Research design

Whether in a scholarly or practitioner setting, good research and data analysis should have the benefit of peer feedback. For this Discussion, you will perform an article critique on tests. Be sure and remember that the goal is to obtain constructive feedback to improve the research and its interpretation, so please view this as an opportunity to learn from one another.

Review the Learning Resources and the media programs related to t tests.
Search for and select a quantitative article specific to your discipline and related to t tests. Help with this task may be found in the Course guide and assignment help linked in this week’s Learning Resources. Also, you can use as a guide the Research Design Alignment Table located in this week’s Learning Resources
Write a 3- to 5-paragraph critique of the article. In your critique, include responses to the following:

Which is the research design used by the authors?
Why did the authors use this t test?
Do you think it’s the most appropriate choice? Why or why not?
Did the authors display the data?
Do the results stand alone? Why or why not?
Did the authors report effect size? If yes, is this meaningful?

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Sample Answer

 

 

 

This article investigates the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in reducing test anxiety among college students. The authors employ a between-subjects research design, where participants are randomly assigned to either a mindfulness meditation intervention group or a control group. This design allows for causal inferences to be drawn about the impact of the intervention compared to the control group.

The decision to utilize a t-test in this study seems appropriate. Since the research compares the means of two independent groups (intervention vs. control) on a single continuous variable (test anxiety scores), an independent-samples t-test is a suitable statistical tool.

Full Answer Section

 

 

 

However, the critique considers whether a more robust analysis could be beneficial. While a t-test is sufficient for establishing a statistically significant difference in test anxiety scores between the groups, it doesn’t provide information about the magnitude of that difference.

The article likely displays data in the form of descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) for test anxiety scores in both groups. However, a visual representation of the data, such as a boxplot or histogram, would be helpful for understanding the distribution of scores and potential outliers in each group.

The results of the t-test itself don’t stand alone. The interpretation of statistical significance requires context. Additional information, such as the effect size (e.g., Cohen’s d) would be valuable. Effect size helps quantify the magnitude of the difference in test anxiety scores between the groups, providing a clearer picture of the intervention’s practical significance.

In conclusion, the authors’ use of a t-test is appropriate for their research design. However, including effect size alongside the t-test results would strengthen the analysis by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the intervention’s impact on test anxiety. Additionally, a visual representation of the data would enhance the clarity of the findings.

 

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