There seems to be a continuous flow of new and revised books to support the teaching and learning of research methods in education and related fields. At one level, this is to be welcomed in an area such as research methodology where there is no single, widely accepted and coherent overview of the subject. The availability of diverse voices and approaches represented through different texts offers more options for the teacher-researcher or research student trying to find a way of engaging with research which makes sense to them, and illuminates their own research agenda. This is especially important when teachers and education students have such a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, and work in such varying professional contexts. Given the range of books available, there is much choice of style and approach, and so both opportunity and challenge for those recommending or selecting texts for use with students. This article reviews three books: (1) "Methods in educational research: from theory to practice," 2nd ed., by Marguerite G. Lodico, Dean T. Spaulding, and Katherine H. Voegtle; (2) "Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches," 3rd ed., by John W. Creswell; and (3) "The qualitative dissertation: a guide for students and faculty," 2nd ed., by Maria Piantanida and Noreen B. Garman. The volumes reviewed offer quite different images of educational research, but have in common that they have passed the test of being considered worthy of revision for new editions. The texts offer something of a "purposive sample" of the range of educational research texts currently on offer to students. (Contains 3 figures.)