Book review: Researching education: perspectives and techniques

Hilary Constable reviews the book Researching education: perspectives and techniques (Gajendra K. Verma and Kanka Mallick, London: Falmer Press, 1999, ISBN 0750705310). Generally speaking, I don't write book reviews, because I can't do the correct frame of mind. My immediate reaction to almost any book is delight and amazement that someone could sustain the effort, finish the work, let go the document and live with the ambiguities. I am simply full of admiration: I can hardly bear to think of looking for shortcomings when I know how much work will have gone into it. And then, of course, there's envy. So I can't quite remember why I agreed to this one, but there you go. After what I've said, you won't be surprised to find that I enjoyed the book. The purpose of the review, then, is to explain why. The first half of the book comprises a series of chapters that analyse and discuss research from a variety of standpoints. The analysis is comprehensive, tackling the question of how educational research might be described and what are its characteristics in a range of ways. I was surprising to find this extremely engaging. The authors do not skimp on this part of the book, and in this thorough analysis lies a good deal of their originality.