Criteria are briefly proposed for final conclusions, research problems, and research hypotheses in quantitative research. Moreover, based on a proposed definition of applied and basic/general research, it is argued that (1) in applied quantitative research, while research problems are necessary, research hypotheses are unjustified, and that (2) in…

Context: A perennial problem in applied statistics is the inability to justify strong claims about cause-and-effect relationships without full knowledge of the mechanism determining selection into treatment. Few research designs other than the well-implemented random assignment study meet this requirement. Researchers have proposed partial…

Educational research enquiries differ based on philosophical beliefs and assumptions regarding researchers' explicitly stated views. This paper critically explores the most dominant philosophical stances in social research sciences, namely positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. It begins with an overview of the role of the aforementioned…

Researchers sometimes conduct a study and find that the predicted relation between variables did not exist or that the intervention did not have a positive impact on student outcomes; these are referred to as null findings because they fail to disconfirm the null hypothesis. Rather than consider such studies as failures and disregard the null…

Purpose: Single-case experimental designs are widely used to study interventions for communication disorders. Traditionally, single-case experiments follow a response-guided approach, where design decisions during the study are based on participants' observed patterns of behavior. However, this approach has been criticized for its high rate of…

A test for multisample sphericity based on the efficient scores criterion is obtained as an alternative to the likelihood ratio test developed by Mendoza. (Author)

Author responds to critique by Daniel Griffiths (Educational Administration Quarterly v. 19, p. 201-21) by defending his work in three areas: derivation of hypotheses, testing of hypotheses, and erroneous attribution of assumptions. (JW)

A solution to some problems of maximized contrasts for analysis of variance situations when the cell sizes are unequal is offered. It is demonstrated that a contrast is maximized relative to the analysis used to compute the sum of squares between groups. Interpreting a maximum contrast is discussed. (Author/GK)

This article builds on an earlier discussion of the importance of the Type II error (beta) and power to the hypothesis testing process (CE 511 484), and illustrates the methods by which sample size calculations should be employed so as to improve the research process. (Author/CT)

The authors argue that a parameterization in terms of cell means is a useful conceptual device for resolving problems inherent in the nonorthogonal analysis of variance. They demonstrate their argument by considering two widely-used methods for testing main effects. (Author/BW)

Problems associated with randomization tests in single- case experiments are discussed. This article follows a discussion of randomization tests in single case studies in the same issue of this journal. (See TM 505 799; 505 801).(Author/JKS)

This article feeds into debate about the feasibility and usefulness of educational experiments by discussing methodological issues arising out of a study which sought causal links between teaching and learning of one aspect of French as a foreign language. The study involved two small-scale experiments which tested a hypothesis regarding the…

Although the primary responsibility rests with the authors of articles reporting nonsignificant results to demonstrate the worth of the results by discussing the power of the tests, consumers should be prepared to conduct their own power analyses. This article demonstrates the use of power analysis for the interpretation of nonsignificant…

Post-hoc blocking and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) both employ a concomitant variable to increase statistical power relative to the completely randomized design. It is argued that the advantages attributed to the block design are not always valid and that there are circumstances when the ANCOVA would be preferred to post-hoc blocking.…

The problems of two way analysis of variance designs with unequal and disproportionate cell sizes are discussed. A variety of solutions are discussed and a new solution is presented. (JKS)