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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Plano Clark, Vicki L. Understanding research : a consumer’s guide / Vicki L. Plano Clark, John W. Creswell.—Second edition.
pages cm
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-290223-6
ISBN-10: 0-13-290223-0
1. Research—Methodology. I. Title. Q180.55.M4P58 2014 001.4—dc23
2013045256
ISBN 13: 978-0-13-290223-6
ISBN 10: 0-13-290223-0
To my parents, Jack C. and Ellen L. Plano, for all their support and encouragement and in recognition of their many scholarly accomplishments that showed me such a gratifying path to follow.
—Vicki
This text is dedicated to all of the students in my educational research classes at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and to all of the staff and graduate students who have devoted hours of time to projects in the research Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
—John
About The Authors
Vicki L. Plano Clark (Ph.D., University of Nebraska–Lincoln) is an Assistant Professor in Educational Studies in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services at the University of Cincinnati. She teaches research methods courses, including foundations of research, qualitative research, and mixed methods research in the Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research Methodologies program. As an applied methodologist, Dr. Plano Clark studies how other researchers conduct their studies, and her scholarship focuses on the foundations, designs, and contexts for mixed methods research. In addition, she actively applies a variety of research approaches in research and evaluation studies in the areas of education, family research, counseling psychology, nursing, and family medicine. Prior to joining the University of Cincinnati, she spent 19 years at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), where she initially focused on physics education as Laboratory Manager in UNL’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and then switched to a focus on research methodology, which culminated with her serving as the Director of UNL’s Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research. In her spare time, she pursues quilt making and the game of golf, and she and her husband, Mark, take many walks with their scruffy mutt, Peet.
John W. Creswell (Ph.D., University of Iowa) is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. In addition to teaching at the University, he has authored numerous articles on mixed methods research, qualitative methodology, and general research design and 21 books (including new editions), many of which focus on types of research designs, comparisons of different qualitative methodologies, and the nature and use of mixed methods research. His books are translated into many languages and used around the world. He held the Clifton Institute Endowed Professor Chair for five years at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. For the last five years, Dr. Creswell served as a co-director at the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, which provided support for scholars incorporating qualitative and mixed methods research into projects for extramural funding. He served as the founding Co-Editor for the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (SAGE Publications) and as an Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan, where he assisted investigators in the health sciences and education with research methodology for National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation projects. He also served extensively as a consultant in the health services research area for the Veterans Administration. Dr. Creswell was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to South Africa and in 2008 lectured to faculty at five universities on education and the health sciences. In 2012, he again was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Thailand. In 2011 he served as a co-leader of a national working group at NIH developing “best practices” for mixed methods research in the health sciences. In spring 2013, Dr. Creswell has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health. In the summer of 2013, he conducted mixed methods training at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he will be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Preface
New to the Second Edition
You will find several important changes in this edition that were based on user feedback and the careful review of the first edition by anonymous external reviewers. Taken together, these changes aim to make the book more focused, applicable, and practical to developing critical consumers of up-to-date research across disciplinary topic areas. The key changes include the following:
■ Enhanced focus on reading research. This edition has more clearly placed the focus on reading research in all aspects of the book’s content, from the introduction to each chapter’s topic to how consumers can evaluate research reports. This focus helps students through the process of reading, understanding, and evaluating the key elements of research articles.
■ Advanced considerations for evaluating research. This edition has significantly expanded its treatment of how students can learn to evaluate the research studies that they read. To facilitate this development, Chapters 3–14 include tables that introduce criteria useful for evaluating research articles and provide indicators of higher and lower quality for each of the criteria. Each chapter also includes a rating scale form that students can use to apply the criteria to study reports.
■ New full-text articles that apply the book’s content. This edition includes a total of eight new full-text articles to assist students with applying the content they are learning. The articles represent current research on diverse topics and using diverse research approaches. They are “typical” examples of the kinds of articles that students might read, meaning that they demonstrate the limitations and messiness often found in published reports of real research studies. Two of the articles include annotations to help students locate key ideas, but students are expected to provide their own annotations for the remaining articles to better develop their skills for reading research.
■ More coverage of higher-level research approaches. Additional information has been included to provide students with resources to understand the more sophisticated methods found in published research. Examples of this additional information are tables that summarize a wider array of common quantitative and qualitative research designs (Chapters 6 and 9), the inclusion of more higher-level statistical approaches in summary tables (Chapter 8), and more consideration to the kind of claims that can be made at the conclusion of different types of research studies throughout this edition.
■ Inclusion of more examples that are up-to-date and represent diverse disciplines. More examples from published studies have been included throughout this edition. Furthermore, the references have been extensively updated to include more current examples of published research and expanded to better represent a variety of content areas in addition to education.
■ Improved pedagogical features in the presentation of the content. Steps have been taken to better align the pedagogical features in this edition. For example, each chapter’s learning objectives focus on what the students will be able to do as critical consumers of research and are aligned with the major headings throughout the chapter. In addition, each chapter concludes with a Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do feature that helps students to synthesize the content addressed for each specific learning objective.
■ Additional activities to practice and apply the chapter content. The number of activities embedded within the chapters has been increased to give students more
opportunities to engage with the content and check their own understanding as they read. End-of-chapter exercises have also been expanded to include Reading Research Articles activities that ask students to identify features within published articles, Understanding Research Articles activities that ask students to apply concepts and vocabulary introduced in the chapter, and Evaluating Research Articles activities that ask students to critically assess published articles using the chapter content.
■ Additional scaffolding for use of the APA Style. All information about the American Psychological Association (APA) style has been updated to the 6th edition manual (APA, 2010) in this edition. Information about recording references for different types of publications has been included in Chapter 1 and more information about the use of references and headings is included in Chapter 4. In addition, a paper that illustrates the major elements of the APA style has been included as an Appendix to provide students with a concrete example of how the style elements can look when applied in their own writing.
■ New embedded etext features to enhance students’ engagement. The etext version of the book includes several new features embedded into the chapters that facilitate students active engagement with the chapter’s content. The Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do pop-up feature provides students with 10–15 questions similar to the text bank questions and instant feedback to help them self-assess their comprehension of the chapter content. The Reading Research Articles activities ask students to create APA-style references for the assigned articles and provide them with feedback. In addition, they are asked to locate and annotate statements within the articles that demonstrate the chapter’s content. The Understanding Research Articles activities ask students to complete short-answer questions about the articles and provide them with the corresponding answers to check their understanding. The Evaluating Research Articles activities ask students to complete their own assessment of the quality of research studies using the provided rating scales and include a small number of hints to help work through these challenging considerations.
Philosophy and Purpose for this Book
Welcome to Understanding Research: A Consumer’s Guide! This title captures the four perspectives that guided the development of this book.
First, this is a book about research. We view research as a process of interconnected activities that individuals use to gain new knowledge that addresses important concerns or issues in fields such as education, social work, counseling, nutrition, and nursing. Individuals practicing research follow a general set of steps from the initial identification of a research problem to ultimately disseminating their conclusions, and knowing about the research process provides a useful framework for understanding and evaluating the information that researchers include in the reports of their studies. We also recognize that researchers today have a large toolbox of approaches for conducting their studies, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, and action research. Each of these approaches is legitimate and appropriate for addressing certain types of research situations, and researchers are making extensive use of the different approaches across all major disciplines. Therefore, this book examines the application of diverse research tools to meet the needs of today’s students who should become familiar with all the prominent approaches used to develop new knowledge through research studies.
Second, this book is written specifically for consumers. Consumers use research in their jobs. Consumers include anyone who uses the results and implications of research studies to enhance their knowledge and improve their practice. Practitioners such as teachers, school administrators, counselors, social workers, nurses, dieticians, and therapists can all benefit from becoming critical consumers of research. To effectively use the results of research, consumers need to know how to read, understand, and evaluate the quality of research. This book’s content and approach have been conceptualized specifically to meet the needs of this important consumer audience.
Third, fitting the needs of a consumer audience, the focus of this book is on understanding research; it is not about how to conduct research. Specifically, this book addresses the skills, knowledge, and strategies needed to read and interpret research
reports and to evaluate the quality of such reports. This focus is reflected in the overarching organization of the content, which is based on the major sections of a research article. After an introduction to research in Part I, Parts II–VI present chapters related to understanding the Introduction, Method, Results, and Conclusion sections of research articles that report studies using the different research approaches.
Finally, this book has been written as a guide that offers readers practical advice and strategies for learning to understand research reports. Throughout this book, we relate the process of research to the process of taking a journey. When travelers take journeys, they use travel guides to navigate new places, to identify special attractions and sights, and to develop an appreciation for local customs. Likewise, this guide to understanding research aims to help consumers navigate the major sections and content of research reports by identifying key elements when reading each section and developing an appreciation for how different types of research are conducted and ultimately reported.
Keep in mind that this is not an advanced text, and it does not discuss all of the approaches to research that are available. In addition, this book does not provide an exhaustive treatment of the research process, as it does not present details that are necessary for research producers, such as how to conduct statistical calculations. This is an introductory book focused on helping students who plan to be research consumers learn to read, understand, and evaluate research reports so they can better apply the results of research to their knowledge base and professional practices.
Key Features
This book is a comprehensive introduction to help students learn how to understand research articles. In developing the content and writing style, we have attempted to consider the concerns and experiences of a consumer audience by developing a book that is engaging to read, includes up-to-date content, and has a strong applied focus. The following key features highlight the approach of this book:
■ It focuses on helping students learn to read and evaluate research articles.
■ It provides a balanced coverage of diverse approaches to research: quantitative, qualitative, and combined approaches.
■ It includes extensive examples and practice activities to engage students with the content.
Let’s examine these in detail to see how each can help instructors and students achieve their course objectives.
Helps Students Learn to Read and Evaluate Research Articles
This book emphasizes helping students become competent and critical readers of research articles. To this end, we offer guides throughout the text for reading and evaluating research articles. The book also provides many features to further help students become more skilled at interpreting and evaluating research reports, including what follows:
■ The organization is built around the major sections one typically finds when reading research articles and reports: Introduction, Method, Results, and Conclusions.
■ Each chapter begins with a section that discusses how to locate and identify the chapter’s focus when reading a research article.
■ Eight full-text research articles are included. The first two articles are annotated to help readers recognize the characteristics of the different research approaches. For the remaining six articles, students are prompted to read for and identify key elements of the research report that apply the content covered in the chapters to further develop their own skills for interpreting the information presented in research articles. The articles also serve as the context for applying each chapter’s content in the Reading Research Articles and Understanding Research Articles exercises found at the end of each chapter.
■ The Here’s a Tip! feature offers practical advice for applying the chapter concepts when students read actual studies.
■ Criteria for evaluating published studies, including indicators of higher and lower quality, are provided. In addition, the chapters include a rating scale that students can use to apply the stated criteria to evaluate a study of their choice or as assigned by the instructor. The Evaluating Research Articles exercises found at the end of the chapters ask students to apply the rating scales to articles included in the book.
Balances Coverage of Diverse Approaches to Research
This book provides balanced coverage of all types of research design. This provides readers with a complete picture of educational, social science, and health science research, as it is currently practiced. The book begins with an overview of the process of research and then guides the reader through understanding how this process is presented within the major sections of a research report. The content describes and compares four major approaches to research: quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, and action research. Keeping with the balanced coverage, the full-text articles represent three quantitative, three qualitative, one mixed methods, and one action research study. The book also encourages readers to go beyond the general approach to recognizing and evaluating specific designs commonly used to implement each of the major approaches. The research designs are introduced as important considerations for understanding the methods and results of research reports. The highlighted research designs include:
■ experimental (i.e., true experiments, quasi-experiments, and single-subject research) and nonexperimental (i.e., correlational and survey) quantitative research designs;
■ narrative, grounded theory, case study, and ethnographic qualitative research designs;
■ convergent parallel, sequential explanatory, sequential exploratory, and embedded mixed methods research designs; and
■ practical and participatory action research designs.
Includes Extensive Examples and Practice Activities to Engage Students with the Content
Learning to understand research reports is not easy. For most students, research reports represent new vocabulary, new concepts, and new ways of thinking critically about unfamiliar information. This book incorporates many features to help students engage directly with the content so that they can better develop their understanding and skills. Examples of these features include what follows:
■ Consumer-focused learning objectives that indicate concrete goals for what students will be able to do after learning the chapter content. Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do summaries and etext quizzes at the end of the chapters help students review and self-assess their mastery of the learning objectives.
■ Topics that are focused on the needs of consumers new to learning about research, such as how to identify examples of research in the literature and why reading research is relevant for practitioners.
■ Practical examples from students’ own real-world experiences to help explain research concepts.
■ Extensive in-text examples from recently published research articles to illustrate the topics discussed. Note that citations included within example excerpts are not included in the book’s reference list.
■ Key terms are boldface within the text and defined in the glossary to provide easy reference.
■ What Do You Think? exercises with Check Your Understanding feedback help students engage with the new content as they are reading.
■ Here’s a Tip! notes that offer students advice for applying chapter content to their own situations.
■ Reading, Understanding, and Evaluating Research Articles application activities, shortanswer questions, and evaluation activities help students apply chapter content to published research reports. Suggested answers for the short-answer questions help students assess their own progress in understanding the content, while application and evaluation activities provide opportunities to meaningfully apply the content.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Online Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank
This supplement developed by Dr. Michelle Howell Smith provides instructors with opportunities to support, enrich, expand upon, and assess chapter material. For each chapter in the book, this manual provides lecture notes that summarize important concepts requiring review and reinforcement, strategies for teaching chapter content, and suggestions for when and how to use the supplements with the text. The test bank contains various types of items—multiple-choice, matching, short essay, and fill-in-the-blank—for each chapter. Questions ask students to identify and describe research processes and design characteristics they have learned about and to classify and evaluate quantitative, qualitative, and combined study reports.
Online PowerPoint® Slides
PowerPoint slides are available to instructors for download on www.pearsonhighered. com/educator. These slides include key concept summarizations and other graphic aids to help students understand, organize, and remember core concepts and ideas.
TestGen
This computerized test bank software allows instructors to create and customize exams. TestGen is available in both Macintosh and PC/Windows versions.
Acknowledgments
This book is a culmination of our collective experiences in the classroom, working with colleagues and students, and writing about research methods. We could not have written it without the assistance of and support from many individuals. Our thinking about teaching and writing about research methods, including many ideas that helped to shape this book, has benefited from colleagues in the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research (University of Nebraska–Lincoln) and from faculty and students in the Quantitative, Qualitative, and Psychometric Methods graduate program (University of Nebraska–Lincoln) and Quantitative and Mixed Methods Research Methodologies graduate program (University of Cincinnati). In particular, we thank Dr. Ronald J. Shope, Dr. Denise Green, Amanda Garrett, Dr. Kimberly Galt, Sherry Wang, Alex Morales, Courtney Haines, Timothy Gaskill, Theresa McKinney, Nancy Anderson, Debbie Miller, Michelle Howell Smith, and Yuchun Zhou. We also appreciate the support, expertise, and feedback that we have received during the process of preparing the second edition. We specifically thank Robert C. Hilborn of the American Association of Physics Teachers; Amanda Garrett and Doug Abbott at the University of
Nebraska–Lincoln; and Dr. Christopher Swoboda, Dr. Maria Palmieri, Jessica Wertz, Rachael Clark, Boris Yanovsky, and Laura Saylor at the University of Cincinnati for their thoughtful comments about the second edition.
In addition, VPC personally thanks John W. Creswell and Robert G. Fuller who, through their mentoring and collaboration, have profoundly shaped her professional writings and educational practices. VPC also acknowledges the amazing support and encouragement she has received throughout this project from family and friends. She is deeply grateful to Mark W. Plano Clark, Ellen L. Plano, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, and Karen Schumacher.
We are indebted to Kevin Davis at Pearson for initiating this book and providing the vision to develop a comprehensive text for the research consumer audience. His vision and insights have influenced our thinking in writing this text in important ways. We have had the good fortune to work with two fantastic development editors at Pearson. We thank Christina Robb for her professional and personal support and insightful reactions to early revision drafts and Gail Gottfried for her patience, encouragement, and careful attention to the substantive and procedural details during the revision process. We also thank our production team, including project managers Lauren Carlson and Mansi Negi, and copy editor Evelyn Perricone, for their detailed work. Finally, we thank the reviewers who helped shape this book with their feedback and attention to detail: Carol Friesen, Ball State University; Nicole O’Grady, Northern Arizona University; Jeff Piquette, Colorado State University–Pueblo; Candyce Reynolds, Portland State University; Colleen Swain, University of Florida; and Tracy Walker, Virginia State University.
PART ONE An Introduction to Understanding Research 1
1 The Process of Research: Learning How Research Is Conducted and Reported 3
2 Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Understanding Different Types of Study Reports 53
PART TWO Understanding the Introduction Sections of Research Reports 77
3 Statements of the Problem: Identifying Why a Study Is Important 79
4 Literature Reviews: Examining the Background for a Study 118
5 Purpose Statements, Research Questions, and Hypotheses: Identifying the Intent of a Study 161
PART THREE Understanding the Method Sections and Results Sections of Quantitative Research Reports 189
6 Quantitative Research Designs: Recognizing the Overall Plan for a Study 191
7 Participants and Data Collection: Identifying How Quantitative Information Is Gathered 231
8 Data Analysis and Results: Examining What Was Found in a Quantitative Study 254
Understanding the Method Sections and Results Sections of Qualitative Research Reports
9 Qualitative Research Designs: Recognizing the Overall Plan for a Study 285 10 Participants and Data Collection: Identifying How Qualitative Information Is Gathered 329
Data Analysis and Findings: Examining What Was Found in a Qualitative Study 353
Mixed Methods Research Designs: Studies That Mix Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches 383
Conclusions: Identifying the Interpretations and Implications of a Study 465 Appendix Example of a Paper Written in the APA Style 480
Glossary 487
References 491
Name Index 497
Subject Index 500
PART ONE An Introduction to Understanding Research 1
1 The Process of Research: Learning How Research Is Conducted and Reported 3
How Do You Identify Reports of Research? 4
Recognize That Formal Research Includes the Collection and Analysis of Data 4 / Distinguish Reports of Research From Other Types of Scholarly Writing 4
Why Do You Need to Read Research Reports? 7
Read Research to Add to Your Professional Knowledge 7 / Read Research to Inform Your Position in Policy Debates 7 / Read Research to Improve Your Practice 8
Where Do You Find Reports of Research? 10
What Steps Do Researchers Take When Conducting Their Studies? 13
Step 1—Identifying a Research Problem 15 / Step 2—Reviewing the Literature 15 / Step 3—Specifying a Purpose 15 / Step 4—Choosing a Research Design 15 / Step 5—Selecting Participants and Collecting Data 16 / Step 6—Analyzing the Data and Reporting Results 16 / Step 7—Drawing Conclusions 16 / Step 8—Disseminating and Evaluating the Research 16
How Do You Identify the Steps of the Research Process Within the Major Sections of a Research Article? 17
How Should You Examine
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 23 Reading Research Articles 24 Understanding Research Articles 25
An Example of Quantitative Research: The Physical-Activity-in–Middle-Schools Study 26
An Example of Qualitative Research: The Physical-Activity-at-Daycare Study 39
2 Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Understanding Different Types of Study Reports 53
How Do You Identify Quantitative and Qualitative Research Studies? 54
Quantitative Research Studies Emphasize Numeric Data and Statistical Analyses to Explain Variables 54 / Qualitative Research Studies Emphasize Text Data and Thematic Analyses to Explore a Phenomenon 54 / Combined Research Studies Include Both Quantitative and Qualitative Research to Understand a Topic 56
Why Should You Read Both Quantitative and Qualitative Research Studies? 56
What are the Key Differences in the Steps of the Research Process in Quantitative and Qualitative Studies? 57
Step 1—Researchers Identify a Research Problem 59 / Step 2—Researchers Review the Literature 60 / Step 3—Researchers Specify a Purpose 61 / Step 4—Researchers Choose a Research Design 63 / Step 5—Researchers Select Participants and Collect Data 63 / Step 6—Researchers Analyze Data and Report Results 66 /
Step 7—Researchers Draw Conclusions 67 / Step 8—Researchers Disseminate and Evaluate the Research 68
How Do You Evaluate Quantitative and Qualitative Studies? 70
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 74
Reading Research Articles 75
Understanding Research Articles 75
Evaluating Research Articles 76
Statements of the Problem: Identifying Why a Study Is Important 79
How Do You Identify the Statement of the Problem in a Research Study? 79 Locate the Statement of the Problem in the Introduction Section 80 / Identify the Problem That Needs to Be Solved 80 / Distinguish the Research Problem From the Study’s Topic and Purpose 81
Why Do Researchers Need to Study Research Problems? 83
How Do You Distinguish Between the Types of Research Problems Found in Quantitative and Qualitative Studies? 84
Quantitative Research Is Used When the Research Problem Calls for Explanation 85 / Qualitative Research Is Used When the Research Problem Calls for Exploration 85
How Do You Understand the Elements of a Study’s Statement of the Problem? 86
Find the Topic 86 / Identify the Research Problem 87 / Note the Justification for the Importance of the Problem 88 / Identify the Knowledge About the Problem That Is Missing 89 / Note the Audiences Who Will Benefit From the Knowledge Generated by the Study 89 / Consider the Five Elements to Understand a Study’s Statement of the Problem Passage 90
How Do You Evaluate the Statement of the Problem in a Research Study? 93
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 94
Reading Research Articles 95
Understanding Research Articles 95
Evaluating Research Articles 96
An Example of Quantitative Research: The Bullying-Intervention Study 97
4 Literature Reviews: Examining the Background for a Study 118
How Do You Identify the Literature Review in a Research Study? 119
Look for the Literature Review in a Stand-Alone Section 119 / Note Where Researchers Refer to Others’ Work from the Literature 119
How Do Researchers Use Literature in Their Studies? 120
Literature Provides a Justification for the Research Problem 120 / Literature Documents What Is and Is Not Known About the Topic 120 / Literature Identifies the Theory or Conceptual Framework Behind a Study 121 / Literature Provides Models for the Methods and Procedures Used in a Study 123 / Literature Helps Researchers Interpret Their Results 123
How Does the Use of Literature Differ in Quantitative and Qualitative Studies? 124
The Use of Literature Is More Prescriptive and Static in Quantitative Research 124 / The Use of Literature Is More Informative and Dynamic in Qualitative Research 125
What Are the Steps That You Can Use to Review the Literature? 126
Step 1—Identify Key Terms Related to the Topic of the Literature Review 127 / Step 2—Search Databases Using the Key Terms to Locate Literature 127 / Step 3— Select Literature That Is Relevant and of Good Quality 131 / Step 4—Take Notes on the Key Aspects of Each Selected Source 133
How Do You Synthesize Literature and Write a Literature Review? 136 Step 1—Organize the Literature into Themes 136 / Step 2—Write a Summary of the Major Themes 138 / Step 3—Document the Sources by Including Citations to the Literature 141 / Step 4—Provide Your Conclusions About the Literature 142
How Do You Evaluate a Literature Review in a Research Study? 142
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 144
Reading Research Articles 145
Understanding Research Articles 146
Evaluating Research Articles 146
An Example of Qualitative Research: The Adolescent-Homelessness Study 147
5 Purpose Statements, Research Questions, and Hypotheses: Identifying the Intent of a Study 161
How Do You Identify the Purpose in a Research Study? 161
Identify the Study’s Purpose Statement First 163 / Look for Research Questions That Narrow the Study’s Purpose 163 / Look for Hypotheses That Narrow the Study’s Purpose to Predictions 163
How Does the Purpose Differ in Quantitative and Qualitative Studies? 164
Quantitative Researchers Specify Purposes That Are Specific and Narrow 164 / Qualitative Researchers Specify Purposes That Are Broad and General 165
How Do You Identify Variables in Quantitative Research? 166
Variables are the Measurement of Constructs 166 / Variables Are Connected to Other Variables Through Theories 167 / Researchers Study Dependent, Independent, Control, and Confounding Variables 168
How Do You Understand Purpose Statements, Research Questions, and Hypotheses in Quantitative Research? 172
Read Purpose Statements to Learn the Overall Quantitative Intent 172 / Read Quantitative Research Questions to Learn How the Researcher Narrows the Overall Intent Into Specific Questions 174 / Read Quantitative Hypotheses to Learn How the Researcher Narrows the Overall Intent Into Specific Predictions 176
How Do You Identify a Central Phenomenon in Qualitative Research? 178 A Central Phenomenon Is a Concept, Activity, or Process 178 / Researchers Study a Central Phenomenon to Learn About Its Meaning and Complexity 178
How Do You Understand Purpose Statements and Research Questions in Qualitative Research? 179
Read Purpose Statements to Learn the Study’s Overall Qualitative Intent 179 / Read the Central Research Question and Subquestions to Learn How the Researcher Narrows the Overall Intent Into Specific Questions 181
How Do You Evaluate the Purpose in a Research Study? 183
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 186
Reading Research Articles 187
Understanding Research Articles 188
Evaluating Research Articles 188 PART THREE Understanding the Method Sections and Results Sections of Quantitative Research Reports 189
6 Quantitative Research Designs: Recognizing the Overall Plan for a Study 191
How Do You Identify the Research Design in a Quantitative Study? 192 What Characteristics Distinguish the Different Research Designs Used in Quantitative Studies? 194
How Do You Understand Five Common Quantitative Research Designs? 197 The True Experiment Research Design 198 / The Quasi-Experiment Research Design 200 / The Single-Subject Research Design 202 / The Correlational Research Design 204 / The Survey Research Design 207
How Do You Recognize the Research Design in a Quantitative Research Report? 209
How Do You Evaluate the Research Design in a Quantitative Study? 210
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 212
Reading Research Articles 213
Understanding Research Articles 214
Evaluating Research Articles 214
An Example of Quantitative Research: The Early-Intervention-Outcomes Study 215
7 Participants and Data Collection: Identifying How Quantitative Information Is Gathered 231
How Do You Identify the Participants and Data Collection in a Quantitative Study? 232
Look for Information About the Sites and Participants 233 / Note the General Procedures for Collecting Data 233 / Identify the Instruments Used to Gather Quantitative Data 233
How Do You Understand the Selection of Sites and Participants in a Quantitative Study? 233
Identify the Population and Sample 234 / Determine the Sampling Strategy That Was Used 235 / Determine Whether the Sample Included a Large Number of Participants 237
How Do You Understand the Instruments Used to Gather Data in a Quantitative Study? 238
Identify How the Researcher Specified the Variables 239 / Identify the Type of Instrument Used to Gather Information 239 / Assess the Evidence That the Researcher Used a Good Instrument 241
How Do You Understand the Procedures That Researchers Use to Collect Quantitative Data? 244
Note Indicators That the Procedures Were Ethical 244 / Expect the Data Collection Procedures to Be Standardized 245 / Identify How the Researchers Reduced Threats to the Studies’ Conclusions 246
How Do You Evaluate the Participants and Data Collection in a Quantitative Study? 248
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 251
Reading Research Articles 252
Understanding Research Articles 252
Evaluating Research Articles 253
8 Data Analysis and Results: Examining What Was Found in a Quantitative Study 254
How Do You Identify the Data Analysis and Results in a Quantitative Study? 255
Look to the Method Section for a General Description of the Quantitative Data Analysis Process 255 / Examine the Results Section to Find the Quantitative Results for the Study’s Research Questions and Hypotheses 255
How Do You Understand a Study’s Quantitative Data Analysis? 256
Step 1—Identify How the Researchers Scored the Data 257 / Step 2—Note How the Researchers Prepared the Quantitative Data for Analysis 258 / Step 3—Recognize How
the Researchers Used Descriptive Statistics to Answer Descriptive Research Questions 259 / Step 4—Identify How the Researchers Used Inferential Statistics to Answer Comparison and Relationship Research Questions 263
How Do You Understand the Results in a Quantitative Study? 270 First—Examine Tables to Learn A Summary of Major Results 271 / Second—Examine Figures to Learn How Variables Are Related 274 / Third—Read the Detailed Explanations of the Results in the Text 274
How Do You Evaluate the Data Analysis and Results in a Quantitative Study? 278
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 280
Reading Research Articles 281
Understanding Research Articles 281
Evaluating Research Articles 282
PART FOUR Understanding the Method Sections and Results Sections of Qualitative Research Reports 283
9 Qualitative Research Designs: Recognizing the Overall Plan for a Study 285
How Do You Identify the Research Design in a Qualitative Study? 286 What Characteristics Distinguish the Different Research Designs Used in Qualitative Studies? 288
How Do You Understand Four Common Qualitative Research Designs? 290 The Narrative Research Design 290 / The Case Study Research Design 292 / The Ethnographic Research Design 294 / The Grounded Theory Research Design 297
How Do You Recognize the Research Design in a Qualitative Research Report? 299
How Do You Evaluate the Research Design in a Qualitative Study? 300
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 302
Reading Research Articles 303
Understanding Research Articles 304
Evaluating Research Articles 304
An Example of Qualitative Research: The Adoption-of-Pedagogical-Tools Study 305
10 Participants and Data Collection: Identifying How Qualitative Information Is Gathered 329
How Do You Identify the Participants and Data Collection in a Qualitative Study? 330
11
Look for Information About the Sites and Participants 330 / Identify the Types of Qualitative Data Gathered 330 / Discern the Procedures Used to Gather the Data 331 / Note the Issues Related to Collecting Data 332
How Do You Understand the Selection of Sites and Participants in a Qualitative Study? 332
Sites and Participants Are Purposefully Selected 332 / Specific Strategies Guide the Purposeful Sampling 333 / A Small Number of Sites and Participants Are Selected 335
What Types of Qualitative Data Do Researchers Collect? 337
How Do You Understand the Common Qualitative Data Collection Procedures? 338
Procedures for Qualitative Interviews 339 / Procedures for Qualitative Observations 342 / Procedures for the Collection of Documents 345 / Procedures for the Collection of Audiovisual Materials 345
How Do You Understand the Issues That Are Reported About Qualitative Data Collection? 346
Pay Attention to How the Researchers Handled Ethical Issues 346 / Learn About the Challenges That Occurred in Gaining Access and Gathering Data 347
How Do You Evaluate the Participants and Data Collection in a Qualitative Study? 348
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 350
Reading Research Articles 351
Understanding Research Articles 352
Evaluating Research Articles 352
Data Analysis and Findings: Examining What Was Found in a Qualitative Study 353
How Do You Identify the Data Analysis and Findings in a Qualitative Study? 353
Look to the Method Section for an Overview of the Qualitative Analysis Process 354 / Look to the Results Section for the Qualitative Findings Produced by the Analysis Process 355
How Do You Understand a Study’s Qualitative Data Analysis? 355
Step 1—Identify How the Researchers Prepared Their Data 357 / Step 2—Note Whether the Researchers Explored Their Data 358 / Step 3—Discern the Researchers’ Use of Coding 359 / Step 4—Examine How the Researchers Refined Their Codes and Used Them to Build Their Results 361 / Step 5—Identify the Strategies the Researchers Used to Validate Their Results 364
How Do You Understand the Findings in a Qualitative Study? 366 Read Descriptive Findings to Learn the Context of the Study and the Central Phenomenon 366 / Examine Themes to Learn the Larger Ideas Found About the Study’s Central Phenomenon 368 / Read Tables and Figures to Learn More About the Details and Complexity of the Findings 372 / Consider the Form of the Findings in Relation to the Research Design 375
How Do You Evaluate the Data Analysis and Findings in a Qualitative Study? 376
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 378
Reading Research Articles 379
Understanding Research Articles 380
Evaluating Research Articles 380
PART FIVE Understanding Reports That Combine Quantitative and Qualitative Research 381
12 Mixed Methods Research Designs: Studies That Mix Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches 383
How Do You Determine Whether a Study Used Mixed Methods Research? 384
Note Key Terms That Signal the Use of Mixed Methods 384 / Note the Collection and Analysis of Both Quantitative and Qualitative Data 384
When Is It Appropriate for Researchers to Have Used Mixed Methods Research in Their Studies? 385
Mixed Methods Is Appropriate If the Researcher Needed to Combine the Strengths of Quantitative and Qualitative Data 385 / Mixed Methods Is Appropriate If the Researcher Needed to Build From One Type of Data to the Other 386 / Mixed Methods Is Appropriate If the Researcher Needed to Answer Two Questions 386
What Characteristics Distinguish the Different Mixed Methods Designs? 387 Mixed Methods Designs Differ in Terms of Their Timing 388 / Mixed Methods Designs Differ in Terms of Their Priority 389 / Mixed Methods Designs Differ in Terms of Their Mixing 389
How Do You Understand the Common Mixed Methods Research Designs? 390
The Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Design 392 / The Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Design 395 / The Sequential Exploratory Mixed Methods Design 397 / The Embedded Mixed Methods Design 400
How Do You Evaluate a Mixed Methods Research Study? 404
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 406
Reading Research Articles 407
Understanding Research Articles 408
Evaluating Research Articles 408
An Example of Mixed Methods Research: The Student-Note-Taking Study 409
13 Action Research Designs: Studies That Solve Practical Problems 430
How Do You Identify That a Study Used Action Research? 431
Recognize That Action Researchers Include Practitioners 431 / Identify That the Focus Is on a Real Problem in a Local Setting 431 / Notice That the Action Researcher Used a Cyclical Process of Research 432
How Do You Understand Action Research Designs? 432
The Practical Action Research Design 433 / The Participatory Action Research (PAR) Design 436
How Do You Plan Your Own Action Research Study? 440
Step 1—Determine Whether Action Research Is Possible in Your Setting and with Your Colleagues 440 / Step 2—Specify the Problem You Want to Study 441 / Step 3—Locate Resources to Help You Address the Problem 441 / Step 4—Identify Information You Need to Examine the Problem 441 / Step 5—Implement the Data Collection 441 / Step 6—Analyze the Data 442 / Step 7—Develop a Plan for Action 442 / Step 8—Implement the Plan and Reflect 442
How Do You Evaluate an Action Research Study? 443
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 446
Reading Research Articles 446
Understanding Research Articles 447
Evaluating Research Articles 447
PART SIX Understanding the Final Sections of Research Reports 463
14 Conclusions: Identifying the Interpretations and Implications of a Study 465
How Do You Identify the Conclusions and Supporting Information in a Study Report? 465
Look for the Conclusion Section to Learn How the Researcher Interpreted and Evaluated the Study 466 / Read the Back Matter to Find Supporting Information for the Study Report 466
How Do You Understand the Elements Discussed in a Study’s Conclusion Section? 466
A Summary of the Major Results 467 / Relating the Results to Other Literature 467 / The Personal Interpretation of the Researcher 468 / Implications for Practice 468 / The Limitations of the Present Study 469 / Future Research Needs 470 / The Overall Significance of the Study 470
How Are Conclusions Similar and Different Among the Different Research Approaches? 471
What Information Is Included in the Back Matter of a Research Report? 473
How Do You Evaluate the Conclusions and Back Matter in a Research Report? 475
Reviewing What You’ve Learned To Do 478
Reading Research Articles 478
Understanding Research Articles 479
Evaluating Research Articles 479
Appendix Example of a Paper Written in the APA Style 480
Glossary 487
References 491
Name Index 497
Subject Index 500
AN INTRODUCTION TO UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH I PART
Discussions of research are all around you in your day-to-day life. You see research reported in the local news, hear about recent findings from your physician, and may even consider it when deciding which new cell phone to buy. You may even have participated in research by responding to a survey conducted over the phone about an upcoming election or answering questions about your opinions of a new product at a store. Research also plays an important role for us as professionals. Whatever our professional area is, research is often used to justify new policies and form the basis for new materials and practice guidelines.
The importance of research in our personal and professional lives is clear, but learning to understand research is not always easy. Researchers have developed a specialized process and language for conducting and reporting their studies, and you need to learn how to interpret the relevant steps and vocabulary as you read research reports. By developing your skills for understanding research, you will open up resources and knowledge that can help you become better informed about topics important to you personally and professionally. By understanding research, you will also become a critical consumer of research who is better able to evaluate the basis of new information reported from research studies.
Your first step to becoming a critical consumer of research is to develop a big picture of what research is to help you decipher the information included in research reports. Let’s consider an analogy to help us think about how researchers conduct and report their research studies. When a researcher conducts a study and writes up a report, it is a lot like a traveler taking a journey to a destination and putting together a scrapbook of the trip. Travelers use road maps to find their way along unfamiliar territory and researchers use the process of research to guide their research “journeys.” In Chapter 1, you will be introduced to the steps in the process of research that researchers use to plan and conduct the activities in their research studies. Knowing about this process will provide you with a general research “road map” for navigating the information you read in research reports. Travelers also take different types of journeys to reach their destinations—some use specific routes planned from the start and others allow the routes to unfold as they go in order to explore unexpected places along the way. Likewise, researchers conduct different types of studies to cover the “terrain” of interest. In Chapter 2, we will focus on two major types of research—quantitative and qualitative—that researchers use when conducting different studies. We will consider how to understand research articles that report these different types of research “journeys” using the same general “map” of the research process.
Let’s get started on your own journey to becoming a critical consumer of research!
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1 THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH: LEARNING HOW RESEARCH IS CONDUCTED AND REPORTED
The goal of this book is to help you learn how to read and make sense of research reports. To understand research reports, however, you first need to know a little about what research is and how researchers conduct and report it. By learning how research is done, you can better recognize and evaluate the information that researchers include in their reports. This chapter begins by first considering the question: What is research? Armed with a definition, you will next consider reasons for reading research studies and where you can find research studies reported. In this chapter, you will also learn the steps researchers use to conduct studies and how you find these steps discussed within the major sections of research reports.
BY THE END OF THIS CHAPTER, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
■ State a definition of research and use it to recognize reports of research studies.
■ Identify your reasons for needing to read research reports.
■ Name different formats where you can find reports of research studies.
■ Name the steps in the process of research that researchers undertake when they conduct research studies.
■ Identify the major sections of a research report, and know which steps of the research process are reported within each section.
■ Read a research report and recognize the information included about a study’s research process.
Let’s begin by taking a moment to welcome you to this endeavor of learning to read and understand research reports. Whether you are a student just starting your career or an experienced professional enhancing your knowledge, we hope you will find learning about research a rewarding experience. Whatever your profession—teacher, principal, counselor, social worker, child care provider, nurse, nutritionist, or other practitioner— reading research studies can provide you with information useful for your practice. For example, perhaps you work with children in a community of professionals that is concerned about the children getting enough physical activity to maintain healthy weights and support appropriate development. Some personnel think that a new program should be started to encourage physical activity within the schools to help children be more active. Other personnel are not convinced that such a program would be the best use of resources. In addition, no one knows what types of programs are possible, what benefits the programs can have, or which type will work best within the community. This example is a perfect illustration of how you could benefit from reading research on an important issue such as physical activity in schools. Although you may have personal experience with this issue, you may not be familiar with how to identify and read reports of research. However, reading research on the issues that matter to you can provide you with new ideas and insights that can make a difference in your practice. Developing your skills for reading and understanding research reports starts by obtaining a good understanding of what research is and why you should want to read it. Therefore, let’s start by considering how you identify research, why you should read research, and where you might find research reports.
How Do You Identify Reports of Research?
Before going any further, we need to answer the question: What is research? Simply stated, research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information in order to increase our knowledge about a topic or issue. At a general level, this process of research consists of three steps:
1. Posing a question.
2. Collecting data about the question.
3. Analyzing the data to answer the question.
These steps should be a familiar process as we all have engaged in informal research many times. Toddlers use this process when they wonder how their parents will react if they knock a bowl of spaghetti on to the floor (and then try it!). Students use it when engaging in inquiry-based learning activities in science class. Sports fans use it when they gather information to decide which players to include on their fantasy teams. And you likely use it regularly when solving problems at home or at work when you start with a question, collect some information, and then form an answer. Engaging in informal research gives you a useful process for learning about and solving problems that you face. It also provides you with experiences that will be helpful for understanding formal research. In formal research, researchers have developed a more rigorous approach to the research process for studying topics than what we all use in our daily lives for solving problems. It is this more formal process of research that is the focus of this book.
Recognize That Formal Research Includes the Collection and Analysis of Data
When researchers conduct formal research studies, they include a few more steps in the research process than the three listed above. For example, researchers actually complete multiple steps when “posing the question” of interest in a research study. We will learn much more about these steps later in this chapter and throughout this book. For now, the key idea for identifying research is that researchers use a process of research to collect and analyze data in order to increase our knowledge about a topic or issue. The collection and analysis of data is what differentiates research from all other types of activities. Data are pieces of information (numbers, words, facts, attitudes, actions, and so on) that researchers systematically gather from entities, such as individuals, families, organizations, or communities. Researchers analyze or make sense of this data in some way to produce results that answer their question. Therefore, the defining feature of research is that researchers go out and gather data to answer their question as opposed to answering it based on their own opinions, experience, logic, hunches, or creativity. When you are reading a document such as an article on a topic that interests you, you can use the definition of research to determine whether it is describing a research study. Examine the checklist for identifying a document as an example of research provided in Figure 1.1. We use this rating scale whenever confronted with a new article about a topic of interest. First, we examine the article’s title for clues as to whether it reports a research study. Words such as research, study, empirical, investigation, or inquiry are often good clues. Next we turn to the abstract to look for evidence that the author collected and analyzed data. An abstract is a brief summary of an article’s content written by the article’s author and placed at the beginning of the article. Because abstracts are so short (often 150 words or less), authors may not include good details about their studies in them. If the abstract does not satisfy the checklist in Figure 1.1, then we examine the full text of the article to see whether the author reports the collection and analysis of data. Using this rating scale will help you distinguish reports of completed research studies from other types of scholarly writing.
Distinguish Reports of Research From Other Types of Scholarly Writing
A common pitfall for those new to research is to assume that all scholarly writings that they read represent research studies. In fact, there are many different types of scholarly writing about different topics that are published and available. Table 1.1 lists several
FIGURE 1.1 A Rating Scale for Determining
Whether an Article Reports a Research Study
• Examine the article’s title, abstract, and Method section.
• For each criteria in the following rating scale, assign a rating of no (0) or yes (1) and record your evidence and/or reasoning behind the rating.
• Add up the ratings. A total of 3 should indicate that the article is a report of a research study. A total of 0–2 likely indicates that the article does not report a full research study and instead reports another type of article such as a literature review.
Criteria
1. Terms are present that identify the report as research, such as study, investigation, empirical research, or original research
2. The authors describe gathering data.
3. The authors describe analyzing the gathered data and report results of the analysis.
Overall Determination
0–2 5 Likely not research
3 5 Likely research
Rating Your Evidence and/or Reasoning
0 5 No 1 5 Yes
TABLE 1.1
types of writings that you may be familiar with and may encounter as you read about topics that interest you, such as literature reviews; opinion papers; and creative writing, such as fictional stories. In addition, the table provides an example of how each type of writing might be applied to the topic of children’s physical activities. In most of the forms of scholarly writing listed in Table 1.1, the authors start by posing a question in some way, but only in research studies will the authors report the systematic collection
Different Types of Writings About Topics
Type of Writing Typical Use
Research
To collect and analyze data in order to increase our knowledge about a topic or issue
Literature Review To summarize and critique a collection of different writings about a topic
Theoretical Discussion
To synthesize ideas about a topic into a framework or model that identifies key concepts and how they are related to each other
Opinion Paper To provide one individual’s opinions on a topic based on his/her experiences and perspectives
Program Description To provide a description of the features involved in the implementation of a particular program from the individuals who are running the program
Fiction Writing To tell a story about a topic that engages the reader to think about that topic
Poetry
To bring forth an emotional response on a topic through creative uses of language
Example
The author collected and analyzed data about daily time spent being physically active for children in first through seventh grades
The author summarized 18 writings available in the literature about children’s physical activity
The author developed a model of the factors believed to encourage and discourage children to be physically active
The author provides her opinions on promoting children’s physical activity levels based on 25 years as an elementary school physical education teacher
The author describes a special “Get Active!” program used at one middle school
The author tells a story of three girls growing up and playing together on a volleyball team
The author creatively uses words to convey one man’s memories of running through the fields by his house as a child to convey the meaning of physical activity for one person
and analysis of data to answer the question. Therefore, when you want to identify whether a written document is an example of research, focus on the collection and analysis of data as the key indication that the document reports a research study. With these ideas in mind, let’s apply the definition of research and the rating scale in Figure 1.1 to two example abstracts taken from articles found in the literature.
Example
1—Identifying an article that is a research study
An abstract written by Carrington, Templeton, and Papinczak (2003, p. 211):
This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of friendship faced by teenagers diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. This research aimed to provide teachers with an insight into the social world of Asperger syndrome from a student perspective. A multiple–case study approach was used to collect data from 5 secondary school students in Australia. Data were collected through the use of semistructured interviews. An inductive approach to data analysis resulted in a number of broad themes in the data: (a) understanding of concepts or language regarding friendships, (b) description of what is a friend, (c) description of what is not a friend, (d) description of an acquaintance, and (e) using masquerading to cope with social deficits. The insights provided by the participants in this study are valuable for teachers, parents, and anyone else involved in inclusive education.
Using the rating scale in Figure 1.1, we can conclude that this article is describing a research study. Notice how the authors used key words in the first few sentences, including study, investigated, and research, when referring to their work. This abstract also clearly satisfies items 2 and 3 on the rating scale because the authors indicate that they collected data (“data were collected through the use of semistructured interviews”) and analyzed the data (using “an inductive approach to data analysis”).
Example 2—Identifying an article that is NOT a research study
An abstract written by Amatea, Smith-Adcock, and Villares (2006, p. 177): This article presents an overview of a research-informed family resilience framework, developed as a conceptual map to guide school counselors’ preventive and interventive efforts with students and their families. Key processes that characterize children’s and families’ resilience are outlined along with recommendations for how school counselors might apply this family resilience framework in their work.
This article presents an interesting and scholarly discussion of issues and theories related to family resiliency and the implications for school counselors. Although the abstract refers to research conducted by others (“a research-informed family resilience framework”), it does not satisfy the criteria in the rating scale. Notice that the authors used terms such as overview, developed, and outlined when referring to their work. There is also no indication that the authors collected or analyzed any data based on the information provided in the abstract. Therefore, this article is not an example of research, but instead is an example of a theoretical discussion.
What Do You Think?
Consider the following abstract from an article about a vocabulary instruction program. Does this article report a research study? Why or why not?
An abstract written by Apthorp (2006, p. 67): The author examined the effectiveness of a vocabulary intervention that employed structured, supplemental story read-alouds and related oral-language activities. Within each of 7 Title I schools across 2 sites, 15 third-grade teachers were randomly assigned to either use the intervention (treatment condition) or continue their usual practice (control condition). Trained test examiners administered oral and sight vocabulary pre- and posttests and reading achievement posttests. At 1 site, students in treatment, compared with control, classrooms performed significantly higher in vocabulary and reading achievement. In the other site, the intervention was not more effective. Contextual factors and student characteristics appeared to affect the results.
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
quite hopeless to compete with the cheap and well-printed foreign editions.
The Latin Grammar is known only from two leaves found in a bookbinding, and they were acquired by the British Museum in 1872. What book they came from is not known, but in 1871 they were in the hands of Messrs Ellis & Green, and were described in the Athenæum. From the frequent references to Oxford in the text, it has been supposed that the work was compiled in Oxford. Stanbridge was spoken of as a probable author, but Bradshaw suggested John Anwykyll, first master of Magdalen School, who had been recommended to the founder for his skill in a new style of grammatical teaching which had met with general approbation.
After the publication of these four books, the type with which their text was printed disappears altogether, but is replaced by one of very similar appearance, and besides this, two other new founts came into use. This activity may perhaps be explained by the theory that Thomas Hunte, the Oxford stationer, had entered into partnership with Rood. In the Alexander de Hales of 1481 we find Rood’s name alone, while in the only book of the last group which contains a full colophon, the Phalaris of 1485, the names of both are given. To Hunte’s influence may perhaps be traced the acquisition of a fount of type of much more English appearance, and probably, since it contained a w, intended for use in English books.
To the years 1483 and 1484 six books may be ascribed. Two editions of Anwykyll’s grammar, Hampole on Job, a work on Logic, the Provincial Constitutions of England with the commentary of William Lyndewode, and a sermon by Augustine on almsgiving.
The editions of Anwykyll’s grammar may be taken first, since in one copy we find an inscription showing that it was bought in 1483. The book consists of two parts, the Latin grammar, and a supplement containing sentences of Terence with English translations, known as the Vulgaria Terentii The part containing the grammar is excessively rare. Of one issue one fragment is known, consisting roughly of half the book, now in the Bodleian Library. It was originally bound up with other tracts, and the volume was found along with some other old
books in an attic at Condover Hall, Shropshire, by Mr Alfred Horwood when engaged in an examination of family archives for the Historical Manuscripts Commission.
The other issue is known only from six leaves, all in Cambridge, three in the University Library, two in Corpus, and one in Trinity libraries. Two reprints of the grammar were issued on the Continent, one by Richard Paffroet at Deventer in 1489, consisting of seventysix leaves, and another at Cologne by Henry Quentell about 1492, containing sixty leaves. From a comparison of the various fragments with these foreign editions certain conclusions may be drawn. Anwykyll had divided his grammar into four parts, and in the edition represented by the six Cambridge leaves these parts were arranged in their proper sequence, one, two, three, and four. In the edition, however, represented by the Bodleian fragment, and in both foreign editions, the parts are arranged, one, three two, four. The last quire of the Bodleian edition was signed m, and it was followed by the Vulgaria Terentii signed n to q. The Cambridge edition of the grammar extended at any rate to signature n.
Since in reprints the tendency is generally to compress, it is most probable that the Cambridge edition was the earlier, a conclusion rendered more likely from the arrangement of the books in their correct order. For some reason this order was altered in the fresh issue, the printing was compressed, and the Vulgaria printed to go at the end. It would be natural for the foreign printers to take the most recent issue as their model, in this case the edition represented by the Bodleian fragment.
We may conclude then that the first Oxford issue consisted of Anwykyll’s grammar alone, the second the grammar re-arranged and compressed, with the Vulgaria Terentii added as a supplement.
The Vulgaria was, however, certainly sold alone, for two of the five copies known were bound up with other tracts and without the grammar in original bindings. A copy in the Bodleian has an interesting inscription stating it was bought in 1483 by John Green out of gifts made by his friends.
The work of Richard Rolle of Hampole on Job is known from four copies, three of which were until quite recently in the University Library. One of these was parted with as a duplicate in 1893, and is now in the Rylands Library at Manchester. The fourth copy, up to the time unnoticed, appeared in the auction of Mr Inglis’s books in 1900, when it was bought by Mr Bennett of Manchester, and passed with his whole library into the wonderful collection of Mr Pierpont Morgan of New York. The volume consists of sixty-four leaves, and the last few pages are taken up with a sermon of Augustine, De misericordia.
The separately printed Excitatio ad elemosinam faciendam of Augustine was probably issued about the same time. Only one copy is known and it was originally bound in a volume with other fifteenthcentury tracts, two of which are dated 1482 and 1484. This volume was at one time in the Colbert collection, which was finally dispersed by auction in 1728, when the volume was Lot 4912 and sold for one livre ten sous. It ultimately came to the British Museum, where it lay for long unnoticed, having been entered in the catalogue as printed by A. Ther Hoernen at Cologne, but in 1891 it was recognised as a product of the early Oxford press, and transferred to the select cases.
The next book in this group is a work on Logic, or rather a collection of nineteen logical treatises strung together to form a systematic work. It is generally associated with the name of Richard Swineshede from the occurrence of his name at the end of the seventeenth treatise. He was a monk of the Cistercian abbey of Swineshead in Lincolnshire, and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, so that, as is fitting, one of the two known copies of the book is in Merton Library The other copy is in the library of New College. A considerable number of fragments of this book have been found used in bindings, and there are odd leaves in the University Library and in the libraries of Trinity and St John’s, Cambridge.
The Constitutiones Provinciales with the commentary of William Lyndewode, Wilhelmus de Tylia nemore, as he is called in the text, is by far the largest and most important book issued by the Oxford press, and the first edition of Lyndewode’s great work. It is a large folio of three hundred and fifty leaves, printed in double columns,
with forty-six lines of text, or sixty of commentary, to the column. On the verso of the first leaf, missing in the majority of copies, is a woodcut of a doctor seated writing at a desk under a canopy, with a tree on either side. This represents, however, not Lyndewode compiling his commentary, but Jacobus de Voragine at work on the Golden Legend, a book which the Oxford press appears to have made some preparations for publishing.
This is the most common of the early Oxford books. Mr Madan enumerates twenty copies, but others have since come to light. One copy is known printed upon vellum. It was purchased at the M’Carthy sale for one hundred francs, and is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale. The vellum copy, quoted by Hartshorne, as in the library of St John’s College, does not exist, though that library possesses two on paper. One copy in Cambridge, that in the library at Corpus, is worthy of special mention, as its handsome stamped binding bears every mark of being the work of Caxton.
In 1485 the Phalaris was issued. This is a Latin translation by Franciscus Aretinus of the spurious Letters of Phalaris. At the commencement are some verses by Petrus Carmelianus, the Court poet, and at the end an interesting colophon in twelve lines of Latin verse setting forth that the book was printed by Theodoric Rood of Cologne in partnership with the Englishman, Thomas Hunte. It continues that Jenson taught the Venetians, but Britain has learnt the art for itself and that in future the Venetians may cease from sending their books to us since we are now selling books to others.
It is a curious and amusing coincidence that Jenson should here be mentioned as introducing printing into Venice in place of the real first printer, John of Spire, for Jenson’s often repeated claim to be the first printer of Venice rests upon exactly the same grounds as the Oxford printer’s claim to be the first printer in England, a date in a colophon with a numeral, x, accidentally omitted.
The Decor Puellarum printed at Venice by Jenson, with the date printed 1461 in place of 1471, led many early writers to consider him the first printer of Venice and of Italy, and it is possible that a copy of the book, having found its way to Oxford, deceived the writer of the
verses in the Phalaris. If in return a copy of the Expositio could have reached Venice, its “1468” would have just given it the lead of the first Venice book, the Cicero of 1469, by one year.
Another grammar was printed about this time, the Doctrinale of Alexander de Villa Dei, with a commentary. Probably what the Oxford printer issued was not the complete work but the section De nominum generibus. Of this book two leaves only are known, preserved in a binding in St John’s College, Cambridge. These were first noticed by Henry Bradshaw, who found also some leaves of the Oxford Anwykyll in a similar binding in Corpus. When the two books, Hollen’s Præceptorium printed by Koburger at Nuremberg in 1505, from St John’s, and the Fortalitium fidei printed at Lyons in 1511, from Corpus, were compared, it was clear that they must have been bound by the same binder almost at the same time, for, besides the fragments of Oxford books found in both, the binder had used in each fragments of one and the same vellum manuscript. From the occurrence of these fragments Mr Gibson has claimed the binding as Oxford work, but as the fragments were binder’s, not printer’s waste, that is they were from books that had been in circulation, no very strong argument can be deduced from them. I have in my own collection a book bound at Cambridge by Garrat Godfrey, with his signed roll, of which the boards are entirely made of fragments of the Oxford Lyndewode.
After 1485 we hear no more of Rood, but it was for a time considered possible, if not probable, that he was identical with another printer named Theodoric, who printed some books at Cologne in 1485 and 1486 in a distinctive type remarkably resembling that used by Rood in the Hales and Lathbury The supposition had much in its favour; the types were undeniably alike, both being of the same class as that used by Ther Hoernen, another Cologne printer. The name Theodoricus again was extremely uncommon. Panzer gives only three in the fifteenth century, the Oxford and Cologne printers, and the well-known Thierry Martens, the printer of the Low Countries. There was no proof, and there was no direct evidence of any kind, but the hypothesis was not quite groundless. For some reason, in a review of Vouillième’s work on
Cologne printing, Proctor fell upon this “myth formed without a particle of evidence,” as he called it, though it was only from information in the book reviewed that any new facts about Theodoric were derived. Vouillième discovered documents showing that the Cologne Theodoric was a son of Gertrude Molner, who subsequently married Arnold Ther Hoernen, and after his death in 1483 or 1484, Conrad von Boppard.
The last book from the early Oxford press was an edition of the Liber Festivalis or Festial, consisting of sermons for holy days and certain Sundays of the year, compiled by John Mirk, prior of Lilleshall in Shropshire. Though generally spoken of as a mere reprint of Caxton’s edition, it varies very considerably in the text, and when Caxton issued a new edition he copied from this rather than his own earlier version.
This is the only Oxford book which was illustrated, and the illustrations are very interesting. A series of eleven large oblong woodcuts occur, and all have been mutilated by having some two inches cut off the blocks to allow of their being used on a small folio page. No other editions of the Festial are illustrated, and Bradshaw pointed out that these cuts were really part of a set intended to illustrate an edition of the Golden Legend. In the Lyndewode, issued about 1483, the printer had used one of these cuts in a complete state, so that as early as 1483 he had evidently been considering the issue of a Golden Legend and had begun to make preparations. But Caxton in London was at work on the same book, and, finishing his translation in November 1483, no doubt issued his volume early in 1484. From his prologue we learn that the labour and expense of production were so heavy that he was “halfe desperate to have accomplissed it”; and we can quite understand the Oxford printer hesitating to embark upon a rival edition of a book so expensive to produce, and with which the market had just been supplied. The smaller illustrations belong to a set made for a Book of Hours, but no edition containing them is known to exist.
In this book occurs also the only woodcut initial letter used at the press, a very roughly cut G without any ornament. Though of the very poorest appearance, it was used with considerable frequency;
for it is found between fifty and sixty times at the usual commencement of the sermons “Good men and women.”
Four copies of the book are known. Two in the Bodleian, very imperfect, and one in the Rylands Library wanting the first two leaves. The finest is at Lambeth, which wants only the last, blank, leaf.
The printing of the book was finished in 1486, “on the day after Saint Edward the King,” presumably March 19; but there is nothing to show whether this would be the year 1486 or 1487 of our reckoning. The only other provincial press of the fifteenth century, that of St Alban’s, stopped also in 1486, but so far no good reason has been suggested for this simultaneous cessation. That it was due to any political or religious motive, as is sometimes stated, is very improbable; the growing foreign competition seems a more reasonable cause.
From the very earliest times there appear to have been two classes of stationers in Oxford, those who were sworn servants of the University, and those who worked independently. A deed of 1290 shows that the parchment makers, illuminators, and text writers were in the jurisdiction of the Chancellor of the University, and in 1345 the Chancellor was acknowledged to have jurisdiction over four official stationers. A most interesting deed of 1373 sets forth that “There are a great many booksellers in Oxford who are not sworn to the University; the consequence of which is, that books of great value are sold and carried away from Oxford, the owners of them are cheated, and the sworn stationers are deprived of their lawful business. It is therefore enacted that no bookseller, except the sworn stationers or their deputies, shall sell any book, being either his own property or that of another, exceeding half a mark in value, under pain of, for the first offence, imprisonment, for the second, a fine of half a mark, for the third, abjuring his trade within the precincts of the University.” The university stationers in their official capacity had to value manuscripts offered as pledges for money advanced, they seem also to have supplied books to the students at a fixed tariff, and acted as intermediaries between buyer and seller when a
student had a book to sell. For these duties they received an occasional fee from the University.
At the time when printing was introduced, we find the same two classes, the University stationers, almost always Englishmen, and the unofficial booksellers and bookbinders, mainly foreigners.
The most important stationer in the fifteenth century was Thomas Hunte, who, we have seen, was for a time a partner with Theodoric Rood the printer. His name first appears in 1473, in which year he sold a Latin Bible, now in the British Museum, and he was then one of the official University stationers. Between 1477 and 1479 he was living in Haberdasher Hall in the parish of St Mary the Virgin. These premises in Cat Street belonged to Oseney Abbey and seem to have been a favourite situation with stationers. In 1479, besides Hunte, a bookbinder, Thomas Uffyngton, who bound for Magdalen College, also resided there. After the appearance of Hunte’s name in the Phalaris of 1485 we find no further mention of him, but his widow was occupying the same premises in 1498.
Another stationer who visited Oxford and was apparently connected with it was Peter Actors, a native of Savoy. On a leaf used in the binding of a French translation of Livy in the Bodleian is a list of books which he and his partner, John of Aix-la-Chapelle, left with Thomas Hunte on sale or return in 1483. His headquarters, however, must have been in London, for in 1485 he was appointed Stationer to the King. It is thus mentioned in the Materials for a history of Henry VII., “Grant for life to Peter Actoris, born in Savoy, of the office of stationer to the King; also licence to import, so often as he likes, from parts beyond the sea, books printed and not printed into the port of the city of London, and other ports and places within the kingdom of England, and to dispose of the same by sale or otherwise, without paying customs, etc., thereon and without rendering any account thereof.” Richard III., in an act of 1484, had given special encouragement to foreigners for bringing books into this country or for settling here as booksellers, binders or printers, and there is every evidence that this facility was freely taken advantage of. From the two or three rather conflicting entries relating to the grant to Peter Actors, it is not quite clear whether his
appointment was made originally by Richard III. and confirmed by Henry VII. after his accession, or whether it originated with the latter. At any rate from the act and from this appointment we have definite evidence that both kings looked with favour on the book-trade and encouraged it by all means in their power.
The son of Peter Actors, Sebastian, certainly lived in Oxford in the parish of St Mary the Virgin, and was a stationer and bookbinder. In the University archives is the record of a grant of administration after his death dated April 23, 1501. In this a claim is made by a John Hewtee, who had married his sister Margaret, on behalf of her father, Peter Actors, for the tools used in binding.
Among the binding material belonging to the father we may probably include three panel stamps of which impressions are known. Two of them are ornamented with spirals of foliage and flowers enclosing fabulous animals in the curves, while in the centre are two dragons with their necks entwined. Round one of these panels runs the inscription, “Ho mater dei memento Maistre Pierre Auctorre,” while the other has an inscription in French, but no binder’s name. The third panel has a conventional acorn design upon it without any inscription. So far we have not traced these panels to a date early enough for them to have been used by Sebastian Actors, but about 1520 they are used in conjunction with other tools found on Oxford work.
Another stationer, George Chastelain, is first mentioned in the imprint of a grammar printed by Pynson about 1499, “Here endeth the Accidence made at the instance of George Chastelayn and John Bars.” There is no indication where he was then at work, but in 1502 he was admitted as a servant to the liberties of the University. About 1507 Pynson printed for him an edition of the Principia of Peregrinus de Lugo, an extremely rare book, of which, however, there is a copy in the University Library. In this his address is given as the sign of St John Evangelist in the street of St Mary the Virgin. He was a bookbinder as well as a stationer, and in the registers of Magdalen College frequent mention is made of him between 1507 and 1513 as binding books for their library. He died in 1513, and his will was administered by Mr. Wutton and Henry Jacobi, a stationer. An
inventory of his goods was made by Howberch, a University stationer, and Richard Pate, and the value returned at £24.
Some time between 1512 and 1514 a stationer named Henry Jacobi migrated from London to Oxford. From 1506 to 1508 he had been in partnership with another bookseller named Joyce Pelgrim, and assisted by a wealthy London merchant named Bretton they issued several books together. Between 1509 and 1512 Jacobi published books alone, though he appears to have still been helped by Bretton.
One book is known printed for Jacobi at Oxford, an edition of the Formalitates of Antonius Sirectus. An imperfect title-page and a few leaves were found by Proctor in the binding of a book in New College Library, and shortly afterwards a copy of the book, wanting a greater part of the title, was identified in the British Museum. It is a quarto of twenty-two leaves, and was printed in London by W. de Worde. On the title-page is the very finely engraved device of Jacobi, probably newly cut, and found in no other of his books, though it was used again in a mutilated state by his successor; and below the device an imprint stating that the book was to be sold in the University of Oxford at the sign of the Trinity, by Henry Jacobi, a London bookseller. His shop in London in St Paul’s Churchyard had also the sign of the Trinity. Jacobi made his will on September 8, 1514, and died shortly after. On November 9 his wife renounced her executorship, and administration was granted to William Bretton, the rich merchant who had assisted him throughout his career. On December 11 administration of the effects of Jacobi was granted at Oxford also to Bretton through his agent, Joyce Pelgrim, Jacobi’s former partner.
T - A S , P H J
The most interesting figure among the early Oxford stationers is undoubtedly John Dorne or Thorne. In 1507 he was a printer at Brunswick, and printed an edition of the grammar of Remigius entitled Dominus que pars, the first book to be printed in that town. In 1509 he printed an edition of the Regimen Sanitatis, and with this second book his career as a printer seems to have ended. Later he moved as a bookseller to Oxford, and a valuable memorial of his stay there is preserved in the shape of his day-book or ledger for the whole year 1520. This curious little manuscript is in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and was for long erroneously catalogued as a catalogue of books in the monastery of St Frideswide. Its great interest remained unrecognised. Dibdin was shown it on a visit to Oxford, but as might be expected failed to see its value and took no further notice of it. Coxe, in his catalogue of manuscripts preserved in college libraries, gave a correct account of it in 1852, and finally in 1885 it was admirably edited by Mr Madan and published in the Collectanea of the Oxford Historical Society. At the end of January 1886 a separate copy was sent to Henry Bradshaw, who immediately set to work upon it, and on the 4th of February he sent to Mr Madan a thin bound folio volume of notes, to which he had prefixed a title-page, “A Half-Century of Notes on the Day-book of John Dorne.” This was the last piece of work which Bradshaw finished, and within a week of sending it he was dead.
Dorne’s ledger throws full light on the trade of an unprivileged stationer in a University town. His supply of books necessary for the schools was small. These no doubt would be mostly bought from the licensed University stationer; but all other classes are well represented. Of liturgical books he sold a very large number, and naturally the various works of Erasmus were in great demand. The number of English books sold was relatively small, though there are frequent entries of single sheets, almanacks, and ballads. Such cheaper and popular stock would find a ready sale when he set up his stall at the St Austin’s and St Frideswide’s fairs. Towards the end of May when business was quiet after St Austin’s fair, he went abroad for a couple of months, presumably to arrange for the supply of fresh stock, though his absence did not coincide with the time of the Frankfurt fair. The ledger begins again on August 5, “post
recessum meum de ultra mare.” In October came St Frideswide’s fair, when he sold books to the amount of £17, 9s. 6d. as against the £14, 4s. 10d. which he received at the St Austin’s fair in May. Probably during fair time he would have to close his ordinary shop, and transfer his business for the time to a stall in the precincts of the fair itself.
Besides being a bookseller, Dorne was also a publisher on a small scale. An edition of the Opus Insolubilium, a book used in the schools at Oxford, and printed by Peter Treveris at Southwark for I. T., has been known for some time from a copy in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The I. T. was considered to stand for John Thorne, the English form of Dorne. This has been confirmed by a recent discovery. From the sale in 1906 of the library of the Duke of Sutherland at Trentham Hall, a most interesting volume was secured for the University Library. It contained three tracts connected with Oxford. The first was the Libellus Sophistarum printed at London by Wynkyn de Worde, of which there were several editions. The second was another copy of the Opus Insolubilium mentioned above; but the third was an entirely unknown book, an edition of the Tractatus secundarum intentionum logicalium. This has a clear imprint starting that the book was to be sold by John Thorne in the year 1527. At the end of the last two pieces is the device of the printer, Peter Treveris. We find frequent entries of these two books in Dorne’s ledger of 1520, so that evidently, finding the sale so good, he determined to have editions printed for himself. It is only from this recent discovery that we are able to attach the date of 1527 to these books printed at Oxford, but this fits in most curiously with an assertion made by the Oxford antiquary, Anthony a Wood. Herbert, in his account of Treveris, wrote: “Mr Wood thought he had printed a Latin grammar of Whitinton’s at Oxford in 1527 as also books about and before that time, but we have not met with any such.” Wood does not speak of any other books except the edition of Whitinton’s grammar, and from his giving the exact date we must either conclude that he was referring to a genuine book which he had seen, or else had seen a copy of this book printed for Dorne and had confused it with some other tract. Wood is also responsible for the assertion that Wynkyn de Worde printed for a while in Oxford, and asserts that a
lane called Grope Lane had its name altered to Wynkyn Lane as a memorial of his work there. For this statement there seems no foundation, but it is quite probable that W. de Worde had more considerable dealings with the Oxford stationers than we know at present. He printed a book for Jacobi, to which I have already referred, and when the press was restarted at Oxford in 1517 he supplied some of the material. So much new information has come to light recently about the Oxford book-trade, that we may fairly hope for more, and perhaps discover further dealings there of De Worde.
From the twelfth century onward Oxford appears to have been a great centre of book-binding, not only as the seat of a University, but from the number and importance of the religious houses in its immediate neighbourhood. From various records and registers we get the names of individual binders in an unbroken series. While we can point to exquisite bindings produced at London, Durham, and Winchester as early as the twelfth century, and while doubtless similar fine bindings were produced in Oxford, yet strangely enough and very unfortunately we cannot point to any definite specimen of a decorated Oxford binding earlier than the second half of the fifteenth century. From about 1460 to the end of the century, on the other hand, examples are plentiful, and the bindings of this period have a very distinctive style of their own. The old styles of binding seem to have lingered on in Oxford and even some of the old tools.
The earliest binding which we can definitely point to as executed there is on a volume of sermons written in 1460. The decoration consists of stamps arranged as parallelograms one inside the other and covering the main part of the side. One of the stamps used on this binding, depicting a strange bird, is the identical stamp found on a twelfth-century binding in the British Museum. On the back are found small roundels arranged in sets of three, an ornament very common on all early Oxford bindings, and a single stamp on which the three roundels are engraved seems peculiar to Oxford work. Three manuscripts in Magdalen College, Oxford, written and bound between 1462 and 1470, are of similar early style, and might from their appearance and dies be considered two centuries older. The advent of Rood in Oxford agrees in point of time with the introduction
of a class of binding very distinctive in style. The centre of the side contains a panel composed of horizontal rows of stamps and enclosed by a frame formed with an oblong stamp of foliage twined round a staff. On spaces outside the frame are stamped roses and roundels in sets of three. The stamps employed on these bindings show a distinct foreign influence, and many of them are almost identical with those used by foreign binders notably of the Low Countries. Some bindings, certainly produced in Oxford about this time, have not only foreign dies upon them but have them disposed in quite a foreign style, and are probably the work of foreign binders settled in the town. The number of different dies used on Oxford bindings, between 1480 and 1500, is very large. Gibson, in his work on the subject, gives drawings of nearly a hundred; and though some of these are of the simplest character and in no way distinctive, many of them are both clever in design and extremely well engraved.
One or two Oxford bindings of the time show a curious return to another early English style in which the ornament was disposed in circles or part of circles. The finest example is on the Lathbury in the University Library. The centre of each side is ornamented with a circle formed by the repetition of a die depicting two birds drinking from a cup. This die was evidently cut for use in this special way, for the top is wider than the bottom, like the stones of the arch of a bridge, so that when stamped side by side they would work round into a circular form. Another binding of the same style is in the library of St John’s College, Cambridge, and both bear the most extraordinary resemblance, allowing for the different shape and style of the dies, to the covers of the Winchester Domesday book written in 1148 and bound about the same time.
Early bindings fall into three classes, those ornamented with small dies, in vogue until about the end of the fifteenth century, panel stamped bindings used in the early part of the sixteenth, and, finally, the bindings decorated by a roll tool which begin about 1520. We cannot suppose that the Oxford stationers did not use panel stamps, but so far none can be identified as peculiar to Oxford. The panels of Peter Actoris have been already spoken of, but it is not certain they
were ever used in Oxford. Henry Jacobi, who came to Oxford from London about 1512 and died in 1514, had certainly various panels which he had used in London, but he may not have transferred them to Oxford. Of stationers or binders who lived and worked in Oxford alone no single panel has yet been identified. Unfortunately, not a single book printed for or at Oxford in the early sixteenth century is known in an original binding.
In good specimens of roll-tooled bindings again Oxford is singularly deficient, in curious contrast to Cambridge, which rivals if not surpasses London in this class of work. There are no fine broad rolls, and only one bearing initials. This is a roll engraved with a waving spray of foliage containing in the curves the initials R. H. M. I. What these initials stand for is unknown, and the roll is only claimed as an Oxford one from its use on the covers of a Brasenose College register. For the rest of the century Oxford binding is entirely uninteresting.
LECTURE II.
SAINT ALBAN’S, YORK, AND HEREFORD.
T only other provincial town besides Oxford which possessed a printing press in the fifteenth century was St Alban’s, where an unnamed printer started to work about the year 1479. As to who the printer was we have no clue beyond the simple statement made by Wynkyn de Worde in the colophon of his edition of the Chronicles of England, “Here endyth this present cronycle of Englonde wyth the frute of tymes, compiled in a booke and also enprynted by one somtyme scole master of saynt Albons, on whoos soule God have mercy.” The printer is therefore generally known as the schoolmaster-printer. Sir Henry Chauncy, when he wrote his history of Hertfordshire, was not to be deterred by this vagueness from giving this printer a name, and he appears in that work, and others based on it, as John Insomuch. The proof is clear. The printer printed only two books in English. One begins: “In so muche that it is necessari to all creaturis of cristen religyon;” the other, “In so much that gentill men and honest persones.” What further proof could be wanted that the printer’s surname was Insomuch? As to the printer’s Christian name having been John, the arguments would appear to have been less weighty, at any rate no authority has condescended to mention them.
Whoever the printer may have been, he was probably not a foreigner, at any rate no foreign design can be traced in his type, which is perhaps modelled on Caxton’s, though differing considerably. Though as a schoolmaster he might be supposed to have been connected with the Abbey, there is no reference to it in his colophons, which always mention clearly the town of St Alban’s. The saltire on a shield, which occurs in his mark, was alike the arms of the Abbey and of the town.
The first book issued from this press was a small work of Augustinus Datus, usually called Super eleganciis Tullianis, of which the only known copy is in the Cambridge University Library. It is a small quarto of eighteen leaves and is printed in a peculiarly delicate gothic letter. It has no date, only the simple colophon, “Impressum fuit opus hoc apud Sanctum Albanum.” The type is very graceful and clear; it looks almost like the production of an Italian workman copying from a Caxton model, though, as I have said, we have no reason for supposing the printer to have been a foreigner. For some reason he seems not to have been satisfied with it, and so far as we know no other book was ever printed in it and beyond being used for signatures in two later books, no further use was made of it. This first book also stands apart from the rest in being without printed signatures, which would at once place it without any further proof at the head of the list of St Alban’s books.
In 1480 the printer issued his first dated book, the Rhetorica Nova of Laurentius de Saona, and in this the influence of another press can be clearly traced. The printer had discarded his first fount and obtained a new one with a strong superficial resemblance to Caxton’s Type No. 2*, the very type which Caxton had used to print his edition of the same book. There is one curious point about this book which is rarely met with, it is partly a quarto and partly an octavo; that is, it is partly made up from large sheets of paper folded three times, and partly from small sheets folded twice. A somewhat similar example may be found in the Chronicles printed by Machlinia, which is a folio, with a few pages quarto. This is the most common of the Latin books issued by the St Alban’s printer, for at least five copies are known, one of which is in the University Library.
The other book which the printer issued in 1480 is printed in another new type, quite the ugliest and most confusing of English fifteenthcentury types, and full of bewildering contractions. It is an edition of the Liber modorum significandi of Albertus, and the only known copy, which had belonged to Tutet and Wodhull, is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale. Three more books were printed in this type, Joannes Canonicus on the Physica of Aristotle, Antonius Andreæ on the Logica, and the Exempla Sacræ Scripturæ. The first of these is a
folio printed in double columns, and two copies are known, one in the Bodleian, and the other in the library of York Minster, while a number of odd leaves are in the library of Clare College, and a few at Peterhouse.
Of the Antonius Andreæ three copies are known, one in Norwich Cathedral, another wanting two leaves in Jesus College, Cambridge, and the last wanting eight leaves in Wadham College, Oxford. The Cambridge and Norwich copies are both in their original bindings. The signatures in this book are curious, for the printer, having come to the end of his first alphabet, continued with contractions and then signed two more sheets one “est” and the other “amen.” Bradshaw, comparing the Cambridge and Norwich volumes side by side, found some variations pointing to the reprinting of certain sheets. The Exempla Sacræ Scripturæ is known from two copies, one in the British Museum, and one said to be in the Inner Temple Library, though its existence is doubtful. For a long time the Museum copy was lost sight of. When Blades began to work on the St Alban’s printer with a view to writing a preface to the facsimile of the Book of St Alban’s, he was anxious to see a copy of this book. Herbert had quoted copies as in His Majesty’s library and the Inner Temple, but neither were forthcoming. The authorities in London thought it probable that the book was in the Bibliothèque Nationale. In those days there were no special catalogues of the British Museum Incunabula, or Early English Books, though as a matter of fact this book has not been included in the latter, and his researches were at a standstill. Finally, quite by accident, Bradshaw found it in the general catalogue, under the heading, “Bible, Latin, Parts of, Incipiunt.”
The book is a quarto of eighty-eight leaves, the Museum copy wanting five. It has a plain colophon stating that it was printed in the town of St Alban’s in 1481.
After the issue of these six books within a period of about two years, the printer seems to have ceased work for a time. When he recommenced in about three years, both the character of his work and of the books he issued had changed. He gave up the printing of
Latin and discarded the very confused type he had been using previously.
The Chronicles of England, one of the two English books issued by the St Alban’s printer, is undated, but is ascribed to the year 1485. It agrees generally with the Chronicles printed by Caxton, but has histories of popes and ecclesiastical matters interpolated. The prologue states that it was compiled at St Alban’s in 1483, and W. de Worde tells us that it was compiled and printed by the schoolmaster.
The book is a folio of 290 leaves, and, though at least twelve copies are known, only one, that in the library of the Marquis of Bath at Longleat, is perfect. One copy is known printed upon vellum. It belonged at an early date to the old family library of the Richardsons of Brierly Hall in Yorkshire, and passed by inheritance to Miss Currer of Eshton Hall in the same county, herself a collector of some note in the early part of the nineteenth century. It wanted a leaf and a half, and four leaves, though original, were printed on paper. On the advice, I believe, of Dibdin, these four genuine leaves were replaced by facsimiles on vellum, and the two missing leaves also similarly supplied. At the Currer sale in 1862 the volume was sold for £365, and passed later into a private collection.
For the first time at this press we find red printing used for the initials and paragraph marks; there are also a few diagrams and one small rough woodcut depicting a jumble of towers, spires, and turrets, and equally suitable for the two cities which it professes to represent, London and Rome. At the end is the printer’s device, Italian in style, a double cross rising from a circle. In the circle is a shield bearing a saltire cross, the arms alike of the town and abbey of St Alban’s.
The last book from this press was the famous Book of St Alban’s, “the book of hawking and hunting and also of coat armours.” It is a small folio of ninety leaves. As might be supposed from its popular nature copies are now excessively scarce, and out of some dozen which are known, not one is absolutely perfect. This book marks another advance in printing, for it contains the earliest known examples of colour printing in England, the shields of arms being printed in red, blue, and yellow inks. About the authorship of this
