Research Evaluation Worksheet

Title: The Role of Classroom Quality in Ameliorating the Academic and Social Risks Associated with Difficult Temperament

Full Article Reference (APA style):

Curby, Timothy W.; Rudasill, Kathleen Moritz; Edwards, Taylor; and Pérez-Edgar, Koraly, The Role of Classroom Quality in Ameliorating the Academic and Social Risks Associated with Difficult Temperament (2011). Educational Psychology Papers and Publications. Paper 122. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/edpsychpapers/122


 Abstract

The research study is outlined well in the abstract statement. The key terminologies are stated to link the first grades with the quality of learning and the contentious infancy temperaments.

 Introduction

 

a. Is the need for the study clearly stated in the introduction? Explain by using information presented in the literature review. The research is introduced with a clear statement of the reason for the study. The literature review contains content that extensively shows a gap that necessitates the study about quality of class work and temperament of young children.

b. What is the research hypothesis or question?

The research question is
how do the children’s difficult temperaments in infancy influences their academic and social outcomes in first grade (Pg. 176).

c. What are the variables of interest (independent and dependent variables)?

The dependent variables are academic outcomes in first grade, while the independent variable is the temperament of the children.

d. How are the variables operationally defined?

Method

a. Sample Size (Total): ____1364____________          Size Per Group/Cell: ____1 group___________

A sample of 1364 children within 15 years age is involved in the study.

b. Were the methods and procedures described so that the study could be replicated without further information?  What information, if any, would you need to replicate or reproduce this study?

The research extensively covers the critical ways that are required such that any other researcher can progress with the study without seeking for more information. An important aspect of this study I feel you need are children of the same age group.

Participants

a. How were participants selected and recruited?

The participants were selected in phases as the children advanced into different grades. The phases were based on the different grades of study and age from 1991 to 2005.

b. Were subjects randomly selected?

The mode of selection is random because the team of data collection comes from various places and the participating children come from various ethnic backgrounds.

c. Were there any biases in sampling? Explain

The data collected about the participants shows that there is no balance between the races, an indication that there was no form of specific selection procedure.

d. Were the samples appropriate for the population to which the researcher wished to generalize?

There is no evident bias in sampling because the population is distributed unevenly; hence the proportion of every race is relative to the population in the region that the study was carried out.

e. What are the characteristics of the sample populations?

The samples were collected from various locations, hence an appropriate representative sample of participants. The collected sample population is made up of children within the same age group in every phase, for the four phases considered in the study.

Research Design
(check which design applies)

___x____ Single group, time series study

_______ Multiple baseline (sequential) design: ______________

_______ Single group, no measurement

_______ Single group with measurement: Pre ______ During _____ Post _____

_______ Two groups classic experimental versus control group, randomly assigned

_______ (quasi-experimental) two groups experimental versus control group,

  not randomly assigned

_______ Correlation research, not manipulated, degree of relationship

_______ Descriptive research (qualitative study)            

_______ Natural observation                               

_______ Analytical research

_______ Interview research                                             

_______ Historical study

_______ Survey research                                     

_______ Legal study

_______ Ethnography research                          

_______ Policy analysis

_______ Fieldwork research                                            

_______ Evaluation study

_______ Phenomenology

_______ Grounded theory

_______ Protocol analysis (collection and analysis of verbatim reports)

_______ Case study, no measurement

_______ Case study, with measurement: Pre _________ During _______ Post _________

_______ Developmental research

_______ Longitudinal (same group of subjects over period of time)

_______ Cross-sectional (subjects from different age groups compared)

_______ Cross-sequential (subjects from different age groups, shorter period of time)

_______ Correlation, more than two groups: control, treatment, and other treatment comparisons

_______ Factorial design, two or more groups: other treatment differences, no untreated controls

_______ Two or more dependent variables (MANOVA)

_______ Other design: __________________________________________________________

The research was designed to carry out a single group that was accessed in every grade and age bracket. The research takes a time series design from 1991 to 2007, where the number of participants seems to decrease with time.

Consider the Following Questions:

The research did not use control groups since all the children under study were within the same conditions.

a. Was a control group used?  Yes ______ No ___x___  If yes, complete b, c, and d below.

b. Was the control method for the study appropriate? 

c. What variable was being controlled for?

d. In the case of an experimental study, were subject randomly assigned to groups?

Measures

a. Describe the Dependent Measure(s)/Instruments used: Age and grades in the schooling system
b. Describe the Measurement/Instrument Validity Information: specific age and grade levels

c. Describe the Measurement/Instrument Reliability Information: sample identification approach where various methods in different parts were used by researchers.

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