MA in Research Methods (Education)

Experiments in Education

This module aims to cover design and interpretation of experimental studies in education. It includes issues such as the nature of causality in educational research, practice and policy, threats to the validity of causal inference, the ethics of doing experiments, the analysis of data from experiments and the interpretation of systematic reviews.

Download the Study Guide (2007-8) here

Content is arranged in six topics:

1     The case for and against experimenting in education

• Powerpoint 'Causality.ppt'

• Campbell (1969) Reforms as Experiments

2     The concept of an experiment: types of experimental designs

• Powerpoint 'Design.ppt'

• Bill Trochim's Research Methods Knowledge Base

3     Design issues: threats to validity of inferences

• Powerpoint 'Threats.ppt'

• List of threats to validity

4     Design issues: precautions, ethical issues

• Coe (2007) Reflections on Ethics in Educational Research

5     Analysis of experimental data: effect size

• Link to Effect Size web site

6     Accumulation of knowledge: systematic review and meta-analysis