Drake University School of Education
EDUC 201-701
Fall, 2002

Final Exam

This exam is in two parts. Part 1 will be completed in class as a group project during the final weekend. Part 2 is to be completed individually, and can be turned in to me at any time (but at least by the final due date of November 22).

In this course, we have looked at various research designs, and problems with validity that can arise with them. Consider the following quasi-experimental design. A researcher is interested in looking at the impact of moving to a block schedule from a traditional schedule in high school. For convenience, one school that is planning such a move is selected to be studied. The researcher decides to measure various things: student behavior (through looking at the number of referrals to the office, along with suspension and expulsion data), academic performance (measured by looking at ITED scores, along with course grades), and attitude (measured by giving a questionnaire to students and faculty). The researcher collects these data from the year prior to implementation of the block schedule, and again at the end of the first year of using a block schedule. The analysis uses t-tests to compare these different measures for the two years.

1. What is(are) the dependent variable(s)? (1 point)
2. What is(are) the independent variable(s)? (1 point)
3. What is the most significant problem concerning external validity, and why is it a problem? (2 points)
4. List two significant problems with internal validity, and explain why they are problems. (2 points)
5. What is the most important problem concerning construct validity, and why is it a problem? (2 points)
6. If the researcher find "significant differences" between the two groups on some or all of these measures, what does that mean? (2 points)

Select one primary research article to answer the following questions. This may be an article you reviewed as a part of the literature review you conducted, or it could be a different article. The requirement is that it be a primary research article in education, using either quantitative or qualitative research methods (or both). Please attach a copy of the article to your exam. If you e-mail your answers to me, you will need to give me a copy of the article - either on the last day of class, or mail it to me.

1. What was/were the research question(s) for the study? (2 points)
2. What is the research design used in the study? Include in this whether the research in the article uses a quantitative or qualitative approach. If you find both, indicate which is quantitative and which is qualitative. For quantitative studies, which of the following best describes the study: descriptive, causal comparative, correlational, or experimental? If more than one of these applies, state why. (5 points)
3. How did they analyze the data? What results did they find? If tests of statistical significance were used, please explain what these mean. (4 points)
4. Are there any weaknesses or problems in the research design which limit the conclusions that can be drawn? Include here things like whether the methods were appropriate to answer the research question, what threats to validity and reliability might exist, whether the conclusions drawn are consistent with the data, etc. (4 points)