Analyzing Quantitative Research

Analyzing Quantitative Research

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nIntroduction

nMotivational Effects on Test Scores of Elementary Students by Brown and Walberg conducts a study on the factors influencing elementary students performance in United States. The student performed poorly as compared with other students internationally (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). Low motivation among elementary students was the underlying factors on poor performance on international achievements. Motivation refers to students propensity to engage in serious, full and sustained efforts on academic test. Motivation refers to the efforts by students to excel or succeed on academic task (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). Motivation is normally concerned with self-concept or self-regard in a successful student or test taker.

nResearch questions and hypothesis

nThe study hypothesis was that students develop worries excessively about exams. Secondly, students in United States develop suffering due to debilitating anxiety during exams. Thirdly, too many tests cause the students to develop careless attitude about their performance (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). This may cause poor scores because it prevents ideal motivational states.

nObjectives

nThe objectives of the study were to determine the effect of experimentally manipulated motivational conditions on elementary students mathematical scores.

nData collection methods

nThe researcher used samples from three K through 8 public schools in Chicago. The population in these schools included students mostly African-American and Hispanic. All the students were in lower middle and working-class. The researcher also sampled two normal heterogeneous classes within the school from grades, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8. However, the researcher did not include grade 5 in the sample because of exigencies (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). The researcher used study instruments such as Form 7 of the Mathematics Concepts subtest of the Iowa Basic skills (ITBS) and levels 9-14. These were included in the study since they are commonly used hence they are reliable in the study. The reliability of the research instruments were more than 85 percent and they contained content generally representative of school curriculum in grades 3 to 9. The study samples were randomly chosen to participate in the study (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). The classes were chosen for control and experimental conditions by a flip of the coin.

nEthical Issues

nThe researcher sought permission of conducting the study from the teachers in respective schools. Thereafter, the teachers and researchers asked the learners for their reaction to the script that they received (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). The analysis of variance was used to determine the outcomes of the normal and experimental conditions.

nDiscussion and Conclusion

nThe results revealed that motivation could have significant differences in test scores. Learners who tried to work on hard test did extremely better as compared to those who used standardized test instructions. In addition, unique conditions increased the score of the students. For instance, there was a 12 percentile-point rise from 50th to 62nd percentile representing Standard Deviation of three hundred and three (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). The effects of the test were similar for both girls and boys. However, the effects varied in the three schools.

nThe outcomes of the study show that standardized commercial and state-developed tests have no effect on grades of students. However, these tests influenced the students in U.S because they underestimate their real skills, knowledge, and understanding. Additionally, motivation varied between schools, where the achievement was considerably underestimated in various schools (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). These motivational differences would tend to decrease the validity of comparisons of districts and schools. In conclusion, test-motivation effects cause poor performance on achievement of U.S students as compared to other students across the world (Brown, & Walberg, 1993). To increase motivation in students, highly motivating instruction could be provided to students.

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nReferences

nBrown, S. M., & Walberg, H. J. (1993). Motivational effects on test scores of elementary students. Journal of Educational Research, 86(3), 133-137.