Ariatnam, Najafi, and Morones (Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education And Practice, 2002) describe an overview of academies on horizontal directional drilling conducted to train engineers and inspectors for the California Department of Transportation. A pretest was administered on the first day prior to any instruction. Instruction and field experience were provided over a 3-day period, followed by a final test administered at the end of the last day. Although the average final test score of 75.27% was higher than the average pretest score of 55.61%, the difference was not significant.
a Identify the type of study described here.
b What is the purpose of administering a pretest?