A Preliminary Investigation of Effects of Treatment Fidelity on Research Outcomes
Open Access
- Author:
- Ross, John Kevin
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Psychology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- September 28, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Hoi Kin Suen, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Hoi Kin Suen, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- treatment fidelity intervention efficacy assessmen
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT A secondary analysis of data collected from the GE Math Excellence curriculum intervention is conducted to establish whether, or to what extent, the accuracy of implementation was compromised by differential patterns of compliance with instructions on the part of participating students and teachers. Two forms of student compliance were analyzed: 1) whether students identified themselves at the top of a math attitudes questionnaire, and, 2) whether students selected a single favorite subject, as instructed. Teacher supervision of survey completion might suffice to explain the former, while misinterpretation on the part of students might be suggested by the latter. The first working hypothesis is that students who complied with instructions when completing a math attitudes survey demonstrated more favorable attitudes towards mathematics than did students who did not comply. Results of the data analysis failed to reject the null version of this hypothesis, (i.e., that there were no differences among students’ math attitudes vis-à-vis whether or not they complied with instructions for survey completion), suggesting the possibility that teacher supervision adequately explains student compliance. The second working hypothesis is that student compliance with instructions to report a single favorite demonstrated more favorable attitudes towards mathematics compared with students who did not comply. Its null version is that there are no differences among students who did/did not select a single favorite subject vis-à-vis whether or not they identified themselves at the top of the page. Aside from teacher supervision of survey completion, the word favorite was not interpreted to mean one and only one subject, (i.e., the survey design may not have been suited to students’ reading comprehension).