Article Analysis #1
Carefully read “Cross-Age peer tutoring and fluency-based instruction to achieve fluency with mathematics computation skills: A randomized controlled trial” from The Journal of Behavioral Education by Greene et al. Then, provide succinct answers to the following questions.
1.
What was/were the research questions(s) (inferred from the purpose stated)?
Questions that were inferred from the reading were to assess the social validity, gain insights into participation and intervention, and the enjoyment of the interventions. The questionnaire also asked participants what they liked the most and the least about the projects, how beneficial partner switching was, and any suggestions they had in regards to changing interventions. 2.
Identify the independent variable(s).
The independent variables were control conditions, experimental conditions, and tutor conditions. 3.
Identify the dependent variable(s).
The dependent measures were used for pre test scores for fluency with target math facts. The outliers that were identified were identified in the post test. 4.
Describe how the data were analyzed.
Data was analyzed through a covariance multivariate analysis, MANCOVA. This process was used to investigate the differences between the math groups and the measures of post testing. Another MANCOVA was used to make sure that there was not a violation of assumption. Assumptions tested were univariate and multivariate outliers, normalcy, equality, multicollinearity, and homogeneity of variance and regression slopes. 5.
What were the major finding(s)?
The major findings suggests that there was limited benefit for tutoring. However, the cross-age peer tutoring and fluency instruction showed significant benefits for younger students. 6.
What were the limitations that the authors described in the study?
Limitations described were scores not being sensitive enough of a measure for social skills and problem behaviors. There was also a limitation to the study of pre and post test fluency probing. This collection showed less that what was recommended.
