NCU Quantitative Research Methods Week 5 Assignment Part I and II

For reasons that will be clear after you’ve completed the readings for this Activity, if you do an experimental study for your dissertation, it will probably be a quasi­experiment. There are very good reasons why quasi­experimental designs are popular and a large literature on how they
can be done well.
Review the resources listed in the Books and Resources area below to prepare for this week's assignments.

Books and Resources for this Week:

Books

Reference

Instruction

Jackson, S. L. (2012) Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach.

Read Chapter
13

Trochim, W. M. K., & Donnelly, J. P. (2008) The research methods knowledge base.

Read Chapters
7, 10, and Pages
308-330

Articles

Reference
Goldberg, N. (1990). A quasi-experiment assessing the effectiveness of TV advertising
directed to children.
http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/235231913?accountid=28180

Instruction
Read Article

Activity Description
Part I ­ Answer the following questions:

1. Jackson (2012), even­numbered chapter exercises, p 360.
(2) A psychology professor is interested in whether implementing weekly quizzes improves student learning. She decides to use
the weekly quizzes in one section of her introductory psychology class and not to use them in another section of the same course.
Which type of quasi­experimental design do you recommend for this study?
(4) Identify some possible confounds in each of the studies you outlined in your answers to exercises 2 (above).
(6) Give three reasons a researcher might choose to use a single­case design.
(8) How does a multiple­baseline design differ from a reversal design?

2. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of quasi­experiments? What is the fundamental weakness of a quasi­ experimental design? Why is it a weakness? Does its weakness always matter?

3. If you randomly assign participants to groups, can you assume the groups are equivalent at the beginning of the study? At the end? Why or why not? If you cannot assume equivalence at either end, what can you do? Please explain.

4. Explain and give examples of how the particular outcomes of a study can suggest if a particular threat is likely to the selection threats discussed in Chapter 7 of Trochim and Donnelly (2006):

a. Non­equivalent control group pretest only
b. Non­equivalent control group pretest/posttest
c. Cross­sectional
d. Regression­Discontinuity
5. Why are quasi­experimental designs used more often than experimental designs?
6. One conclusion you might reach (hint) after completing the readings for this assignment is that there are no bad designs, only bad design choices (and implementations). State a research question for which a single­group post­test only design can yield relatively unambiguous findings.

Part II ­ Answer the following questions:

1. What research question(s) does the study address?
2. What is Goldberg’s rationale for the study? Was the study designed to contribute to theory? Do the results of the study contribute to theory? For both questions: If so, how? If not, why not?
3.What constructs does the study address? How are they operationalized?
4. What are the independent and dependent variables in the study?
5. Name the type of design the researchers used.
6. What internal and external validity threats did the researchers address in their design? How did they address them? Are there threats they did not address? If so how does the failure to address the threats affect the researchers’ interpretations of their findings? Are Goldberg’s conclusions convincing? Why or why not?

Support your paper with a minimum of 5 resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.
Length: 5­7 pages not including title and reference pages References: Minimum of 5 scholarly resources.
Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts that are presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your paper should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Review APA Form and Style.