This guide is designed to encourage students, faculty, and policymakers to become more self-reflective in their inquiry. Placing the pursuit of ideas at the epicenter of research, K-12 and higher education scholars advance ideas for enhancing educational inquiry, relying extensively on narratives, vignettes, and examples of key episodes in inquiry. These exemplars illuminate past, present, and emerging approaches across fields and domains of inquiry to research in education. Key features include: (1) Discussion of the fundamental challenges that researchers must consciously address throughout their inquiry and proposals to overcome obstacles to first-rate research; (2) Identification of potentially fruitful research problems to help students and faculty formulate important questions; and (3) Input from international scholars representing diverse fields, as well as quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches to inquiry. The book is intended as a resource for graduate students, researchers, and education professionals. Thirty chapters are included in six parts. Part I, Engaging Ideas: The Context of Inquiry and Meaningful Problems, contains two sections. Section One, Exploring the Multiple Purposes of Inquiry and Key Stakeholders, includes: Introductory Essay (D. C. Phillips); (1) Muddying the Waters: The Many Purposes of Educational Inquiry (D. C. Phillips); (2) What Knowledge Users Want (Robert E. Floden); and (3) Minding the Gap between Research and Policymaking (David N. Plank and Debbi Harris). Section Two, Identifying Meaningful Problems and Approaches to Inquiry across and within Fields, includes: Introductory Essay (Laura W. Perna and John C. Weidman); (4) All Else Is Never Equal: Opportunity Lost and Found on the P-16 Path to College Access (Patricia M. McDonough and R. Evely Gildersleeve); (5) Studying Teacher Education Programs: Enriching and Enlarging the Inquiry (Kenneth Zeichner); (6) What Are We Tripping On? Transgressing the Fault Lines in Research on the Preparation of Multicultural Educators (Carl A. Grant and Vonzell Agosto); (7) Moving Forward: Ideas for Research on School, Family, and Community Partnerships (Joyce L. Epstein and Steven B. Sheldon); (8) Research on Instruction and Learning in Science: Elaborating the Design Approach (Michael Ford and Ellice Ann Forman); (9) Learning in Science and Mathematics: The Role of Philosophy, Theory, and Methodology in Shaping Our Developing Understanding (Juliet A. Baxter and Shirley J. Magnusson); (10) Reconceptualizing and Recentering Research in Special Education (Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell and Brian A. Bottge); (11) Discovering Unheard Voices: Explorations in the History of Education, Childhood, and Juvenile Justice (Steven Schlossman); (12) Counseling Psychology (Mary Lee Nelson and Cindy L. Juntunen); (13) Educational Leadership (Jane Clark Lindle); (14) Socialization of Students in Higher Education: Organizational Perspectives (John C. Weidman); (15) Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Building on and Extending Lines of Inquiry for the Advancement of the Public Good (Jason N. Johnson, Clifton F. Conrad, and Laura Perna); and (16) Comparative Education: An Approach to Educational Inquiry (David Phillips). Part II, Enriching Inquiry through Identifying and Addressing Key Challenges, contains the remaining four sections. Section Three, Challenges in Formulating and Framing Meaningful Problems, includes: Introductory Essay (Daniel K. Lapsley); (17) Situating Ourselves and Our Inquiry: A First-Person Account (James Youniss); (18) Developing and Nurturing Interesting and Researchable Ideas (Kathryn R. Wentzel); and (19) The Challenge of Framing a Problem: What Is Your Burning Question? (Susan Harter). Section Four, Challenges in Preparing for Inquiry, includes: Introductory Essay (Scott L. Thomas); (20) Light and Shadow in Research Design (John P. Bean); (21) Conceptualizing and Conducting Meaningful Research Studies in Education (Ronald H. Heck); (22) Sampling: Rationale and Rigor in Choosing What to Observe (Scott L. Thomas); and (23) Approaching Rigor in Applied Qualitative Research (J. Douglas Toma). Section Five, Challenges in Conducting Inquiry, includes: Introductory Essay (King D. Beach, III, and Betsy Jane Becker); (24) Windows of Possibility: Perspectives on the Construction of Educational Researchers (Anna Neumann and Aaron M. Pallas); (25) Constructing Data (Kadriye Ercikan and Wolff-Michael Roth); (26) Constructing Analyses: The Development of Thoughtfulness in Working with Quantitative Methods (Michael Seltzer and Mike Rose); and (27) Constructing Conclusions (King D. Beach, III, Betsy Jane Becker, and Mary M. Kennedy). Section Six, Challenges in Writing, Voice, and Dissemination of Research, includes: Introductory Essay (Beth Graue); (28) Writing in Education Research (Beth Graue); (29) Experimenting with Voice and Reflexivity in Social Science Texts (Elizabeth G. Creamer); and (30) Getting the Word Out: Challenges and Opportunities in Explaining Educational Research to the World (Gerald W. Bracey). An author index, subject index, as well as editorial and contributor information are included.