Comprehensive Exam Practice Test--April 22-2011

 ResearchandEvaluationMethodsDoctoralComprehensiveExam SampleExamQuestions Draft:April22,2011

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Introduction

ThefacultymembersintheResearchandEvaluationMethodsDoctoral Program(REMP)attheUniversityofMassachusettsAmherstarepleasedtopresent thiscompilationofcomprehensiveexamquestionstohelpREMPstudentsprepare forthewrittenportionoftheircomprehensiveexams.Thepurposeofthe comprehensiveexamistoensurestudentshavesufficientknowledgeofthefieldsof researchdesign,educationalstatistics,andpsychometricmethods,toproceed towardcandidacyfortheEd.D.degree.Successfulcompletionofthe ComprehensiveExamisanimportantmilestoneforREMPstudentsbecauseit indicatesmasteryoftheimportantknowledgeandskillstaughtinourProgramand thatareimportantforsuccessinthefieldsofeducationalresearchand psychometrics.

Thecomprehensiveexamconsistsofawrittenexamandanoralexam.In this"practicetest,"weprovidesamplequestionsforthewrittenportionoftheexam. Forfurtherinformationregardingtheentirecomprehensiveexamprocess,please refertothedocument"ResearchandEvaluationMethodsProgramComprehensive Exam,"whichdescribesallpoliciesandproceduresrelatedtotheexam.

ContentandFormatoftheWrittenPortionoftheComprehensiveExam

Thewrittenexaminationisdesignedtoassessboththestudent'sknowledge andunderstandingofresearchdesign,measurementtheory,andstatistical methods,aswellasthestudent'sabilitytoapplythisknowledgetosolvereal-world problems.Studentswillreceiveopen-response(i.e.essay)examinationquestions, developedbyREMPfacultymembers,thataddressthreebroadtopics:

Topic1:ResearchDesignsandStatistics

Topic2:MeasurementTheory(includingStructuralEquationModeling,Scaling, ValidityTheory,ItemResponseTheory,andClassicalTestTheory)

Topic3:ApplicationsofMeasurement,Statistics,andResearchMethods

Topics1&2willbeadministeredastwofour-hoursessionsoverthecourseoftwo ic3will beadministeredonthethirddayandstudentswillhave24-hourstocompletethe question(s).Thenumberofitemspertopicmayvarydependingonthebreadth,or depth,oftheindividualitems.Studentswillreceiveacommonsetofquestions,but may(atthediscretionofthecomprehensiveexamcommittee&basedontheir specificresearchinterests)receiveoneormoreindividualizedquestions.

Whatfollowsareexamplesofthetypesofquestions/itemsstudentswill

encounterontheexam.TheexamplesarestratifiedbythethreeTopics.

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Day1:ResearchDesignandStatistics(35pointstotal)4hours

1.Aschooladministratorisinterestedinwhethercharacter-educationvideogames, inconjunctionwiththetraditionalweeklyschoolassemblies,improvesthebehavior ofherstudents.Shewantstocomparetheinappropriateactsofonegroupof studentswhoaregiventheopportunitytoplaythevideogamestothenumberof inappropriateactsofstudentswhosimplyattendtheweeklyschoolassemblies,at theendoftwomonths.Designaresearchstudyfortheadministrator,improvingon heroriginalideasforthestudy,whileconsideringpossiblethreatstointernaland externalvalidity.Specificallydiscusshowyouwouldcollectdata,thestrengthsand weaknessesoftheresearchdesign,andthemostappropriateanalysisforthe collecteddata.

(ResearchDesign)(Estimatedpoints:7.EstimatedTime:45minutes.) 2.Considertheprocessofconductingahypothesistestaboutapopulation parameter.Usingthefollowingtable,whichshowsthecross-classificationofyour testdecisionandthetruestateofthenullhypothesis,answerthefollowing questions:

(StatisticsI)(EstimatedPoints:6.EstimatedTime:30minutes.)

Truth

HoTrue

HoFalse

TestDecision

RejectHo

NotRejectHo

(a) Explaininwordstheconceptsoftype-Ierrorrate,type-IIerrorrate,and

powerinstatisticallyprecisetermsastheyrelatetothefourcellsofthe

table.

Supposethatadirectionalz-testisusedwithalpha=0.05totest

Ho:?equalto500

Ha:?greaterthan500

Where=50andN=100.

(b) Sketchthesamplingdistributionsforthesamplemeanforwhen?=500

andforwhen?=490onacommonaxis.

(c) Assumingthatthetruthis?=490,shadeinandlabeltheappropriate

regionsonyourfigureinpart(b)thatcorrespondtothefourcellsofthe

table.

(d) Explain(ordemonstratewithanothergraph)howthesketchwould

changeifthesamplesizewasdecreased.

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 3.Someresearchersareinvestigatingtheeffectofsocioeconomicstatus(SES)and homeenvironmentontheacademicsuccessofstudents.Theydesignasurveyto collectthenecessarydata,andmatchittothestatewidetestingresultsofthe students.TheSESmeasuresinclude:mother'seducation,father'seducation, mother'sincome,father'sincome,thenumberofhoursworkedbythemother,the numberofhoursworkedbythefather,andreceiptoffree/reducedlunch.Thehome environmentmeasuresincludenumberofbooksinthehome,amountoftimespent watchingTVduringtheweekbythestudent,amountoftimespentontheinternet duringtheweekbythestudentontasksnotrelatedtohomework,thenumberof TVsinthehome,andamountoftimethestudentspendsalone,orwithanon- parentalchildcareprovider. (StatisticsIII)(EstimatedPoints:7.EstimatedTime:45minutes.) (a) Whatsizesampleshouldtheresearchersaimtogettoconductthisstudy? (b) Therearemanyvariablesinthismodel.Discusssomeoftheproblems

thatmightariseusingthismanyvariablesinthemodel.Besuretoinclude adiscussionofmulticollinearity,howitmightbemeasured,andhowit canbeaddressed. (c) Supposetheresearchersareconcernedthattherearetoomanyvariables inthemodelandwouldliketoreducethenumber.Howshouldthey selectthemostimportantvariables? (d) Supposetheresearcherschoosetoeliminateseveraloftheindependent variables.Howcantheyassessthequalityoftheresultingmodelrelative tothefullmodel?

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4.AneducationalresearcherattheUniversityofMassachusettsAmherstwas

interestedinstudyingtheeffectsofeducationaltelevisionprogramsontoddlers=

mathematicaldevelopment.Sherandomlyassigned20toddlers,betweeneighteen

andtwentymonthsofage,tooneoffourvideoconditions:SesameStreet,BillNye

theScienceGuy,Mr.RogersNeighborhood,orRugRats.Thefirstthreevideo

conditionsrepresenteddifferentformsofeducationaltelevisionprogramming;the

fourthrepresentedentertainmenttelevisionprogramming.Ineachgroup,the

toddlersviewedaone-hourvideoeverydayforaweek.Attheendoftheweek,a

graduatestudent,whodidnotknowtowhichgroupeachtoddlerbelonged,

measuredeachtoddler=sabilitytocounttoten.Table1presentsthenumberof

consecutivedigitsfromonetotenthateachchildrecited.

(StatisticsII)(EstimatedPoints:5.EstimatedTime:30minutes.)

Table1 DataforUMASSEducationalTelevisionStudy(N=20)

VideoCondition

NumberofCorrectlyRecitedDigitsforEachChild

SesameStreet

9,9,8,7,7

BillNyetheScienceGuy

5,7,6,3,9

Mr.Roger'sNeighborhood

8,6,9,5,7

RugRats

1,3,4,5,1

(a)Whataretheindependentanddependentvariablesforthisstudy?

(b)Aretheredifferencesamongthefourvideoconditionswithrespecttothe numberofcorrectlyreciteddigits?Provideasummarytableofyour results.

(c)Isthereadifferencebetweeneducationaltelevisionandentertainment television?

(d)Formallpairwisecontrastsandinterpretthem.Defendyourselectionof thespecificmultiplecomparisonprocedureused.Aretheredifferences amongthetreatments?

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