Marie Jarra

EDUR 7130
Module 5: Quantitative Design Activity
6/28/17

Quantitative Design Scenarios

1. Mrs. Melanie Howard has a class of middle school students who are
developing ways to recycle goods for several household purposes. Students would
like to test if broken egg shells will increase plant growth. They each plant two beans
one with each broken egg shells as fertilizer and one without. The students use
rulers to measure the height of their plants in inches after two weeks and make
comparisons for conclusions. What type of design did the students use for this study
(experimental, correlational, or survey)? What distinguishing features of this
scenario did you use to determine an appropriate design? Experimental design: The
students in this class are wanting to test an ide, if broken eggshells will increase plant
growth. There is a cause and effect theme in that the students are testing the increases in
plant growth as the effect of eggshells. They also have a controlled variable (with out egg
shells) in which they are comparing the experimental one with.

2. Mr. Ben Bradberry is interested in completing a study on developing self-

concept among high school students and asks you for a recommendation. He
explains the study has identified the variables of self-efficacy beliefs, introversion,
and its effect to student achievement. What type of design would you recommend
and why? (experimental, correlational or survey). Survey design: Mr. Bradberry is
wanting to obtain data on high school students for certain characteristics or behaviors
(self-efficacy belief, introversions, and their effects). The way to obtain this data is to ask
(survey) the student body population. The survey can be in the form of a questionnaire.

3. Mrs. Sarah Davis is investigating some benefits to preschool education. Her

hypothesis is that participation in preschool education is the major factor
contributing to differences in the social adjustment of first graders. To examine this
hypothesis Mrs. Davis would select two groups of students. One group who has
participated in preschool and one group who has not participated in preschool, she
would then make some comparison based on levels of social adjustment. Please
identify if a survey design or a casual comparative study would best fit to investigate
this problem. Casual comparative study: Mrs. Davis has a selection of two causal
groups, her hypothesis is questioning the benefits education. She will be examining the
differences in these two groups through comparing and contrasting. Her hypothesis is
also a relationship that is unidirectional.

4. A school district is investigating the changing challenges teachers describe.

Across the district, first year teachers were asked a series of questions on a survey.
The questions were to gather information about aspects of the profession that new
teachers find most challenging. Five years later the same teachers were asked to
complete another survey on what they found most challenging about their
professions. 10 years after that the same teachers were asked again the same
questions about challenges within their profession. What type of survey research
design was used for this scenario. Longitudinal Survey Design: The surveyor is
collecting data over the years within the same group of teachers. The surveyor is looking
for trends and collecting data from that.

5. Correlation Associations

a. Students first semester college grades and SAT scores = .233: Weak positive
correlation

b. Students high GPAs and likelihood of dropping out of school = -.671: Strong
negative correlation

c. Student self esteem and scores on intelligence test = .723: Strong positive
correlation

d. Preschool attendance and social maturity = .462: Weak positive correlation

e. Parental involvement and reading achievement = .129: Weak positive

correlation

f. Cell phone texting behavior and creative writing scores = -.325: Moderate
positive correlation