Research Practice Quiz

Read each statement and select the best alternative to complete the statement.

Which of the following best example problem statement as defined in the text?

The primary aim of this study is to compare the effects of word-supply and word-analysis on the oral reading errors of four students with special needs.
The purpose of this research is to study the social skills of behaviorally disordered students.
The purpose of this research was to examine the drop-out behavior of adults enrolled in education programs to see if adults who worked full-time and who therefore had other commitments and responsibilities were more likely to drop out than those who were not employed and who therefore did not have extra pressures imposed on them.
Will the new math curriculum enhance each student’s memory of math concepts?

Which of the following is a researchable problem?
1. Can we prevent war?
2. Should music and art be eliminated from the curriculum in our school?
3. What is the relationship between teacher’s knowledge of classroom management techniques and their use of them?
4. Is values education effective?

Which of the following is a legitimate source of an educational research problem?
1. constructivist learning theory
2. personal experience using active learning strategies
3. clarifying seemingly contradictory results on the effectiveness of using technology in the classroom
4. all the above

Which of the following likely reflects a quantitative research problem?
1. What are the experiences of a child who is consistently “left out” of important social events in schools?
2. This study explored the meaning of “inclusion” for three special needs students who had been placed in a regular education classroom.
3. To what extent are elementary teachers using math manipulative?
4. This study examined the process of changing to a standards based curriculum.

A good quantitative research problem identifies the
1. Type of research design Subjects
2. Independent and dependent variables d. all of the above

Which term is used to describe a phenomena that has many values?
1. Abstraction Scientific construct
2. Educational concept Variable

Which of the following is a conceptual definition of reading?
1. comprehension scores on the Stanford IQ Test
2. extracting meaning from a written text
3. the number of words recognized correctly in a 150 word passage
4. Scores on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test

All of the following are characteristics of an operational definition except it
1. Defines a concept with other concepts
2. Indicates how a variable is manipulated by the researcher.
3. Represents a construct by defining it in terms of observable events.
4. Specifies the way to measure a construct

Which of the following unlined variables can be described as an independent variable?
1. The teacher found the phonics method of teaching reading led to an increase in reading scores.
2. The researcher studied the effect of parental involvement on the academic achievement of their children.
3. In a recent study, it was found that the SAT score was not a good predictor of it college performance.
4. The teacher rearranged the seating in his room to see if this would increase the on-task behavior of some of the students.

All of the following are characteristics of extraneous variables except they
1. can affect the independent variable
2. can affect the dependent variable
3. are manipulated by the researcher
4. are unknown by the researcher

Which of the following represents a continuous variable?
1. Catholics or Protestants
2. Grade point average
3. Pass/ fall
4. White-collar or blue-collar workers.

Which of the following research problems meets all of the criteria discussed in the text for evaluating a quantitative research problem?
1. Should we study longer for the upcoming test?
2. Is the weight of students related to their achievement?
3. This project was an ethnographic study of the beliefs of students.
4. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationships between elementary students’ attitude toward math and their math achievement.
5. This study examined the development of 13 year-old children in middle schools.

Which of the following reasons justifies the use of a hypothesis?
1. it provides focus to the study
2. it provides for the testing of the relationships between variables.
3. It implies how the study should be organized and structured.
4. It allows the investigator to confirm or not confirm relationships.
5. All of the above.

There is a positive relationship between adults’ perceptions of themselves and their persistence in adult basic education programs.

The results of the study showed that students who were taught to use the SQ3R method scored higher on a social studies test than students who were not exposed to this method. Which of the following best describes the results in terms of the null hypothesis?
1. reject the null hypothesis
2. retained the null hypothesis
3. tested the null hypothesis again to confirm the original findings
4. test the research hypothesis to see if it provided support for the null hypothesis

Which of the following is an important characteristic of a good hypothesis?
1. it is written as a statement
2. it states an expected relationship between two or more variable.
3. It is clear and concise
4. It is consistent with known facts, prior research, or theory
5. All of the above

Which of the following characterizes a qualitative research problem?
1. it includes a single, central phenomenon
2. it is evolving
3. it is process oriented
4. it is open-ended
5. all of the above

Which of the following is not an important characteristic of a good qualitative research problem?
1. It is amenable to change as data is collected and analyzed.
2. It reflects the researcher’s assumptions and desired findings
3. It is written with “how” and “why” questions to focus on describing the phenomena.
4. It includes a central question as well as the participants and the site.