Exercises Causal Comparative Research

TRUE or FALSE

1. Causal-comparative studies attempt to identify the cause-effect relationships; correlational studies do not true

2. Causal-comparative studies typically involve two (or more) groups and one independent variable, whereas correlational studies typically involve two (or more) variables and one group true

3. Causal-comparative studies involve relation, whereas correlational studies involve cause false

4. Generally causal-comparative research is undertaken because the independent variable could be manipulated but should not true

5. One of the most important reasons for conducting causal-comparative research is to identify variables worthy of experimental investigation true

6. “Lack of control”in causal comparative research means that the researcher can and should manipulate the independent variable false

7. Each group in a causal-comparative study represents a different population true

8. The more similar two groups are on all relevant variables except the independent variable, the stronger the study is true

9. There is random assignment to treatment groups from a single population in causal-comparative studies false

10. Lack of randomization, manipulation of the independent variable, and control are all sources of weakness in a causal-comparative design true

12. Interpretation of the findings in a causal-comparative study requires considerable caution because the cause may be the effect and the effect may be the cause true

13. Extraneous variables or confounding factors may be the real “cause” of both the independent and dependent variables true

Fill in the blanks

1. Groups selected for a causal- comparative study which differ on some independent variable and comparison of them on some dependent variable are called ……. Comparison groups

2. Unexplained variables that influence a dependent variable are called ….. Extraneous variables

3. A statistical tool to adjust initial group differences on variables is called … Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)

4. The descriptive statistic indicating the average performance of a group on a measure of some variable is called … mean

5. The descriptive statistic indicating how clustered or spread out the mean is around a set of scores is called … Standard deviation

6. The inferential statistic determining whether there is a significant difference between the means of two groups is called … t-test

7. The inferential statistic determining whether there is a significant difference between the means of three or more groups Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

8. The inferential statistic determining whether there is a greater than expected difference among group frequencies Chi-square

What type of research is this? A survey of 1712 high school seniors in 421 schools across the country revealed that 74% of the students think that their teachers are doing a good or excellent job. 22% said that they would like to become teachers. Although seniors reported that their teachers generally have good content knowledge and are competent, the seniors also said that most of their teachers were not as interesting or creative as they should be. descriptive

What type of research is this? This study investigated whether absent students whose homes received phone calls via a computer-activated message device had a better school attendance record than students whose homes were not called. 150 students in 3 high schools were randomly selected to receive the message whenever they were absent. 150 other randomly selected students did not receive the call when they were absent. Results revealed that students receiving the phone calls were absent less than the students that were not called experimental

What type of research is this? Children who entered kindergarten at age 5 were compared with children who entered kindergarten at age 6 on measures of academic achievement taken at grade 5. Results indicate that children who entered kindergarten at age 6 scored significantly higher on standardized tests measuring reading achievement and mathematics achievement. Causal-comparative