Question

Mr. Jacobs wants to find out whether a new program for teaching physical education promotes students' physical development. He gives his students a number of tests before they begin the program (pretests) and the same tests again after they have been in the program for eight months (posttests). He finds that the students' posttest scores are higher than their pretest scores and so concludes that the program is effective. What is definitely wrong with Mr. Jacobs' conclusion?

Answer 1

The one thing that is wrong with Mr. Jacobs' conclusion is that he has failed to consider that there can be other possible explanations for his results.

Explanation:

• The fact that Mr. Jacobs conducted a 're-test' with the same questions in the test can be deemed to be a possibility behind the results of the tests having come out positive.
• Other than that, it can be considered that not the new method of physical education, but some other activity done by the students over the span of 8 months might have made the students better at the test.