Discussion:
Ethical issues, dependent, independent variables
In schools and colleges across America, learning is often measured by testing students. Consider this hypothetical example: A teacher wants to determine whether a new teaching strategy would improve student performance more than the old teaching strategy. The teacher designed a simple study incorporating the old strategy with half the students in the class and the new strategy for the other half of the students. On the first day of class the students were randomly assigned to groups. There were no significant differences between groups prior to the study. After three months, students were tested and student performance was compared between the two groups.
Questions:
1. Using this example, identify the independent variables and the dependent variables.
2. Using the APA ethical guidelines as a resource, what are the ethical issues that need to be considered before conducting this study?
3. Based on your own research, what other methods could this teacher have used in order to research the effectiveness of the new teaching strategy?