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Chapter 9

Applications Exercises

Applications Exercises

This activity contains 6 questions.

	Answer the study questions found at the end of Chapter 9.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	The following questions are designed to help focus your attention on several important points in Chapter 9. Answer each question in a succinct manner. a. Why is experimental research important? b. Why would a researcher use a pre-experimental research design? A quasi-experimental design? A true experimental design? c. Why is a pre-experimental design less valuable than a quasi-experimental or true experimental design? d. Why is it critical to rule out threats to internal validity when conducting experimental research? e. Under what circumstances might a researcher use a posttest only experimental control groups design? f. How can a researcher control for selection? g. What are the most important characteristics of single-subject designs? h. Why would a researcher choose a single-subject design? i. Why might diffusion of treatment be a problem when using single-subject designs?   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	Create your own cognitive map of this chapter.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	For each of the following research designs or situations, indicate the most serious threats to internal validity and explain why they are serious. a. A physical education teacher uses a non-equivalent pretest-posttest experimental control group design to test the effectiveness of a new exercise routine on student flexibility with four classes of tenth graders. b. A researcher uses a three group posttest only experimental control group design with college students to see whether different study guide materials will have differential effects on student's achievement. c. A researcher uses a non-equivalent posttest only experimental control groups design with students from three medical schools that used different approaches to teaching basic medicine.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	For each of the research studies described below, indicate the research design that is used and two plausible threats to internal validity. a. A researcher uses morning and afternoon history classes to test a new instructional strategy. In the morning class the students are given a pretest to assess their knowledge of WWI, and then they are given the opportunity to learn about this topic using a computerized program. In the afternoon class the students are also given a pretest; they learn about WWI through discussion. At the end of six weeks and final exam is given to both classes. b. A counselor wants to see if providing free services affects the degree to which his clients improve. He contacts a university and volunteers to see clients one morning per week without charge. He compares the improvement of the university students with similar clients he sees in his private practice. c. Mr. Smith wants to see how changing the way he rewards students affects their motivation. He selects John and Mary, and for each of these students he first takes a week to record their motivational levels while he uses his usual methods for rewarding them. During the next week he tires the new method of rewarding them, and after a week of this approach he returns to his original method of rewards.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

	Identify the research design used in the Investigating High School Students' article found in Chapter 14. Identify any threats to internal and external validity you feel are problematic.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.

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