Please note that the source for these examples is not known to me, if somebody recognizes these examples as to authorship, let me know. DB |
I. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Is there a difference in self-esteem of boys and girls in the fifth grade?
2. Are there differences among Anglo, Hispanic, African American, and Asian students in their reading ability in the twelfth grade?
3. Is there a difference in the motivation of high school principals and teachers in Arizona?
4. Is there a correlation between socioeconomic status and math ability among teachers?II. SUBJECTS
A total of 100 Grade 5 students (60 boys, 40 girls) were selected for this study from four classrooms in a large urban school district of the Southwest. Two classes were randomly designated to receive the treatment and two were designated to be the comparison groups. The ethnic backgrounds of the children were 32% Hispanic, 50% Anglo, 10% African American, 6% Asian, and 2% Other. Most of the children were from the middle SES group.III. INSTRUMENT
The Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) Reading Test is a standardized, norm-referenced test designed to assess the reading ability of children in Grades 2-12. It consists of 40 multiple choice items and for each item there are four responses. There is one correct response and three distractors. A MAT score is obtained by summing the number of items answered correctly.
The Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 estimate of the internal consistence reliability of the reading tests is .93. Construct, content, and criterion-related validities have been reported to be adequate (Jones, 1991).
The Motivation Student Survey (MSS) was developed by the author for this study. It consists of 10 items which are statements about motivation. The response categories utilize a Likert-type format of 1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Undecided, 4 = Agree, and 5 Strongly Agree. An individual motivation score is obtained by summing the ratings obtained on each item of the survey. A pilot study revealed the Cronbach's alpha estimate of internal consistence reliability to be .82.IV. PROGRAM
The Phoenix Motivational Program (PMP) was developed to increase the motivation of students in grades 3 - 8. It was developed by Smith (1980) as part of a multidimensional approach to the raising of motivational levels of public school students. The PMP consists of three major components (1) improving student attitudes, (2) improving the school climate, and (3) improving teacher-student interaction.V. PROCEDURE Students were pretested during the second week of September
1992 and posttested the first week of December 1992 with the MAT and the MSS. Before school began, teachers attended a two-day workshop to learn the MSS approach. The program was implemented after the pretesting was completed.
IV. FINDINGS
MSS Program students and Comparison students were compared to determine if there a difference in their reading ability after participation in the PMP program. Analysis of covariance was used to compare MAT posttest scores of the Program students and the comparison group students' means after the means were adjusted for differences on the MAT pretest. An independent t test revealed that there were some differences between the two groups on the pretest t(98)= 1.29, p < .20. There was a correlation between the MAT pretest and posttest of r = .73, p < .001.The adjusted posttest means of the Program and Comparison groups were significantly different F(l, 97) = 6.90, p < .01. The mean of the Program students (M = .34.32, SD = 4.53) was significantly higher than that of the Comparison students (M 29.25, SD 5.64)