CSU 601 Educational Research
In a distribution with a mean of 28 and a standard deviation of 2 almost all the scores fall between
22-34
Bora is conducting a literature review regarding the relationship between physical condition of schools and student achievement. Of the following, which source is likely the best source for his study?
A published study in American Educational Research Journal
Michele is doing a paper and wants to start with secondary sources. Which of the following is an example of a secondary source?
A review paper that summarizes previous articles
Of the following, which is most likely an example of a correlational study?
A study that examines the effect of overt displays of teacher empathy on student class behavior
Molly has conducted a study that examines whether exposure to computers increases eyestrain in children. She randomly assigns children to one of four treatment conditions dependent upon computer exposure levels. The children's eyestrain is then tested. Which of the following tests of significance is Molly likely to use?
ANOVA
In a word list-learning experiment, participants are given a list of words to study for 3 minutes and then, following a delay, are asked to recall the list. The length of time between the study period and the recall is being manipulated: it is 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes. Which of the following is a confounding variable?
All participants in the 2-minute condition are tested at 8:00a.m., those in the 5-minute condition are tested at noon, and those in the 10-minute condition are tested at 4:00 p.m.
Brian has completed data collection for a study of college learners' self-regulation. Which of the following steps of the research process will Brian next approach?
Analyze the collected data
Which of the following is an example of a researchable topic?
Are there differences in the amount of time spent reading in classrooms of non-native speakers?
While collecting data through observation at a hockey game, Bruce is astonished by what he feels is violently aggressive behavior. How should Bruce address this astonishment in his notes?
Bruce should include his reaction in his field notes separate from his description
How might qualitative research help with the analysis of quantitative data?
By helping to explain the relationship between two variables
Which of the following is a typical way that quantitative research facilitates qualitative research?
By identifying specific groups of people to be interviewed
Tavares is a quantitative researcher interested in surveying members of a particular school district regarding their opinions on funding for language instruction. He develops a survey to mail to those living in the district. He wants to assure that he has responses from district members across the range of socio-economic status. Of the following, which is the best way for Tavares to assure he has adequate sample size and representativeness?
Cluster sampling
Kai is a qualitative researcher. The topic of his study is the homework strategies used by middle school children in an after-school homework club. He has reviewed the literature on both homework strategies and after-school programs and he has selected five children to study over the next 3 months. Of the following, which is most likely the next step in Kai's study?
Collecting data
You want to make sure the math test you give your students is reliable. You are afraid they can memorize facts so your test is all word problems. However, you now are concerned that you have hindered the validity of the test. It still looks like a math test, so which type of validity have you potentially violated?
Construct
Hal administers a self-esteem measure to his sample before the sessions begin and after a semester of the Saturday Esteem Program, he measures their esteem again. Which type of analysis is Hal likely to use to test for significant differences in his group?
Dependent t test
Basic researchers collect data primarily to
Develop theories
Juanita recently told me that 98% of businesses emit toxins into the environment. I informed her that I thought that number had to be incorrect because not 98% of businesses are manufacturers. She said, hastily, "well that is the figure the EPA is using." Which method of knowing is Juanita relying upon?
Expert authority
Won has pages and pages of transcribed interviews for her thesis on first generation college students' feelings of stress and anxiety. Of the following, which is something she should do to help her to manage these data?
Get an initial sense and read through all of her data
Laura was conducting a study on two treatment interventions to increase patriotism. During her study, terrorist attacks on a federal building occurred. Laura should be concerned with which of the following validity threats?
History
Which of the following is NOT a feature of mixed methods research?
It has inherently strong internal and external validity
Sarah is really excited about her research topic. There are many homeschoolers in her state and she wants to research if homeschoolers should hire professional educators to assist them with curriculum development. Of the following, which is the most important problem with Sarah's topic as currently developed?
It is not researchable.
The Solomon four-group design is better than other types of experimental designs in terms of controlling for sources of invalidity because
It separates the effect of pretest from the effect of treatment
Jill is a first-grade teacher. Her class is a bit out of control and she needs a classroom management strategy. Which of the following strategies illustrates inductive reasoning?
Jill determines she will use proximity approaches to management since it seems to be working for her so far
Lexx needs primary sources for her research proposal. Which of the following will she likely select?
Journal of Experimental Education
Jana is an action researcher who wants to better understand what predicts student success on the statewide standardized biology competency test. As her data sources, she administers the Biology Interest Survey (BIS) to all of her students, she categorizes students into two groups: those who have taken biology before and those who have not, and she also administers an in-class exam. The scores from the in-class exam are then 'curved'. She uses these data sources as a means to predict student performance on the statewide biology competency exam The level of data represented by the variable previous class experience is
Nominal
Of the following, which is an overriding rule of research ethics as noted in your text?
Obtain informed consent
Jorge studies the effects of mnemonic training on learning vocabulary. He recruited 200 9th graders and randomly assigned them to two equal sized groups (100 students in each group). He provided mnemonic training to one group for four weekly sessions and gave them a set of vocabulary to apply mnenomics. For the other group, he asked them to study the same set of vocabulary by rote learning. He assesses them at the end of the study and compares how many words they know. Which of the following designs is Jorge best illustrating?
Posttest-only control group design
Chanya needs to start a library search to examine her research topic "A comparison of two types of problem-based learning strategies in post secondary school biological science classes." Which of the following keywords will Chanya likely select in her initial search?
Problem-based learning
Katelin is interested in examining the relationship between years of gymnastics classes taken as a child and osteoporosis as an adult. She is concerned only with females because more girls take gymnastics than do boys and more women have osteoporosis than do men.Which step of the research process includes Katelin addressing this concern and then developing research questions and hypotheses?
Recognition and identification of a topic to be studied
Robert scored an 87 on a recent mathematics placement test. John scored an 86. The standard error of measurement of the test is 4. What can we conclude about the two students' actual measures?
Robert's true score may be higher than John's.
A study to provide a broader perspective of the research problem by adding quantitative data to enrich the descriptions given by participants is an example of which research approach?
Sequential explanatory
As Ron, a sixth-grade teacher, is administering a state mandated test, he finds that one of the reading passages is a section from a book the class read this year. Therefore, the students in his class have been exposed to the test content before the exam. Which of the following is accurate regarding the test as measure of Ron's class's reading?
The construct validity of the test will go down
Of the following which characteristics of a potential source might be the most concerning?
The source was found in a non-refereed journal
Jane is conducting a study at a small liberal arts school on the East Coast that addresses the reasons why male college students are less likely to graduate within a four-year time frame than are female students. She would like her study to generalize to all of the college student population in the United States. Given Jane's study which of the following is the accessible population?
The students at the school from which the participants were sampled
Tito is an instructional design student. He needs a thesis topic. He is interested in the use of discussion boards for distance education. He approaches his advisor and the advisor sends him away to think some more. Of the following what is the most likely reason?
The topic is too broad
Mixed methods research can be defined as:
Using both qualitative and quantitative methods in a single study.
Of the following, which is an example of a survey research topic?
What are the participants' opinions regarding effective instruction?
Which of the following items is least likely to result in item nonresponse?
What is your occupation?
standard deviation
a measure of variability that describes an average distance of every score from the mean
Jana is an action researcher who wants to better understand what predicts student success on the statewide standardized biology competency test. As her data sources, she administers the Biology Interest Survey (BIS) to all of her students, she categorizes students into two groups: those who have taken biology before and those who have not, and she also administers an in-class exam. The scores from the in-class exam are then 'curved'. She uses these data sources as a means to predict student performance on the statewide biology competency exam. Given what we know, in Jana's study the statewide biology exam is best described as
a norm-referenced test
A framework for field notes that is consistent across observation sessions developed before data collection is referred to as
a protocol
Jana is an action researcher who wants to better understand what predicts student success on the statewide standardized biology competency test. As her data sources, she administers the Biology Interest Survey (BIS) to all of her students, she categorizes students into two groups: those who have taken biology before and those who have not, and she also administers an in-class exam. The scores from the in-class exam are then 'curved'. She uses these data sources as a means to predict student performance on the statewide biology competency exam. In Jana's Study, the in-class biology exam is best described as
an achievement test
Jana is an action researcher who wants to better understand what predicts student success on the statewide standardized biology competency test. As her data sources, she administers the Biology Interest Survey (BIS) to all of her students, she categorizes students into two groups: those who have taken biology before and those who have not, and she also administers an in-class exam. The scores from the in-class exam are then 'curved'. She uses these data sources as a means to predict student performance on the statewide biology competency exam. In Jana's study the Biology Interest Survey is best described as
an attitudinal measure
The data analysis strategy that consists of a visual representation of causal relationships is specifically referred to as
analyzing antecedents and consequences
mean
average
Garrett wants to see if there are gender differences in the restaurant preferences of high school students in his town. His data is nominal in nature. Which of the following tests is he likely to employ?
chi square
Joyce read a study that reported students' age was correlated r = -.68 with classroom management referrals. This correlation indicates as age increases,
classroom management referrals are more likely to decrease.
Marcus is a qualitative researcher who studies the communication of frustration among colleagues. He has collected his data and is currently trying to find patterns and meaning in the data. He is using a strategy where he records on 3 x 5 cards to allow for future sorting. Which of the following data analysis strategies is Marcus most directly conducting?
coding
The ________ survey consists of the same group but different samples from that group over time.
cohort
A study compared both interview and survey data (collected at the same time) to explore the job satisfaction of special education teachers. This study would be described as using:
concurrent mixed methods
Sabrina collected and analyzed her qualitative dissertation data that examined the meditation strategies used by chronically ill elderly women. During the interpretation phase she tied her findings to previous research found in the literature that suggested education level may be related to ability to meditate while ill. The strategy Sabrina used is best described as
contextualizing
Jack identifies the population for his study on the effects of television violence on children as five-year-old children who watch television more than 15 hours a week. He has determined the sample size he needs, but has hit a snag. He can't list all the members of his population. It is likely that Jack will employ a ________ approach.
convenience
The provost is interested in what it is like to be a teacher at a Research I Institution. He selects three specific types of participants for his study. Those who teach only advanced doctoral students, those who teach only undergraduate survey courses, and those who teach a mix of course levels. The provost is illustrating
criterion sampling
Seth sends out a survey to all parents and teachers in the district to gather opinions about local school safety. Seth's study is an example of ________ survey research.
cross-sectional
The characteristics of a sample that include pertinent information about the sample, such as gender or socioeconomic status, are referred to as the samples'
demographics
The goal of this phase of data analysis is to provide a narrative picture of the setting and events that take place to better understand the research context. This phase is referred to as the ________ stage.
describing
When a researcher examines qualitative data in depth so as to provide detailed descriptions he is said to be
describing the data.
When using the scientific method, the step most similar to the methods section in a research article is
description and execution of procedures
The initial investigation of a study started with focus groups whose findings informed the development of a quantitative research instrument which was then implemented. This is referred to as:
development
The integration of data collected in concurrent mixed method studies occurs:
during either data analysis or data interpretation
Correlational studies are used primarily to
examine relationships among variables
When mixed method research extends the depth and scope of the enquiry by using different measures to explore different inquiry components, this is referred to as:
expansion
Joel is interpreting his qualitative data regarding students' perceptions of the role of faith-based groups on public university campuses. Which of the following is a technique that your text suggests that Joel should use during this phase of his data analysis?
extend the analysis and suggest potential implications
The type of validity concerned with whether findings can be generalized to other groups or other settings is referred to as
external validity
The first step in random sampling is to
identify the population.
Laili integrates her data from her study with the review of the literature to analyze her data. She is currently engaged in which of the following data analysis strategies?
identifying themes
The best location for the initial meetings with potential participants for a qualitative study is
in the research setting
Keb is convinced that teachers provide more praise to their students while he is observing in their classrooms than they do otherwise Of the following the most appropriate way to decrease Keb's concerns and increase validity of his data is
increase the amount of time he spends in the classrooms
Developing generalizations from a limited number of related observations or experiences is referred to as
inductive reasoning
Cronbach's alpha is a measure of
internal consistency reliability
Jacki is conducting a study that examines the effects of multi-vitamins on common cold symptoms. She hopes to generalize her findings to the school-age population of children in a specified region in her state. She knows the population of children is 9,000. She is going to do a survey study and decides to sample 7,000 children. Regarding Jacki's sample we know that
it is substantially too big
In simple random sampling, after the researcher has determined the desired sample size she must
list all members of the population
Tamar is studying the inclusion of religion in secular schools. He has coded much of his notes, and has made copies of the originals. One problem he has faced, however, is that some of his notes are illegible. Tamar's problem is best categorized as a problem in data
management
In what type of design does the experimenter sort the participants from lowest to highest of a relevant trait (e.g., scores on an entrance exam), form groups based on similar scores on that trait, then randomly assign those within each group to the different instructional conditions?
matched-groups design
Of the following, which represents a negatively skewed distribution?
mean<median
Peter, a sixth-grade mathematics teacher, recently administered an exam. He wants to report a measure of central tendency but he doesn't know what to do with the fact that two students have much lower scores than anyone else. What is the best measure of central tendency for Peter to report?
median
Garrett did a survey to determine the favorite sport of fourth-grade children in Williamstown. Which of the following is the appropriate measure of central tendency for his data?
mode
Generally, when more variables are added to a prediction equation
more variance in the criterion variable is accounted for
Shelly's study compared the effects of two different types of phonemic instruction on young children who volunteered to participate in the study. She gave each participant who completed the study two pencils and three stickers. These incentives are likely a strategy to decrease the threat of
mortality
Myles is conducting a qualitative research study of middle management engineers enrolled in an executive MBA program. If Myles' study is consistent with practice, which of the following represents his primary data source?
observations of the students while engaged in coursework
Keb is convinced that teachers provide more praise to their students while he is observing in their classrooms than they do otherwise
observer effect
Damir is a music educator interested in successful high school jazz programs. He goes to work as a 'new' teacher at a high school with a high-ranking jazz program. He works with the students and with the music educator at the school while exploring the jazz program.
participant observer
Sean knows a lot about racial tensions in public schools. He wants to conduct a quantitative study that examines the current state of affairs in public schools. He contacts two school districts, one that has a history of problems and one that does not, and randomly selects students from these schools to participate in his study. One concern with the study, however, is that Sean used
purposive sampling
Both Marianne and Bill examined the same set of qualitative data collected from couples in a study designed to understand relationship stress. Interestingly, the themes that emerged from the data were not consistent across the two researchers. Of the following, which is the most likely reason for the discrepancy?
qualitative analysis is interpretive
Jana is an action researcher who wants to better understand what predicts student success on the statewide standardized biology competency test. As her data sources, she administers the Biology Interest Survey (BIS) to all of her students, she categorizes students into two groups: those who have taken biology before and those who have not, and she also administers an in-class exam. The scores from the in-class exam are then 'curved'. She uses these data sources as a means to predict student performance on the statewide biology competency exam. The level of data represented by the in-class exam is
ratio
The first step of the scientific method is to
recognize and identify a topic to be studied
The degree to which an instrument consistently measures the construct of interest is referred to as
reliability
In a prediction study of low-achieving students' academic motivation, Hillary was surprised that achievement scores were not a significant predictor of motivation. Hillary's analysis is most likely is displaying
restriction of range
Graham recruited student volunteers to participate in his dissertation study. He set up several times for students to come to a specified classroom and read various types of instructional materials and then be tested. He ran all of his control conditions first and then for each session he placed all students at the session in the same treatment condition. This is problematic because those who volunteered early are likely different than those who volunteered later. This problem is primarily due to
sampling bias
Jim is doing a computer literature search for a motivation study. He has identified the keywords he will use. The next step he will conduct is to
select a database he will search
In a word list-learning experiment, participants are given a list of words to study for 3 minutes and then, following a delay, are asked to recall the list. The length of time between the study period and the recall is being manipulated: it is 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes. What is the independent variable?
the amount of delay before the recall
If a null hypothesis is rejected it means
the differences found between groups are not due to chance
Damir is a music educator interested in successful high school jazz programs. He goes to work as a 'new' teacher at a high school with a high-ranking jazz program. He works with the students and with the music educator at the school while exploring the jazz program.
the jazz programs' practice sessions
In qualitative research the primary source data is
the researcher
In experimental studies, but NOT in other studies,
the researcher manipulates the independent variables
Marcy developed a survey to administer to parents of college students living on campus. One of the questions on her survey was, "Describe your level of satisfaction with your child's residence life experiences." Marcy found that few people answered this question. This is likely because
the respondent is not in a position to answer the item
The first step in conducting a computer search is
to identify keywords related to the research
Nadine conducted a pretest-posttest control group design. The comparison group received traditional lecture of course content while the treatment group received the lecture and instructor-provided summary notes. She found, however, no differences between conditions, due in part to students sharing the instructor summaries across conditions. This is an example of
treatment diffusion
Of the following, one way qualitative researchers can decrease observer bias is to
triangulate data sources
Mixed method research in which the results of one method are used to confirm the results of the other is called:
triangulation
