Pregnancy is a frequently applied exclusion criteria for many forms of research. Common justifications for this exclusion include the potential for teratogenicity, as well as the potential for physiologic changes in pregnancy to impact the research itself. The systematic exclusion of pregnant persons from clinical studies has created a significant…

In educational contexts, students often self-select into specific interventions (e.g., courses, majors, extracurricular programming). When students self-select into an intervention, systematic group differences may impact the validity of inferences made regarding the effect of the intervention. Propensity score methods are commonly used to reduce…

An aspect of a study is considered a confounding factor if it is not possible to tell whether the difference in outcomes is due to the intervention, the confounding factor, or both. In What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) study reviews, certified reviewers look for a specific type of confounding factor: those that occur when a component of the study…

By creating and analyzing matched samples, researchers can simplify their analyses to include fewer covariate variables, relying less on model assumptions, and thus generating results that may be easier to report and interpret. When two groups essentially "look" the same, it is easier to explore their differences and make comparisons…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) uses the term "baseline equivalence" when determining if the intervention group (those that received the intervention of interest) and the comparison group (those that did not receive the intervention) had characteristics that were similar enough ("equivalent") at the start of the study (at…

This article examines the scientific problem of the formation of professional competence of legal specialty students in the elective courses studying. The analysis has been conducted and the content of professional competence of legal specialty students has been substantiated. This work substantiates the role of elective courses in the formation…

"Attrition" is the loss of sample during the course of a study. It occurs when individuals initially randomly assigned in a study are not included when researchers examine the outcome of interest. Attrition is a common issue in education research, and it occurs for many reasons. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an initiative of the…

Demonstration of experimental control is considered a hallmark of high-quality single-case research design (SCRD). Studies that fail to demonstrate experimental control may not be published because researchers are unwilling to submit these papers for publication and journals are unlikely to publish negative results (i.e., the file drawer effect).…

Objective: There is substantial evidence that poorly designed and reported research can mislead decision making in clinical care. This review investigates the methodological quality of Swedish trials of a wide array of psychological and social interventions. Method: The review includes 302 articles published in peer-reviewed journals during…

The urgency of the presented study is stipulated by the current situation in the education system: learning has lost its meaning for a significant number of students; knowledge is external in relation to their real life. However, a lot of specialists view education as a source of personal development of a student, finding for himself, disclosure…

The relevance of the problem stems from the necessity to develop and implement the formation model for structural components of future technicians' professional competencies during their studies of general professional disciplines. The purpose of the article is to carry out a theoretical study, to develop and approbate a model that forms the…

We delineate the underlying homogeneity assumption, procedural variants, and implications of the comparative method and distinguish this from Mill's method of difference. We demonstrate that additional units can provide "placebo" tests for the comparative method even if the scope of inference is limited to the two units under comparison.…

The aim of this research is to investigate, through data analysis, the studies conducted on the use of educational digital games by children. As part of this study, a search of the Science Direct, Web of Science, and ERIC databases was performed to identify the studies on this topic published within the last decade (2007 and 2017). From this…

Students tend to have poor metacomprehension when learning from text, meaning they are not able to distinguish between what they have understood well and what they have not. Although there are a good number of studies that have explored comprehension monitoring accuracy in laboratory experiments, fewer studies have explored this in authentic…

The problem of psychological and pedagogical readiness of the future teachers for moral and spiritual development of high-school students should be considered in the context of holistic manifestation of all aspects of personality. In this regard, one of the most urgent tasks is to identify the professional and personal characteristics that…