SCENARIO: In light of recent concerns over the low performance of middle school students on tests of critical thinking and problem-solving in science, an administrator decides to conduct a study to determine if the use of cooperative learning teams during instruction in science will enhance those skills. She also notes that such forms of instruction are supposed to improve students' interest in science and be especially effective with low-achieving students. Taking these perspectives into consideration, she examines the performance of 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students in middle schools in her district that use cooperative learning and compares their scores on standardized tests of science to the scores of students in her district who use traditional science instruction without cooperative learning. Comparing scores between the two groups using an independent t-test, she finds significantly higher scores for students taught using cooperative learning on the standardized test. She also finds that these students express a greater interest in science on a questionnaire she has designed. She concludes that indeed the use of cooperative learning is more effective as predicted by the professional literature.

a) What kind of study is this according to the methodology used? Justify your choice. b) what would a research hypothesis/hypotheses or question(s) be for this study and identify the independent and dependent variables in the study. c) Critique the internal and external validity of the study as it is designed. d) Critique the data analysis used in the study. e) If you were going to conduct this study, how would you redesign to enhance its validity and at the same time make it reasonable to conduct in a public school setting? In your redesign be sure to address the appropriateness of the tests used to measure the outcomes of the study and the statistical procedure(s) that you would use to analyze data.