Question

At one large university, a group of education specialists wanted to test the effectiveness of a newly designed academic improvement course. Students seeking academic help at the university counseling center were asked to participate in this 6-week program. Only students who were judged to have deficiencies in reading comprehension and other study-related skills were chosen for the program. Students whose academic problems were judged to be the result of emotional difficulties of one sort or another were not enrolled in the program but were counseled in a manner more appropriate to their problem. A group of 30 students completed the program at the counseling center. A review of grades and teachers' comments revealed that a large majority of the students were doing better in school after completing the program than before. The difference between pre-program and post-program performance measures was statistically significant. Identify TWO major threats to the internal validity of this study as it has been described. For each threat identified explain why there is another plausible hypothesis for the obtained effect other than that based on the effectiveness of the academic improvement course.

Answer 1

One of threats that this study may have is that the gap among students who have deficiencies in reading comprehension are not easily determined or separated from the ones with emotional problems.

Step-by-step explanation:

Since validity in a research study corresponds to the way in which a conclusion is achieved since a strong basis of knowledge of a certain real fact.

One of threats that this study may have is that the gap among students who have deficiencies in reading comprehension are not easily determined or separated from the ones with emotional problems.

Another threat for the validity of this research project , that also has to do with the first threat, is that the background of the student is not being taken into account for the result of improvement at the end of the study.

In this case it would be necessary to have a deeper understanding of the student's previous improvement, it would be also necessary to have contact with their parents or previous teachers, because for the emotional conclusions of the first sample selection, it is necessary to take into account that most of the times children are afraid to express their feelings and previous experiences.