Control Groups in Educational Research
Greetings. The idea of a control group is now implemented into my study. I realize that I am probably opening up a can of worms but here it goes... My question concerns that of different ("uncontrollable") variables, especially in educational research. For example, if I am using 5 groups and there are two different instructors involved but both are using the same web site, does this mean that they are both instructing the same way? How much "control" do we really have over the variables, espeically extraneous variables and can't the extraneous varible list go on forever? Another example is that there are differences between the spring and fall semester students at Kent. So if I wanted to test a hypothesis, I should always consider testing and re-testing since results will be different for each group from each semester? I know that there are statistical methods that can be applied during the analysis of the data to control for some of these concerns (I am open for suggestions Hussain) but it is easier to control for them in the design before arriving at the data analysis stage. How does one control in the initial stages (besides stratified random sampling), especially when considering a research project that is including more than one instructor and group?Thanks.
Marian Maxfield
posted by Marian Maxfield @ 7:35 AM
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