Date of Award

Spring 2016

Document Type

Thesis

Terms of Use

© 2016 Sarah Nielsen. All rights reserved. This work is freely available courtesy of the author. It may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Educational Studies Department, Mathematics & Statistics Department

First Advisor

Lynne Steurle Schofield

Second Advisor

K. Ann Renninger

Abstract

This thesis explores the benefits and drawbacks of various experimental designs, outcome measures, and specific methodological techniques in education intervention research. Through an analysis of nine top-tier journals in education, I describe which experimental designs and outcome measures are most commonly used in current middle school mathematics intervention research. Then, four case intervention studies with different experimental designs are closely examined. This discussion is juxtaposed with consideration of evaluation standards published by government agencies. Each study represents different discourses about the effectiveness of the intervention reported. Although the standards for intervention research no longer only promote randomized quantitative research, I consider how the "gold standard" could be further adapted to model strong, realistic intervention research practices in education settings.

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