Analysis of Pretest-Posttest Designs


Book Description

How do you analyze pretest-posttest data? Difference scores? Percent change scores? ANOVA? In medical, psychological, sociological, and educational studies, researchers often design experiments in which they collect baseline (pretest) data prior to randomization. However, they often find it difficult to decide which method of statistical analysis i




Quasi-Experimentation


Book Description

Featuring engaging examples from diverse disciplines, this book explains how to use modern approaches to quasi-experimentation to derive credible estimates of treatment effects under the demanding constraints of field settings. Foremost expert Charles S. Reichardt provides an in-depth examination of the design and statistical analysis of pretest-posttest, nonequivalent groups, regression discontinuity, and interrupted time-series designs. He details their relative strengths and weaknesses and offers practical advice about their use. Reichardt compares quasi-experiments to randomized experiments and discusses when and why the former might be a better choice. Modern moethods for elaborating a research design to remove bias from estimates of treatment effects are described, as are tactics for dealing with missing data and noncompliance with treatment assignment. Throughout, mathematical equations are translated into words to enhance accessibility.




Encyclopedia of Research Design


Book Description

"Comprising more than 500 entries, the Encyclopedia of Research Design explains how to make decisions about research design, undertake research projects in an ethical manner, interpret and draw valid inferences from data, and evaluate experiment design strategies and results. Two additional features carry this encyclopedia far above other works in the field: bibliographic entries devoted to significant articles in the history of research design and reviews of contemporary tools, such as software and statistical procedures, used to analyze results. It covers the spectrum of research design strategies, from material presented in introductory classes to topics necessary in graduate research; it addresses cross- and multidisciplinary research needs, with many examples drawn from the social and behavioral sciences, neurosciences, and biomedical and life sciences; it provides summaries of advantages and disadvantages of often-used strategies; and it uses hundreds of sample tables, figures, and equations based on real-life cases."--Publisher's description.




An Applied Guide to Research Designs


Book Description

The Second Edition of An Applied Guide to Research Designs offers researchers in the social and behavioral sciences guidance for selecting the most appropriate research design to apply in their study. Using consistent terminology, the authors visually present a range of research designs used in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods to help readers conceptualize, construct, test, and problem solve in their investigation. The Second Edition features revamped and expanded coverage of research designs, new real-world examples and references, a new chapter on action research, and updated ancillaries.




Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research


Book Description

We shall examine the validity of 16 experimental designs against 12 common threats to valid inference. By experiment we refer to that portion of research in which variables are manipulated and their effects upon other variables observed. It is well to distinguish the particular role of this chapter. It is not a chapter on experimental design in the Fisher (1925, 1935) tradition, in which an experimenter having complete mastery can schedule treatments and measurements for optimal statistical efficiency, with complexity of design emerging only from that goal of efficiency. Insofar as the designs discussed in the present chapter become complex, it is because of the intransigency of the environment: because, that is, of the experimenter’s lack of complete control.




Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention


Book Description

To battle the obesity epidemic in America, health care professionals and policymakers need relevant, useful data on the effectiveness of obesity prevention policies and programs. Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention identifies a new approach to decision making and research on obesity prevention to use a systems perspective to gain a broader understanding of the context of obesity and the many factors that influence it.




Understanding and Interpreting Educational Research


Book Description

This user-friendly text takes a learn-by-doing approach to exploring research design issues in education and psychology, offering evenhanded coverage of quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, and single-case designs. Readers learn the basics of different methods and steps for critically examining any study's design, data, and conclusions, using sample peer-reviewed journal articles as practice opportunities. The text is unique in featuring full chapters on survey methods, evaluation, reliability and validity, action research, and research syntheses. Pedagogical Features Include: *An exemplar journal article at the end of each methods chapter, together with questions and activities for critiquing it (including, where applicable, checklist forms to identify threats to internal and external validity), plus lists of additional research examples. *Research example boxes showing how studies are designed to address particular research questions. *In every chapter: numbered chapter objectives, bulleted summaries, subheadings written as questions, a running glossary, and end-of-chapter discussion questions. * Electronic Instructor's Resource Manual with Test Bank, provided separately--includes chapter outlines; answers to exercises, discussion questions, and illustrative example questions; and PowerPoints.




Introduction to Educational Research


Book Description

W. Newton Suter argues that what is important in a changing education landscape is the ability to think clearly about research methods, reason through complex problems and evaluate published research. He explains how to evaluate data and establish its relevance.




Research Concepts for the Practitioner of Educational Leadership


Book Description

In Research Concepts for the Practitioner of Educational Leadership, the author acquaints the reader with principles of educational research that are most applicable to today’s educational leaders. Educational leaders are facing increasing demands to analyze data and use research to make instructional decisions. School-based educational leaders are facing these demands as well as those in educational leadership at other levels such as school districts and foundations. Instructional leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to lead without having a firm grasp of using data to make informed instructional decisions. This book helps to bridge the gap between the complex world of data analysis with the ever-changing dynamics of education leadership.




Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences


Book Description

Statistical Power Analysis is a nontechnical guide to power analysis in research planning that provides users of applied statistics with the tools they need for more effective analysis. The Second Edition includes: * a chapter covering power analysis in set correlation and multivariate methods; * a chapter considering effect size, psychometric reliability, and the efficacy of "qualifying" dependent variables and; * expanded power and sample size tables for multiple regression/correlation.