How Scientific Is Educational Psychology Research? The Increasing Trend of Squeezing Causality and Recommendations from Non-intervention Studies

Brady, Anna C.; Griffin, Marlynn M.; Lewis, Ariah R.; Fong, Carlton J.; Robinson, Daniel H.

doi:10.1007/s10648-023-09759-9

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…or an experimental study design (27%), while less than 1% of the studies involved qualitative research (e.g., interview study designs or mixed methods study designs). This finding speaks to the trend in educational psychology that the percentage of observational and correlational studies overall increases (Brady et al, 2023;Hsieh et al, 2005), while the percentage of experimental studies decreases (Brady et al, 2023).…”

Section: Publication Trendssupporting

confidence: 53%

Who Are the 50 Most Productive Researchers in Top-Tier Educational Psychology Journals From 2017 to 2022? A New Perspective with a Focus on Publication Trends and Diversity

Kubik,

Keller,

Jaspers

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The present study identified the most productive researchers in educational psychology by analyzing the number of published articles in top-tier, topic-general educational psychology journals between 2017 and 2022. Our study aimed to advance prior productivity research in various ways. We increased the sample of most productive researchers (i.e., top 50), used three different scoring methods, and relied on a more extensive list of journals identified in an objective manner (i.e., based on the Web of Science “Psychology, Educational” list). In addition, we conducted an online survey to shed light on characteristics of highly productive researchers and examined their publications in the target journals in terms of research topics, open science practices, collaboration, and internationalization of research. Our results showed that three senior researchers consistently appeared in the top 5 of the rankings (i.e., Richard E. Mayer, Reinhard Pekrun, and Herbert W. Marsh) and that the top 50 contained a relatively high percentage of early-career researchers (between 25% and 40%). The diversity of the most productive researchers was poor in that most of them self-identified as White (86%), male (59%), did not have a first-generation student status (60%), had a first-generation faculty status (86%), and had either European (46%) or North American nationalities (39%). As for the publication trends, we observed that most articles were quantitative in nature and that publications on average reported 1.2 studies and had 4.2 authors. Research topics were diverse, with the most frequent top 3 keywords used for publications being motivation, quantitative methods, and multimedia learning.

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Section: Publication Trendssupporting

confidence: 53%

Who Are the 50 Most Productive Researchers in Top-Tier Educational Psychology Journals From 2017 to 2022? A New Perspective with a Focus on Publication Trends and Diversity

Kubik,

Keller,

Jaspers

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…We did not use experimental data, but tested effects of assessment time, age, sex, and cohort on children’s physical fitness using quasi-experimental observational data. Due to the lack of experimental control and randomization, one must be careful when interpreting results based on observational data, especially when deriving recommendations for practice 82 . Another limitation relates to the fact that 2009 was the first cohort in which the EMOTIKON study was conducted state-wide in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between time of assessment within a school year and physical fitness of primary school children

Teich,

Golle,

Kliegl

2024

Sci Rep

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The dissociation of effects of age, time of assessment and cohort is a well-known challenge in developmental science. We examined effects of time of assessment in the school year on children’s physical fitness using data from 75,362 German third-graders from seven cohorts. Children were tested once either in the first or second school term of third grade. Tests examined cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min run), coordination (star-run), speed (20-m sprint), lower (standing long jump) and upper (ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and flexibility (stand-and-reach test). We estimated the effect of time of assessment using a regression discontinuity design specified in a linear mixed model with random factors child and school and adjusted for age, sex, and cohort effects. Coordination, speed, and upper limbs muscle power were better in second compared to first school term, with boys exhibiting a larger increase of upper limbs muscle power than girls. There was no evidence for changes in cardiorespiratory endurance, lower limbs muscle power, and flexibility between assessments. Previously reported age and sex effects as well as secular fitness trends were replicated. There is thus evidence for improvement of some physical fitness components beyond age and cohort effects that presumably reflects the benefit of physical activity in physical education and other settings. Effects of assessment time should be taken into consideration in performance-based grading or norm-based selection of children.

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“…It should be noted that the educational psychology research community seems to broadly agree that causal claims about whether an instructional intervention has benefits on learning should be based on randomized experiments (e.g., Brady et al, 2023;Grosz, 2023;Mayer, 2023). Correlational and qualitative studies, on the other hand, can provide grounds for generating hypotheses to be tested in future experimental research (Brady et al, 2023).…”

Section: Discussion: a Grounded Cognition Perspective To Sampling Sim...mentioning

confidence: 99%

How do students reason about statistical sampling with computer simulations? An integrative review from a grounded cognition perspective

Gok,

Goldstone

2024

Cogn. Research

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Interactive computer simulations are commonly used as pedagogical tools to support students’ statistical reasoning. This paper examines whether and how these simulations enable their intended effects. We begin by contrasting two theoretical frameworks—dual processes and grounded cognition—in the context of people’s conceptions about statistical sampling, setting the stage for the potential benefits of simulations in learning such conceptions. Then, we continue with reviewing the educational literature on statistical sampling simulations. Our review tentatively suggests benefits of the simulations for building statistical habits of mind. However, challenges seem to persist when more specific concepts and skills are investigated. With and without simulations, students have difficulty forming an aggregate view of data, interpreting sampling distributions, showing a process-based understanding of the law of large numbers, making statistical inferences, and context-independent reasoning. We propose that grounded cognition offers a framework for understanding these findings, highlighting the bidirectional relationship between perception and conception, perceptual design features, and guided perceptual routines for supporting students’ meaning making from simulations. Finally, we propose testable instructional strategies for using simulations in statistics education.

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How Scientific Is Educational Psychology Research? The Increasing Trend of Squeezing Causality and Recommendations from Non-intervention Studies

Cited by 22 publications

References 18 publications

Who Are the 50 Most Productive Researchers in Top-Tier Educational Psychology Journals From 2017 to 2022? A New Perspective with a Focus on Publication Trends and Diversity

Who Are the 50 Most Productive Researchers in Top-Tier Educational Psychology Journals From 2017 to 2022? A New Perspective with a Focus on Publication Trends and Diversity

Association between time of assessment within a school year and physical fitness of primary school children

How do students reason about statistical sampling with computer simulations? An integrative review from a grounded cognition perspective

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