For the experiment below, identify any instances of confounding you may see. How
ID: 3452045 • Letter: F
Question
For the experiment below, identify any instances of confounding you may see. However, be careful not to identify things as confounds that are not actually confounds at all. Then redesign the study to eliminate any confounds that may be present. Write a short paragraph for the case below, identifying the confound and indicating how you would eliminate it. An educational psychologist was interested in determining whether a new teaching technique results in higher academic achievement than traditional teaching methods To compare the two techniques, she identified a school system that taught in the traditional manner and another school system that used the new technique. She administered an achievement test to the children in the two schools and found that the children in the school that used the new technique significantly outperformed the children in the traditional school.Explanation / Answer
The primary confound in this case would be the differences between the schools in terms of its location, population, faculty staff and the funding received. All these variables are bound to impact the independent variable- dependent variable relationship. Therefore for this study, the researcher should aim to identify two (more or less) identical schools, one employing traditional methods and the other employing the new technique. This is likely to produce a more valid result.