I am working on my independent action research project and need help figuring out what statistical test to use.
I am looking at how my students' waste management knowledge and behaviors change pre- and post- survey. Usually, when I have done something like this, I run a paired t-test since students put a student number on their survey which allows me to pair their pre-and post- test.
However, my instructor, since I don't have a control group, wants me to divide my class. She wants me to categorize the students by their responses to the pre-survey and test whether the students that had low levels of knowledge and waste reduction behaviors prior to the unit had greater/lesser change than the students that were already highly engaged in such behaviors.
This is how she explained my comparative question to me:
By including both knowledge and stewardship levels, you’ve got quite a few ways to look at it – one way could include these factors:
A – high knowledge, low stewardship
B – high knowledge, high stewardship
C – low knowledge, low stewardship
D – low knowledge, high stewardship
As for the comparative question, could it be:
How do pre-existing levels of waste management knowledge and responsible waste stewardship affect the impact of waste management lessons and activities on the knowledge and stewardship of sixth grade students?
***************************************************
So, with this information, I have absolutely no idea what kind of statistical test to use to do what my instructor is asking me to do.
I went through and grouped my students knowledge and behaviors into high, medium, and low levels. I haven't given the post-survey yet. But what test do you run when you are grouping students into levels to compare pre- and post-? How do you know which group of students actually improved the most/least from pre to post survey?
I am looking at how my students' waste management knowledge and behaviors change pre- and post- survey. Usually, when I have done something like this, I run a paired t-test since students put a student number on their survey which allows me to pair their pre-and post- test.
However, my instructor, since I don't have a control group, wants me to divide my class. She wants me to categorize the students by their responses to the pre-survey and test whether the students that had low levels of knowledge and waste reduction behaviors prior to the unit had greater/lesser change than the students that were already highly engaged in such behaviors.
This is how she explained my comparative question to me:
By including both knowledge and stewardship levels, you’ve got quite a few ways to look at it – one way could include these factors:
A – high knowledge, low stewardship
B – high knowledge, high stewardship
C – low knowledge, low stewardship
D – low knowledge, high stewardship
As for the comparative question, could it be:
How do pre-existing levels of waste management knowledge and responsible waste stewardship affect the impact of waste management lessons and activities on the knowledge and stewardship of sixth grade students?
***************************************************
So, with this information, I have absolutely no idea what kind of statistical test to use to do what my instructor is asking me to do.
I went through and grouped my students knowledge and behaviors into high, medium, and low levels. I haven't given the post-survey yet. But what test do you run when you are grouping students into levels to compare pre- and post-? How do you know which group of students actually improved the most/least from pre to post survey?
