Good Experiment Design: Reading Research Paper Example

Following the American Psychological Association Guidelines

Hypothesis: If a child’s psychological and attention issues can be understood and addressed, they can be assessed long enough in order to teach them reading in a way they can understand, as stated in, “Reading Instruction That Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching .”
Independent Variable: The independent variable in the experiment would be presumed cause of the difficulty reading, i.e. the assumed cognitive/behavioral/social/etc. developmental delay, according to, “Teaching Reading to Every Child .”
Dependent Variable: The dependent variable would be the presumed outcome. In this case, it would be assuming the cause of the delay, examining it, overcoming it, and allowing the child a better chance at bettering their reading skills.
Experimental Variances: The various developmental delays a child can have will affect the experiment in equally varying ways. For example, if the child is having cognitive difficulties related to reading, it is most likely that the child as a difficulty maintaining attention, as stated in, “Psychology of Reading .” This can make it difficult not only for the child to understand instructions about reading, but to remember what they read. Different methods must be provided for these students, such as slower instruction, or instruction coupled with medicinal aid. Behavioral and social development can also cause variances in the experiment. The varying types of behavior will be of concern. For example, if the child is anti-social, it can cause low self-esteem, which can have a negative impact on their drive to try in school. While they may have the capacity to read, they may not try because they do not think they can. Therefore, needs outside of reading may need to be addressed, causing the experiment to expand beyond reading lessons and perhaps beyond the classroom . Psychoanalysis, though thought to be a tool for adults, can also be a very valuable tool to children who are experiencing learning problems, as well as behavioral and social issues. Psychoanalysis can be used to help children who are stalled developmentally, or are having difficulty reaching the next phase of learning. Moreover, intense psychoanalytic therapy can help children who are suffering from behavioral outbursts, anxiety, phobias, anger, sadness, irritability, severe meltdowns, and several other presentations that suggest an intervention is necessary. Because of the presence of these developmental changes and issues, all participants will be assessed for them in an effort to understand how they affect the learning process.
Control Group: Because the participants in the experiment will be split into two groups, I will need one control group and one experiment group. The control group will allow me understand how the previously mentioned developmental issues affect the learning process. Therefore, the control group will be a group of students in need of psychoanalysis, exhibiting behavioral/social or cognitive issues, but they will not receive treatment or interventions in an attempt to help them overcome their developmental issues. In this way, we can assess if the developmental issues are the true cause of reading difficulties among children.
Experimental Group: The experimental group will exhibit the same issues as the control group. These children will be in need of psychoanalytical intervention. They will also exhibit social and behavioral development issues, and have cognitive deficiencies. However, they will receive the interventions, medicinal help, and aid required to ensure they overcome these difficulties while taking instruction from a teacher. The teaching instruction and methods will not change for either group in an effort to ensure this does not skew the end data.
Participants: In order to ensure the data is accurate and not skewed, a large amount of participants is needed. Furthermore, a large amount of participants experiencing each deficit is needed. We must take into account that the experiment is being performed on children in grades first through third. In order to attain accurate data, two hundred participants from each grade would be needed. They would all be suffering from one of the aforementioned four deficits, but these deficits would need to be divided evenly among each group. The children in each group would be divided randomly in half in order to decide which group would receive intervention and which would not in order to begin the experiment.
Random Sampling: A random sampling ensures that every individual chosen for the experiment has an equally predetermined chance to be chosen, based on nothing other than the basis that they meet experimental criteria In this case, which is they are suffering from cognitive, behavioral, social, or psychoanalytical issues. In an effort to achieve this, files from several different school districts could be delivered, only related to number, rather than name, sex, race, economic status, or any other profiling criteria. This can ensure the sampling is random, and based entirely on the individual’s age, which is necessary, and their developmental struggles, which are also necessary to the study.
Random Assignment: Random assignment, much like random sampling, will ensure each group is assigned randomly. Because the experiment contains one control group and one experiment group, it is important they are assigned randomly, once again to attain accurate data. The groups must be random. The process can be as simply as flipping a coin for each participant or using a random number generator for each participant, allowing them to be sorted into a control or experiment group.

References

Lapp, D., Flood, J., Brock, C. H., & Fisher, D. (2013). Teaching Reading to Every Child. London: Routledge.
Pressley, M., & Allington, R. L. (2014). Reading Instruction That Works, Fourth Edition: The Case for Balanced Teaching. New York City: Guilford Publications.
Raynor, K., Pollatsek, A., Ashby, J., & Clifton Jr., C. (2012). Psychology of Reading. Abingdon: Psychology Press.
Williams, F. (2013). Language and Poverty: Perspectives on a Theme. Chicago: Elsevier.