Planning a Comparative Experiment in Educational Settings

• Published in: Journal of statistics education Vol. 19; no. 2
• Main Author: McGowan, Herle M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 01-01-2011; American Statistical Association
• Subjects: Classroom Techniques; Clickers; College Instruction; College Mathematics; Comparative Analysis; Computer Uses in Education; Courses; Educational Technology; Efficacy; Evaluation; Experiments; Feedback (Response); Guidelines; Mathematics Instruction; Predictor Variables; Pretests Posttests; Probability; Quantitative research; Records (Forms); Research Design; Research Methodology; Statistical Analysis; Statistics; Statistics education; Student Surveys; United States (Midwest)
• ISSN: 1069-1898; 1069-1898
• DOI: 10.1080/10691898.2011.11889612

A well-designed experiment is the best method for establishing efficacy of any intervention, be it medical, behavioral, or educational in nature. This paper reviews the steps necessary in conducting a comparative experiment in an educational setting, and illustrates how these steps might be fulfilled within the context of a large-scale randomized experiment conducted in an introductory statistics course. The primary goal of this paper is to help researchers identify salient issues to consider and potential pitfalls to avoid when designing a comparative experiment in an educational setting.