TOPIC: Parental involvement impact on students academic success.. Select one quantitative peer-reviewed research study published in an article related to your topic of interest. All articles must
QUANTITATIVE CRITIQUE 9
Research Critique: Quantitative
Liberty Student
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
Liberty Student
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Liberty Student
Email: [email protected]
Research Critique: Quantitative
The intent of this review is to evaluate the study titled "An Experimental Study of Cooperative Learning in Advanced Financial Accounting Courses" by Shawver (2020). The review will encompass both a summary and critique of the research study. In the concluding paragraph, there is a discussion of my professional experience as it pertains to the topic of the research.
Summary
Purpose
The main purpose of this study was for Shawver (2020) to ascertain the effectiveness of cooperative learning in enhancing the overall achievement of students enrolled in an advanced financial accounting course. The study compared the quiz and exam results of students who were taught using a traditional lecture approach to students who experienced a more cooperative, lab environment format. The quantitative results of the assessment scores were used to determine the efficacy of cooperative learning as it pertains to enhancing student achievement.
Participants/Sample
The participants of the study came from undergraduate advanced financial accounting courses. There were 113 students who participated in the study. The students came from two cohorts from one professor who had taught the course for 15 years. The traditionally taught course had 58 students. The cooperative cohort consisted of 55 students, where collaboration and a new learning lab environment were used (Shawver, 2020).
Research Design
The study used a quasi-experimental design because not all participants were randomly assigned to groups; however, the cohorts were randomly assigned to either traditional or cooperative instructional delivery. Shawver (2020) explained that cooperative learning was used for one group of graduating seniors for one year, while the traditional approach was implemented for the traditional cohort of graduating seniors for the previous year hence limiting the risk of self-selection bias. The treatment group (cooperative cohort) used some flipped classroom strategies, and the students were allowed to self-select into groups and work cooperatively on quizzes. They were not allowed to work cooperatively on the exams. The control group used traditional lectures, and students were not allowed to work on quizzes cooperatively (Shawver, 2020).
Method of Data Collection
There were ten collaborative quizzes administered per semester and four individual examinations. The quizzes were worth 20% of the overall course grade and the exams were worth 50%. The quizzes and exams were multiple choice and covered accounting topics pertaining to government accounting, business combination, partnerships, and consolidation (Shawver, 2020). A seven-point Likert-style survey was disseminated at the end of the semester to ascertain anonymous insight into students' attitudes about the course and working collaboratively. The survey also consisted of open-ended questions, which enabled students to provide additional feedback.
Method of Analysis
In order to assess the impact of cooperative learning on quiz and exam scores, Shawver (2020) used an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine differences between the two cohorts in relation to quizzes and then examinations. A correlation was conducted to look at the relationship between quiz averages, exam averages, and GPA averages in the groups. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to control for GPA when looking at the differences in quiz and examination scores. Finally, univariate regressions were conducted to explore the relationships between the total number of minutes of prerecorded lectures watched and the average quiz and then examination scores, and then participation in class and attendance. Descriptive statistics were calculated on the end-of-course surveys (Shawver, 2020).
Results
The results revealed that the cooperative cohort scored higher on the quizzes than the traditional cohort. The study highlights the statistical significance of the score increase for seven out of ten exams (p-values < 0.05) and only minimal significance for three out of ten with p-values < 0.10. This infers that the quiz scores of the cooperative cohort surpass those of the traditional. Students in the cooperative cohort received lower scores on the exam as opposed to the higher exam scores of the traditional. Additionally, the research shows that the decrease in three out of four exam scores is of immense importance statistically (p-value < .05) and of minute importance statistically as it pertains to one out of four exams (p-value < .10). That data suggests that cooperative learning is effective when students are not individually responsible for their achievement on the assessments. The findings revealed that students in the collaborative learning cohort received higher scores on collaborative quizzes in comparison to the traditional learning cohort (Shawver, 2020). However, the participants in the cooperative learning cohort scored lower on the individual exams than students in the traditional cohort, which suggest that cooperative learning failed to enhance student achievement in this instance (Shawver, 2020). The students in the traditional cohort did not enjoy the same advantages because they worked on the quizzes independently as opposed to the cooperative cohort who worked on the quizzes interdependently. Additionally, the results indicated that students in the traditional cohort scored higher on the individual exams since they did a better job of preparing for the exam by completing all assignments leading up to the assessment, enabling them to perform better on the exam.
Critical Analysis
Further Research
Future research should place an emphasis on a different product to determine the effectiveness of cooperative learning. The intervention could use assignments such as writing essays, oral presentations, or a culminating activity that involves students interacting with professionals in the community. These types of performance-based assessments show more internalization of the material (Suastra & Menggo, 2020).
Threat to Validity
Multiple choice assessments seem archaic and fail to cater to the needs of diverse learners. The validity of this study was compromised by the fact that students in the two cohorts were not exposed to collaborative learning prior to this study, and students were solely conditioned to apply only intrapersonal skills for their first three years of college (Shawver, 2020). This research is also limited because it emphasized that prior research supported that cooperative learning enhances student achievement; however, the results of this study produced inconsistent and mixed results as students in the collaborative cohort performed poorly on the individual exam.
Original Insight/Criticism
If a thorough literature review had been conducted, the researcher and/or professor would have been aware of the fact that effective cooperative learning requires that instructors teach their students how to work cooperatively. Moreover, this study could have incorporated the use of various types of effective tools and strategies to prepare students for the individual exam, such as activities emphasizing higher-order thinking skills, social-emotional learning strategies, classroom management strategies, and increased use of educational technology beyond the videos in the flipped classroom such as game-based learning. All of these things are necessary for any instructional delivery method.
Implications of Findings
This research can be used to promote the benefits of cooperative learning by encouraging educators to incorporate the use of interpersonal skills and cooperative assessments into their instructional practices. Furthermore, this study can be used to alert teachers of the drawbacks of cooperative learning. For example, some students become over-reliant on their peers to complete assignments hence leading to the disengagement of learners and lower outcome scores.
Discussion
I incorporate the use of cooperative learning into my pedagogical practices in the form of such strategies as class debates and Socratic seminars. These strategies have proven to be highly effective at developing the interpersonal and overall social skills of my students. This research critique has provided me with valuable insight into the advantages and drawbacks of cooperative learning, which will help me immensely in formulating my research on applying cooperative learning strategies to enhance the growth and development of learners. Proverbs 27:17 reminds us that "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (King James Version, 1769/2022). Working collaboratively provides a built-in and timely manner for having people in the group sharpen each other.
References
Check, J., & Schutt, R. (2012). Research in education. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781544307725
King James Bible. (2021). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
Suastra, I. M., & Menggo, S. (2020). Empowering students' writing skills through performance assessment. International Journal of Language Education, 4(3), 432-441. https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v4i3.15060
Shawver, T. J. (2020). An experimental study of cooperative learning in advanced financial accounting courses. Accounting Education (London, England), 29(3), 247-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2020.1736589
