Assignment Two

EDF 5481 READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

SEE IT NOW
ASSIGNMENT 1 FEEDBACK

OVERVIEW

BULLETIN:ASSIGNMENT TWO NOW DUE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 24 BY NOON. MY MAILBOX 307 STONE.

The sample problems Web site below is now complete.

Guide 4 should be in place by Friday morning.

An Assignment 1 generic feedback site should be in place by Thursday evening.

Thank you for your patience.

SEE THEM NOW! FOR ASSIGNMENT 2:
SAMPLE RESEARCH PROBLEMS

GUIDE 1: INTRODUCTION
GUIDE 2: VARIABLES AND HYPOTHESES
GUIDE 3: RELIABILITY, VALIDITY, CAUSALITY, AND EXPERIMENTS
GUIDE 4: QUASI-EXPERIMENTS, INTERNAL VALIDITY, AND EXPERIMENTS II

EDF 5481 METHODS OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
FALL 2001

ASSIGNMENT TWO:
TRYING OUT OPERATIONAL AND NULL HYPOTHESES
EXPERIENCE EVALUATING CAUSALITY AND EXPERIMENTS

ASSIGNMENT TWO is due IN MY MAILBOX BY NOON:

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21 2001

FOCI:
This assignment will give you experience in

rewriting your research problem statement
constructing operational definitions
writing hypotheses and null hypotheses
examining a basic experimental design

THESE DIRECTIVES ARE DESIGNED FOR FLEXIBILITY
DEPENDING ON YOUR RESEARCH PROBLEM

For example, if you only have one main independent variable, you do not need to designate any additional independent variables. Space guidelines are approximate.

PART ONE: You will rewrite your CONCEPTUAL research statement taking into account feedback and other information (e.g., samples page for assignment 1):

All the materials for a rewritten research problem statement from assignment 1:

introductory paragraph with justification
identification of key dependent variables (no more than 3)
identification of key independent variables (no more than 5)
TWO DISTINCT hypotheses that CONCEPTUALLY link your independent variables to your dependent variables.

At this point, your rewritten research problem statement should only be about 1.5 double-spaced pages. This is because you have eliminated all extraneous material that does not relate to your research problem.

Suggested lengths below refer to double-spaced print.

PART TWO:

You will provide:

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS of ONE or TWO dependent variables
OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS of NO MORE THAN THREE independent variables

(About .5 page.)

TWO OPERATIONAL HYPOTHESES, each one linking one operationalized independent variable with one operationalized dependent variable.
Each hypothesis must be distinct. If one hypothesis is the opposite of the first hypothesis, you really have only one distinct hypothesis. One way to guard against this problem is to vary either the independent variable, or the dependent variable (or both) from hypothesis one to hypothesis two.

About 4 lines.

TWO NULL HYPOTHESES, each one linking one operationalized independent variable with one operationalized dependent variable.

About 4 lines.

PART THREE:

EXPERIMENTAL CRITIQUE

Below is an experiment which is in the planning stages. Following it are a series of questions about this study design. You will need to type or write out your answers to each question.

Turn your answers in with the rewritten and augmented research problem statement on September 21, 2001 to my mailbox in 307 Stone Building.

THE PLANNED EXPERIMENT

Jarin is planning a study on a new exercise program for college Intramural Athletics at FSVue. He wants to test how well his new program works before assigning it to all student athletes.
Jarin obtains and examines a list of all students involved in Intramural Athletics at FSVue. From the information on the list, it is clear that some students are excellent athletes but others are poor. So he divides the list into quarters, based on athletic achievement. He created two groups to use in his study, one from the very top quartile in sports achievement and the second from the very bottom quartile in sports achievement. Because he wants to help the athletes with the greatest need, Jarin assigns the bottom quartile of his list to his new exercise program. The top quartile is simply left alone.
At the end of a month of the new program, Jarin investigates athletic prowess. He finds considerably more improvement in the bottom quartile group than in the top quartile group. He concludes that his new exercise program is beneficial and now plans to extend it to all Intramural athletes.

The following are valid sources to use to answer the critique questions:

Both assigned textbooks for this course
All WEB study guides (and explicit links) for EDF 5481, Fall 2001
Notes taken during class

EVERYONE MUST ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS BASED ON JARIN'S EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

1. Is Jarin's design a TRUE EXPERIMENT? Please answer YES or NO, then explain in a sentence or two:

WHY or WHY NOT?

2. Do you think Jarin's design in the box above has relatively high or relatively low INTERNAL VALIDITY?

Pick "high" or "low" and in then a sentence or two, explain the basis for your decision.

3. Regardless of your answer to Question 2 (since even the best designs can have problems), briefly describe TWO DISTINCT THREATS TO INTERNAL VALIDITY in Jarin's design.

4. In a few sentences at most, please give Jarin ONE SUGGESTION of how he can IMPROVE HIS STUDY DESIGN.

September 15 2001
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Susan Carol Losh

EDF 5481 READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
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