Topic: PSY 635 Reply to Stephanie Malave Week 2 Post Problems in Designing and Experimental Research Study

Details: PSY 635 Week 2 Discussion

After reading your colleague’s null and research hypotheses, do you feel that these accurately respond to the scenario? Please provide a rationale for your agreement or disagreement. Evaluate your colleague’s proposed research design and explain whether or not you agree with the research design chosen providing a brief rationale for your opinion citing the resources as necessary. What potential threats to internal validity do you see that your colleague has not identified? Consider the ethical implications your colleague has described and identify any other potential threats to external validity your colleague has not mentioned. Recommend potential solutions to the areas of both internal and external validity in the research design proposed by your colleague. (PLEASE SEE STEPHANIE MALAVE POST BELOW)
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Apply the scientific method to the information included within the scenario and develop a null and a research hypothesis based on it.
Null Hypothesis: The use of digital badges or instructional intervention will not result in improved discussion responses as it does not improve the student’s effort.
Research Hypothesis: The use of digital badges or instructional intervention will motivate students to improve their discussion efforts.
Using the hypotheses you have developed, compare the characteristics of the different experimental research designs discussed in the Skidmore (2008) article, and choose the most appropriate one to adequately test your hypotheses.
Pretest-Posttest Control-Group Design begins with the pretest (O), ensuring there is equality in the groups. This design will create random assignments of participants (R) to the control or experimental groups, with one group being the control with no intervention and the other group(s) being given the intervention (X), then concluding with post-intervention measurement (O). Results are recorded left to right following the direction the design takes, reading from what happens first, second, etc. Includes experimental group (R/O/X/O) and the control (R/O/O) (Skidmore, 2008).
Posttest-Only Control does not start with pre-intervention measures. Requires assigning participants (R) and implementing the variables (X) to the control and experimental group(s). After the time limit set for the experiment, a post-intervention (O) measure is conducted. Includes experimental group (R/X/O) and the control (R/O) (Skidmore, 2008).
Solomon Four-Group Design requires a larger size of participants as there are four groups involved in this design. The experimental group with the pretest was organized as R/O/X/O, and the control group with the pretest was organized as R/O/O, such as the first design discussed. However, this design also includes the experimental group without a pretest organized as R/X/O and the control group without the pretest organized as R/O, just like the second design discussed (Skidmore, 2008).
After reviewing each of the designs discussed in the article written by Skidmore (2008), I believe that the Solomon Four-Group Design is the best one to test the hypotheses that I mentioned above. I think this is the best design because it requires the most review of all the information collected, and the large number of students involved provides better results (Skidmore, 2008).
Identify potential internal threats to validity and explain how you might mitigate these threats.
One of the potential internal threats to this research’s validity would be number 3: history and number 4: maturation. I believe history is an internal threat as the students are taking online classes, so there is the potential of students being affected by their computer not working, internet services being disconnected or not functioning, and other life events that can affect their motivation or ability to participate in the course such as hospitalization. I also believe that maturation can be an internal threat due to fatigue and aging that can lead to the decision not to continue the course.
In order to mitigate these internal threats, all students can be provided with tech support and internet access via hotspot, which can be added to their tuition costs. Another way to mitigate the issues is to ensure that each student participating in the study is provided with time management education and tips to avoid fatigue that can impact their participation in the online classroom.
Apply ethical principles to the proposed research and describe the implications of this type of research in terms of the population(s) and cultural consideration(s) represented in the sample(s) within the scenario.
The proposed research will need institutional approval to move forward, providing detailed information on the research’s intent and expectations. All the students will be to be briefed on the intent, process, and conclusion of the study to provide informed consent with the understanding that not participating or withdrawing from the research will in no way affect their grades. The students should be informed of any monetary benefits that may be included, possible consequences of the research, the time the research will take, and contact information for the teacher(s) involved in the study (APA, 2017). In this type of study, deception should not be involved as their education continues, and they should not be compromised. At the end of the study, students should be debriefed to include clarification of any concerns or questions they may have and the research results (APA, 2017).

References

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct: Including 2010 and 2016 amendments (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
Skidmore, S. (2008). Experimental design and some threats to experimental validity: A primer (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Educational Research Association (New Orleans, LA, February 6, 2008). Retrieved from the ERIC database in the Ashford University Library.

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