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[Phys-L] Re: Should Randomized Control Trials Be the Gold Standard of Educational Research ?



In his Phys-L post of 16 Apr 2005 22:48:00+0200 of the above title,
Antti Savinainen wrote [bracketed by lines "SSSSSSS. . . .":

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Yes, it would be good if there were randomized control trials
investigating various teaching methods. However, they are not the
only way to get reliable knowledge on teaching methods. One of the
references given by Richard Hake in his recent posting argues
(<http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Nov2003/msg00309.html.org/lists/arnl/archives/Nov2003/msg00309.html>):

"1. First, as demonstrated below, randomized control group trials
(RCTs), even when possible, are NOT always superior to other
approaches (non-RCTs) in demonstrating causality.

2. Second, there are many issues of great importance in educational
as well as in social or health research where it is ethically and/or
practically IMPOSSIBLE TO USE RCTs,..."

I would highly recommend studying assessment expert Michael Scriven's
arguments on this topic.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I second Antti's recommendation to study Scriven's arguments.

Unfortunately, the URL that appears in Antti's post may not work. The
Scriven reference that I gave in Hake (2005) was Scriven (2004). That
reference carries the URL
<http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Nov2003/msg00309.html>.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>


REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 2005a. "Should Randomized Control Trials Be the Gold
Standard of Educational Research ?" online at
<http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0504&L=aera-l&T=0&O=D&P=1945>. Post of
15 Apr 2005 to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-G, AERA-H, AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-L,
AP-Physics, ASSESS, Biopi-L, Chemed-L, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, Phys-L,
Physhare, POD, STLHE-L, & TIPS.

Scriven, M. 2004. "Causation," unpublished; see, e.g. "Scriven on
randomized control groups," online at
<http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Nov2003/msg00309.html>.
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