Statistics and Research Methods modules are often unpopular with psychology students; however, at Oxford Brookes University the seminar component of the second-year research methods module tends to get very positive feedback. Over half of the seminars work towards the submission of a research-based experimental lab report. This article introduces…

Experimental evaluations are increasingly common in the U.S. educational policy-research context. Often, in investigations of multifaceted interventions, researchers and policymakers alike are interested in not only "whether" a given intervention impacted an outcome but also "why". What "features" of the intervention…

With the growing size of the "Millennial Generation" and its potential impact on American democracy, the civic education of this cohort deserves study. Using news media and discussion of politics at home and in the classroom at four public high schools in New Jersey, we conducted an experiment to measure changes in media use, political…

Learning the concept of perimeter and area is not easy for students in grade 3 of primary school. A common mistake is that students think that if the area is the same, the perimeter also has to be the same. It is difficult for them to understand that for a given area, there are many possibilities of perimeter and vice versa. When student are not…

This experiment examines the causal effect an electronic classroom response system (ECRS) has on students. Previous studies using an ECRS in the classroom indicate improved performance; however, many have confounds typical of classroom studies. To complement these studies, we conducted a laboratory study to minimize these confounds and concentrate…

This study proposes a new method named the IIS-map-based method for analyzing interactions in face-to-face collaborative learning settings. This analysis method is conducted in three steps: firstly, drawing an initial IIS-map according to collaborative tasks; secondly, coding and segmenting information flows into information items of IIS; thirdly,…

Within the framework of cognitive learning theories, instructional design manipulations have primarily been investigated under tightly controlled laboratory conditions. We carried out two experiments, where the first experiment was conducted in a restricted system-paced setting and is therefore in line with the majority of empirical studies in the…

Research in fields other than education has found that studies with small sample sizes tend to have larger effect sizes than those with large samples. This article examines the relationship between sample size and effect size in education. It analyzes data from 185 studies of elementary and secondary mathematics programs that met the standards of…

The scientificalization of educational research methods was always the most predominant in the two tides of educational experiment in China in the twentieth century, the result of which was unexpectedly dissatisfactory, because researchers misunderstood the connotation of scientificalization in such a degree that resulted in the worship for…

Analogous thinking has been commonly discussed as being an inherent and distinguishing characteristic of human cognition (e.g., Gentner, 2010; Goldstone, Day, & Son, 2010; Holyoak, in press; Rittle-Johnson & Star, in press). Gentner (2003) has argued that as part of the human cognitive toolbox, comparison accompanied by the relational language to…

Responding to an editorial appearing earlier in this journal, the author defends experimentation as an important strategy and cites the opinions of several researchers. It is emphasized that openness to experimentation, knowledge about its application, and ease with which it can be done in education are needed. (GK)

Using meta-analysis, randomized experiments in education that either clearly did or clearly did not experience student attrition were examined for the baseline comparability of groups. Results from 35 studies suggested that after attrition, the observed measures of baseline comparability of groups did not differ more than would be expected given…

CERTAIN SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF HYPOTHESIS TESTS USED FOR ANALYSIS OF RESULTS IN RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENTS WERE STUDIED--(1) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEORETICAL FACTOR, THAT OF PROVIDING INFORMATION ON STATISTICAL TESTS FOR CERTAIN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS AND (2) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE APPLIED ELEMENT, THAT OF SUPPLYING THE EXPERIMENTER WITH MACHINERY FOR…

This study involving ninth-grade algebra students investigated whether learning in environments identified in previous research as effective (i.e., exhibiting high levels of learner involvement) elicit significantly higher levels of relevant achievement than do ineffective learning environments. (Author)

Indicates the range of purposes and variety of settings in which design experiments have been conducted, delineating five crosscutting features that collectively differentiate design experiments from other methodologies. Clarifies what is involved in preparing for and carrying out a design experiment and in conducting a retrospective analysis of…