EDUC 815
ARTICLE CRITIQUE WORKSHEET
Group number: 1
Member Submission: Deborah Davis
Questions:
1. Correctly reference the article using current APA format.
Rovai, A. (2002). Sense Of Community, Perceived Cognitive Learning, And Persistence
In Asynchronous Learning Networks. The Internet and Higher Education, 5(4),
319-332.
2. What is the purpose of the study?
The stated purpose of this study was “to determine if a relationship exists between sense
of community and cognitive learning in an online educational environment” (Rovai,
2002, p. 319). Prior studies have shown that students with an emotional connectedness to
their peers tend to learn more. However, this study devotes the theory exclusively to the
online community to determine if those student feel the connectedness needed to enhance
learning and persistence through education (Rovai, 2002).
3. List the research questions.
Does a statistically significant relationship exist between sense of community and
cognitive learning in an online educational environment?
Page 1 of 6
EDUC 815
4. List the hypotheses; then, underline and label the corresponding independent/dependent
variables or predictor/criterion variables. Are there any covariates? If so, name them.
H01 – There is no statistically significant relationship between sense of community (IV)
and cognitive learning (DV) among students in an online educational environment.
H1 – There is a statistically significant positive relationship between sense of community
(IV) and cognitive learning (DV) among students in an online educational environment..
H2 – There is a statistically significant negative relationship between sense of community
(IV) and cognitive learning (DV) among students in an online educational environment..
5. Do the questions pose an ethical or moral problem for implementation? Why or why not?
The questions could, but likely do not, pose an ethical or moral problem for
implementation. Online graduate students, as a class, tend to be more mature. In that all
participants were students in the field of education, these participants were aware of the
study and presumably advised of its nature before participation.
6. Do the questions or hypotheses measure any theoretical constructs? If so, list them.
The hypothesis implies a theoretical construct that there is a statistically significant
relationship between cognitive learning and sense of community among online graduate
students enrolled in online graduate level education and leadership coursework.
Page 2 of 6
EDUC 815
7. Do the author(s) clearly identify the participants and setting? If so, describe them.
Participants
Of the 478 students elicited for this study, 314 (65.69%) chose to participate.
Females comprise 224 (71.34%) and 90 (28.66%) of the students were male.
While 195 (62.42%) were white, 82 (26.43%) were African-American, and the
remaining 37 (11.15%) identified ethnicity as other.Each section of the 26 courses
had approximately the same ratio of gender and ethnicity (Rovai, 2002).
Setting:
During one 15 week semester, 26 sessions consisting of of 17 education and 9
leadership courses were taught by experienced online professors to online
graduate education students. The courses were administered using the
Blackboardsm learning tool. All were via enrollment at a singular accredited
private university within the state of Virginia (Rovai, 2002).
8. What research design is used and why?
“A correlation design was used to measure the strength and direction of
relationship between variables” (Rovai, 2002, p. 326). In an effort to determin the
accuracy of perceived cognitive learning, multiple regression procedures were
applied to the connectedness and learning subscales of the Classroom Community
Scale (Rovai, 2002).
9. What type of sampling method is used?
Page 3 of 6
EDUC 815
The present study used a convenience sample of online graduate education students
offered during multiple sections of 26 online educational and leadership courses.
10. What are the names of each instrument used in the study (provide a list)?
Classroom Community Scale (CCS) (Rovai, 2002)
Subscale for Connectedness
Subscale for Learning
Perceived Cognitive Learning (PCL) (Richmond, Gorham, & McCroskey, 1987)
11. Are the instruments valid and reliable? Why or why not?
Validity:
The CCS was developed with procedures such that high confidence of its validity
is confirmed by Rovai (2002). Also, independent rating provided an evaluation of
content validity rating the items as totally relevant (Rovai, 2002).
While Polich (1982) was a study in alcohol consumption, the validation of selfrating is thoroughly reviewed and a finding that “most types of self-reports are
valid” whem measured against official records and collateral reports (p. 123).
Reliability:
Reliability of the CCS was confirmed Cronbach’s coefficient alpha with a rating
of .93 (Rovai, 2002).
Reliability of the PLQ was confirmed by McCrosky, Sallien, Fayer, Richmond,
and Barraclough (1996) reflecting a test-retest reliability of .85 in a 5-day period.
Reference
Page 4 of 6
EDUC 815
Polich, J. M. (1982). The validity of self reports in alcoholism research. Addictive
Behaviors 7, 123-132.
12. Do the author(s) give enough detail regarding the procedure so that the study could be
replicated? How or how not?
Sufficient detail regarding the procedure was given so that the study could be replicated.
The PLQ and CCS were given to the students via online surveys during the last
three weeks of the term and the one week following the term. Questions,
including demographic inquiry, were made available to the students during the
four-week period (Rovai, 2002).
13. What type of statistical analysis is used and why?
Pearson product-moment correlations among the various instruments and their subscales
because “the purpose of the correlation coefficient is to express in mathematical terms the
degree and direction of relationship between two (or more) variables” (Gall, Gall, &
Borg, 2007, p. 334). Independent t-tests were used to provide evidence of connectedness
and cognitive learning as related to gender. One-way between subject ANOVA’s were
used to conduct analyses between ethnicities.
Reference
Gall, M., Gall, J., & Borg, W. (2007). Educational research: An introduction (8th ed.).
Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
14. What are the major conclusions of the study? How do they relate to the hypothesis?
Page 5 of 6
EDUC 815
“The connectedness and learning subscales explain approximately 43% of the variance of
perceived cognitive learning in the sample” (Rovai, 2002, p. 328). More objectively,
there is a “.51 strength of relationship between the connectedness subscale and perceived
cognitive learning” (Rovai, 2002, p. 329). These results indicate that the null hypothesis
should be rejected and the secondary alternative hypothesis is valid because there is a
statistically significant positive relationship between sense of community and cognitive
learning in an online graduate school environment.
15. Do the author(s) suggest any future studies to resolve ambiguities in the present study or
to answer questions raised by the present study?
Future studies could aid in ambiguities related to “identify ways in which online faculty
can add value to the online learning experience, particularly regarding course design and
pedagogy that promote higher levels of sense of community and learning” (Rovai, 2002,
p. 330). There are also questions of chronology between higher levels of learning and
sense of community which warrant futher study.
Page 6 of 6