In order to improve the English speaking and reasing skills of their students, Jack Box Elementary assigns students whose native language is Spanish to a bilingual program for 8 week. To test the effectiveness of this program, then also need a control condition, in which the children are exposed to 8 weeks of English-only instruction. Students are assigned randomly to one condition or the other. Should this variable "Intevention Type" be manipulated within-participants or between?
In order to determine whether the variable "Intervention Type" should be manipulated within-participants or between, we need to understand the definitions of these terms and consider the specific requirements of the study.
- "Within-participants" manipulation: In this type of manipulation, each participant is exposed to both conditions of the variable being studied. In other words, each participant would experience both the bilingual program and the English-only instruction.
- "Between-participants" manipulation: With this type of manipulation, each participant is assigned to only one condition of the variable being studied. In this case, some participants would be assigned to the bilingual program, while others would be assigned to the English-only instruction.
In the given scenario, the researchers want to compare the effectiveness of the bilingual program with that of the English-only instruction. To do this, they need a control condition where the children are exposed to only one type of instruction. Therefore, the variable "Intervention Type" should be manipulated between-participants.
This would involve randomly assigning some students to the bilingual program and others to the English-only instruction, allowing for a comparison between the two groups. By using a between-participants design, the researchers can observe any differences in English speaking and reading skills between the two groups after the 8-week period.