EDPR 7521 Final
Design a True-Experimental Design Study. 50 points
An educational researcher believes that an alternative way to teach students about the
conduct of research is through extensive reading of both well-designed studies and
poorly-designed studies that have appeared in the research literature. That is, through
extensive reading and critiques of existing studies, students would have a better
understanding of research design and issues related to quality in research. The researcher
wants to design a study to see if that approach is a more effective method than the
traditional course.
(a) What is the researcher's hypothesis? Be sure to state it properly. 10 Points
Students who participate in an extensive reading and critiquing of existing research
studies group will have a better understanding of research design, as measured by an
assessment, than those students assigned to the standard treatment of the traditional
course.
Students who participate in an extensive reading and critiquing of existing research
studies group will have a better understanding of issues related to quality in research,
as measured by an assessment, than those student assigned to the standard treatment
of the traditional course.
. Good
(b) What are the independent and the possible dependent variables? Specify which is
which. 10 Points
The treatment of an extensive reading and critiquing of existing research studies
group is the independent variable.
Understanding of research design and understanding of issues related to quality in
research are the dependent variables. Okay but how will you measure this, I assume
you might use the final exam? -2
(c) Design a study to test this hypothesis. Be sure to develop a true-experimental
design. Remember those factors that make it a true experimental design. 20 Points
The participants in this study include 80 graduate students at a regional research
university in the Southern United States. Access to both the participants and the
institution were granted by the researcher’s Institutional Review Board. All
prospective participants were provided information about the research study,
including consent forms for participation and information about how to withdraw
from the study. The participants are representative of the graduate school’s student
population, including their age, gender, and racial composition. The 80 participants
were randomly assigned to either the treatment group (extensive reading and
critiquing of existing research studies group) or the control group (standard treatment
of the traditional course). The instrument used to determine gains by both groups
were the regular assessments (exams and quizzes) used in the traditional course.
Once divided into groups, the students were registered for one of four graduate-level
statistics/research class sections taught by the same instructor, using the same
syllabus, assessments, and grading rubrics. Members of both the treatment and the
control groups were in each of the four sections. The course was a requirement for
all of the students based on their program of study. The sole treatment of the
extensive reading and critiquing of existing research studies (treatment) group was an
additional, optional research article/study critique that was due each week, in
addition to the regular course assignments. These assignments were not graded.
Data was collected and compared between the two groups after each assessment in
the course. Very nice description, my only concern with your design is that
instructor is not accounted for -2(would there be multiple instructors–if so this would
be another variable.
(d) To whom could the results be generalized? You should be thinking external validity.
5 points
The results could only be generalized to the graduate students in that specific
program of study at that institution due to the interaction of participant selection and
treatment and the interaction of setting and treatment.
(e) What are some potential confounding factors that might affect the results of the
study? List at least two. 5 Points
Selection, mortality, and compensatory rivalry present potential confounding factors
for the study. Considering the structure of the study, it stands to reason that more
motivated, possibly more intelligent students would opt to participate in optional
reading assignments and article reviews that were not for a grade in their required
course. You would also expect that the additional workload for a treatment group
member who is time-limited would result in participants dropping out of the study.
Last, I would expect compensatory rivalry to develop, if assignments of the treatment
group are known by the control group. I would also be concerned with the ethical
implications of withholding treatment if the researcher truly believes the outcome
would benefit the student. This may be the best answer I've seen to this part of the
exam. Well done
Design a correlational study. 20 Points
A researcher would like to predict success as a teacher (which they operationally defined
as student achievement) using the Strohmer Teacher Self-Efficacy scale (STSES).
Your task it to briefly describe two studies. The first study will be an explanatory study,
and the second will be a prediction study. The sentence above describes the predictor and
criterion variable for each study. The sample is teachers.
Briefly describe how the researcher would conduct the two types of correlational studies
discussed in your text. So you are to describe how you would use the STSES and teacher
success in both of these studies. Do not include any other variables, but do describe how
you would get your data and when.
A. An explanatory study - 10 Points
The researcher would study the sample as a single group. Scores for the sample,
teachers, would be collected for both the teacher success and the STSES variables.
Scores for both variables are gathered during a single survey administration. Once the
data is collected, the researcher attempts to explain the relationship between the two
variables. For example, as scores on the STSES increased, so did scores on the teacher
success instrument. In this example, the variables are said to demonstrate a positive
relationship. The relationship is reported using a correlation coefficient. The closer the
correlation coefficient gets to positive or negative 1.0, the stronger the relationship.
Okay I'll give you full credit for this and she seemed to understand it. However I wonder
what instrument you would use to measure success?
B A prediction study - 10 Points
In a prediction study, the researcher would predict teacher success (criterion variable)
using the STSES (predictor variable) for the sample, teachers. In this example, the
researcher would gather the STSES scores (predictor variable) for the sample at one point
in time, and then make a prediction about the sample’s teacher success scores based on
their STSES data/results. The criterion variable (teacher success) would be measured at a
later point in time. The purpose of a prediction study is to forecast future performance.
Same comment as above.