A critical evaluation of scholarly articles is important as it gives students the ability to determine the validity of a study as well as preparing them to conduct quality research in future. A study Ashby, Sadera, and McNary (2011) aimed at comparing the success of students in Developmental Math course offered in online, blended, and face-to-face learning environments. This is a critique of the journal article by Ashby et al. and how it applied one-way ANOVA.The concern about the increasing enrolment in community colleges compared to the four years in the universities and the high enrolments on online course in higher education were the motive behind Ashby et al. (2011) carrying out this study. The study utilized quantitative instruments to collect data of 167 participants. The data collected included demographics, grades of unit tests, and the exam scores for Standardized Intermediate Algebra Competency. Using the one-way-ANOVA, the study results showed that different learning environments recorded significant differences with the students enrolled in blended courses being least successful.
One-way ANOVA is used to analyze variability in data to come up with meaningful inferences with regards to inequality between population means. According to Ostertagová & Ostertag (2019), the purpose of using ANOVA is to test significance difference between class means by analyzing variances. Also, the ANOVA procedure assumes that there is independency between observations, each observation records a normal distribution, and the variances in populations are the same. Ashby et al. (2011) conducted a comparison between the three learning environments on the continuous results in course average, final exam, and unit tests. Therefore, based on the evidence and assumptions of ANOVA, it is evident that Ashby et al. used one-way ANOVA because it was comparing results among three different learning environments – which were measured using a nominal scale with the dependent variable being measured in a ratio scale. This is the core criteria that should be considered in selecting the one-way ANOVA technique – which is evident in this article.
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One-way ANOVA was appropriate for this study because it was comparing continuous learning outcomes between different environments given that the learning environments were categorical in nature. Such an aspect translates to the idea that the three learning environments can be treated as factors that are assumed to influence their performance. Also, the one-way ANOVA was appropriated because the study assumed that the variance in the learning environment was the same which concurs with arguments by Ostertagová & Ostertag (2019). Tentatively, with equal variance assumption, the research should choose a parametric statistical analysis approach and in this case the one-way ANOVA is justifiable.
In the study, Ashby et al. displayed the data obtained from the study. The data were presented in tables and gave insights about the study. For instance, from the demographics table, one can deuce that online participants were the majority followed by face-to-face participants with the blended participants lagging. Also, it is evident that female participants were more than their male counterparts. furthermore, the LACE Scores table shows that out of 48 problems, the mean score was 25.3 whereby face-to-face participants scored 28.9, the blended scored 22.0, while online participants scored 24.3.
Furthermore, the results tables in the study are stand-alone because one can make conclusions based on them. The results tables present the mean and standard deviation of the three learning environments thus making it possible for one to not the significant differences in the outcomes of the tests in the three learning environments. Adding the p-values for the observed F-statistic provided in the tables, the reader is able to tell that the findings are significant without reading the entire paper. Tabular data presentation is effective when presenting huge volume of data since it confines it into the simplest form which can be easily understood.
References
Ashby, J., Sadera, W. A., & McNary, S. W. (December 01, 2011). Comparing student success between developmental math courses offered online, blended, and face-to-face. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 10, 3, 128-140.
Ostertagová, E., & Ostertag, O. (2019). Methodology and Application of One way ANOVA. Retrieved from http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajme/1/7/21/index.html
Gamst, G., Meyers, L. S., & Guarino, A. J. (2008). Analysis of variance designs: A conceptual and computational approach with SPSS and SAS . Cambridge University Press.
