. Written in a very clear and user-friendly style, this text focuses on understanding the intent of the researcher, the procedures, and the results so that students can use appropriate research findings to inform school change. The author emphasizes how responses to the accountabilit y movement in schools can be focused around using and understanding scientific inquiry.  The book balances quantititive and qualitative research methodology and discusses action research and mixed methods in detail. Students are shown how to analyze and evaluate the research, and judge the usefulness of the findings for educational practice.  In addition, students are shown how this knowledge can translate to their own classrooms.