Discussion Board (Post and two replies)

Post your two questions and two takeaways. Make sure you cite your sources. In addition, remember to respond to two different peers.

I will give you two other examples or peers of other posts from the discussion board, I want you to write responses to their post. The responses do not need to be long at all, neither does the post. Write the same amount of words or information that the other peers did.

Peer#1: “My first takeaway is that there are several threats to experimental validity, so it’s very important to make sure you are aware of them before starting experimental research. There are four types of threats; statistical conclusion validity, internal validity, construct validity, and external validity. There are also many different threats within internal and external validity, so you must know all of these threats in order to produce the soundest evidence for cause-effect relations.

My second takeaway is that experimental research is the only type of research that can test hypotheses to establish cause-effect relationships. The comparisons are made between or among groups and there are different ways they’re compared. Comparing two different approaches is A versus B while comparing a new approach and an existing approach is A versus no A, lastly comparing different amounts of a single approach is a little of A versus a lot of A.

My first question is what are the two problems experimental studies in educational settings often have?

My second question for you is what is the best mechanism to control extraneous variables?

Mills, G. E., & Gray, L. R. (2019). Educational Research Competencies For Analysis And Applications (12th ed.) Pearson”

Peer #2: Chapter 11 Experimental Research

Q1: What are the steps for executing an experimental study; why is the experimental study so unique? Pg. 275

Q2: What is internal validity and why is it important in experimental research? Pg. 278

Take-A-Way 1:

In educational research, an experimental study can contribute to educational theory or practice only if its results and effects are replicable and generalize to other places and groups. If results cannot be replicated in other settings by practitioners, the study has low external, or ecological, validity. This concept is important because good research should yield outcomes that can yield empirical outcomes across a broad spectrum of classroom settings.

Take-A-Way 2:

“In educational research, there are eight main threats to internal validity. They are (1) history of the project, (2)maturation of the participants, (3)pre and post-test carryover, (4) instrumentation challenges, (5) statistical regression, (6) differential selection of participants, (7) mortality occurrences among project participants, and (8) selection–maturation interaction. While it may seem like a lot to overcome while conducting research, however the researcher can overcome these obstacles with the use of manipulation and control of variables. Although manipulation may sound like a nasty word, it is actually what the researcher does as part of the research process.

Reference:

Mills, G.E., & Gay, L.R., (2019). Educational Research (12th ed). Pearson. “