ERIC Number: ED135439
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1976-Dec-3
Pages: 21
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
An Evaluation of Individualized Instructional Units Using the Bayesian Theorem in Two-year Technical Institutes Designated as Developing Institutions.
Woodbury, Roger; And Others
This study used the Bayesian Theorem and cost/effectiveness analysis to measure the short and long range effectiveness and minimum costs of individualized instructional units constructed by educational development officers for use with low-income students at four North Carolina technical institutes designated as developing institutions. Students experiencing the individualized instructional units in the technical institutes responded to opinionnaires measuring their judgments of value of each instructional unit, and to questionnaires measuring the degree of behavioral objectives achieved per unit. A cost analysis procedure calculated the costs for each instructional unit. Student value judgments of each instructional unit formed the prior distribution of the Bayesian Theorem and the degrees of behavioral objectives achieved per unit made up the sample distribution of the model. Variables combined in the joint probability distribution generated utility probabilities (value) for each unit, and costs per unit combined with the utility values for each unit formed expected opportunity loss values in utiles from the conditional worth matrix. Utility and expected opportunity loss values indicated those instructional units with maximal effectiveness as well as those requiring revision. This model is an inexpensive effective planning procedure which demonstrates accountability in a variety of educational programs and systems. (Author)
Descriptors: Bayesian Statistics, Behavioral Objectives, Cost Effectiveness, Curriculum Evaluation, Developing Institutions, Evaluation Methods, Institutional Research, Learning Modules, Models, Program Effectiveness, Questionnaires, Statistical Analysis, Student Attitudes, Technical Institutes, Two Year Colleges
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Southeastern Invitational Conference on Measurement in Education (15th, Clemson, South Carolina, December 3, 1976)