Educational Intervention Research Research Articles

More about increasing the quality of educational intervention research: A synthesis

A synthesis of the commentaries to our leadoff paper is presented, along with our replies to some of the specific comments offered. When the original analysis and the commentaries are combined, an exceptionally thorough summary of issues that should be considered by intervention researchers emerges. We hope this set of issues will be useful to the educational research community.

Increasing the quality of educational intervention research

Reasons for concern about the quality of quantitative, experimental research in education are reviewed. These include internal and external validity errors, questionable design and analyses practices, and incomplete or misleading discussions of findings. More positively, the concerns can be addressed by individual investigators, and the larger profession could improve the quality of educational intervention research through shifts in publication practices.

A meta-evaluation of nutrition education intervention research among pregnant women.

Inadequate nutrition during pregnancy retards human fetal growth and increases the risk of delivering a low birthweight (LBW) infant. Some studies place particular emphasis on reducing LBW through improved nutrition. Consensus documents have strongly recommended intense nutrition education programs for patients at risk. Despite this well-defined need few methodologically rigorous studies have been conducted to evaluate the behavioral impact of nutrition education for pregnant patients. Criteria are recommended in the following areas: (1) research design, (2) sample size and power, (3) specification of population characteristics, (4) measurement quality, and (5) replication. The methodological quality of completed evaluations are reviewed using these criteria. The authors advocate guidelines for future investigators for conducting rigorous trials in this critical public health area.

The challenge of implementing theory-based intervention research in nutrition education

The challenge of implementing theory-based intervention research in nutrition education

Project Comptown: educational intervention and action research

AbstractThe introduction of computers into education raises questions such as: are computers in education effective? If they are, in what sense? What are the most effective strategies for using computers in education? How should teachers be encouraged to use them?To answer these questions a large‐scale experiment (Project Comptown) was carried out in Israel, to test ways and means under real rather than laboratory conditions. This project is a research‐oriented educational intervention, applying massive computerisation of schools and their ‘close environment’ to two localities in Israel (Arad and Ashkelon). Our starting point was the premise that computerisation of education is an inevitable process. Consequently, turning the computer into a ‘cultural tool’ in schools becomes a major challenge, aiming to narrow the gap between ‘school culture’ and ‘real‐world culture’. The main objectives for Project Comptown are: [1] To create a computer culture in schools; [2] To use the computer's potential for innovative teaching and learning, both inside and outside schools. To achieve these, we identified a number of principles which we considered pre‐conditions for an ‘appropriate’ computer strategy in schools.