Background: The predominant dissertation model used in teacher education courses in Flanders is the "literature study with practical processing". Despite the practical supplement, this traditional model does not fit sufficiently well with autonomous learning as the objective of modern teacher education dissertations. This study reports on the…

This paper describes the results and implications of a study into the effectiveness of a blended e-learning cooperative approach (BeLCA) on Pre-Service Teacher's (PST) achievement, attitudes towards e-learning and cooperativeness. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used with participants of the study. Twenty-six science PSTs, enrolled…

In this study, the effect of computer-assisted instruction on conceptual understanding of chemical bonding and attitude toward chemistry was investigated. The study employed a quasi-experimental design involving 11 grade students; 25 in an experimental and 25 in a control group. The Chemical Bonding Achievement Test (CBAT) consisting of 15…

The prevalence of deception and failure to obtain consent in educational research was studied. Articles in two journals that regularly publish educational research were examined. The journals were Volume 17 (1980) of the American Educational Research Journal and Volume 13 (198) of the Journal of Learning Disabilities. Only 54 articles listed in…

This study was designed to answer two questions: (1) Is the systematic desensitization of test anxiety effective with secondary school students?; (2) Is relaxation per se as useful a technique as systematic desensitization? High test anxious secondary-school students were assigned to one of two experimental conditions, desensitization or…

The comprehension of aurally-presented narrative passages by fourth-grade children as a function of listening rate and performance on 11 predictor variables was investigated. The predictor tests included: PPVT, Otis Intelligence Test, MAT, Listening Comprehension, Digit Span, Coding, Auditory Attention Span, Clerical Speed, Perceptual Speed,…

Kindergarten children were randomly assigned: free play, make-believe, imitation, and control. Given an alternate-uses test (paper towel, match box, paper clip, and screwdriver), free play and make-believe subjects produced significantly more nonstandard responses for paper clip than control subjects and make-believe subjects more than free play…

Experiments where participants are randomly assigned into experimental and control groups are often regarded as the ideal approach to evaluation of labor force policies. This paper shows that such design can yield misleading and incomplete information. It proposes alternate designs that permit estimation of marginal as well as average program…

This booklet contains questions and answers about random assignment in program evaluation and intervention research. The main purpose of program evaluation research in education is to determine whether programs help the students they are designed to serve and whether new ideas for education programs still under development are worthy of extension…

Control subjects completed Book IV of the Edwards Personality Inventory under instructions to be honest while experimental subjects were instructed to fake so as to make an excellent impression while also concealing their faking. Differences between group means were small. (Author/EK)

The effects of in-service training programs on their participants are evaluated. (CK)

The advantages and assumptions of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and an alternative approach to ANCOVA which uses simultaneous and nonsimultaneous inference techniques are presented with an example of the latter's use. This approach is advocated for situations where it is suspected that dependent measures are a function of some initial aptitude…

Rationale and procedures for conducting process analysis in evaluation research are discussed. Two different procedures for estimating mediation are discussed, as well as procedures for examining whether a treatment exerts its effects, in part, by altering mediating process that produces outcome. Benefits of process analysis in evaluation research…

This study examined the effects of performance patterns and attributional information regarding performance causes on attributions and task persistence in fourth and fifth graders who tended to minimize effort as a cause of school performance. Performance patterns did not influence attributions or persistence. Effort feedback influenced…

The sciences of nutrition and toxicology require deep methodological reexamination. (JD)