THE VALUE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS IN DEVELOPING ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS

183 Pages·2014·8.11 MB·English

by  REINER

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University Microfilms
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.S3 Reiner, William B 1910-
1942 The value of cause and effect analy-
.R4 sis in developing ability to recognize
cause and effect relationships...
Nev.- York, 1942.
ix,l6S typewritten leaves, tables
(1 fold.) diagr.,forms. 29cm.
Thesis (Ph.D. ) - Ilew York university,
School of education, 1942.
Bibliography: p.121-128.
A34412
Sbei* -ias
Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
-7
i Thesis aoeoptav
Pate_ MAY 2" 1QA9
THE VALUE OE CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS IN DEVELOPING
ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS
WILLIAM B. REINER
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in the School of Education of
New York University
1942
%
ACKUOWLEDGMEKTS
The author is indebted, to his sponsoring committee
for their inspiration and assistance. Professor C.J.Pieper,
as chairman, gave invaluable aid in the formulation and ex­
ecution of this study. Professor P.V.West and Professor
E.R.Gabler gave many valuable and constructive suggestions.
I wish to express rny thanks to the teachers who
cooperated so well in the instructional phase of the inves­
tigation and to those who acted as jurors in the construc­
tion and validation of the tests used.
Finally, I wish to thank vay wife, Jeannette, for her
assistance with the secretarial and computational tasks.
William Reiner
ii
A844lfc
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING.................... 1
Statement of the problem .................... 1
Significance of the study.................... 3
Delimitations................................. 7
Summary................................ 8
II. STUDIES RELATED 7C THE PROBLEM................ 10
Chronological Development.................... 10
Psychological Development.................... 11
Studies relating to scientific attitudes . . 14
Characteristics............................ 15
Methods of measurement .................... 17
Learning studies involving elements. . . . 21
Comprehension of cause and effect......... 24
III. THE MATERIALS AND METHODS USED IN THE INVESTI­
GATION ............... 31
Pupil and teacher personnel................ 31
The educational background of the pupils . 31
The socio-economic background of the pupils 32
The ethnolog.ica.1 background of the pupils. 33
The sex and age of tne pupils............ 33
The general background of the teaching
personnel . ........................... 34
iii
CHAPTER III (continued) PAGE
The school settings in which the teaching
was done ................................. 34
The duration of the time devoted to teach­
ing....................................... 35
The educational materials used in this
study..................................... 35
The bulletin of general instructions . . 36
The folder of instructions for adminis­
tering the test........................ 36
The initial test on cause and effect re­
lationships ............................ 37
The four units of instruction which were
used................................... 38
Samples for analyses of causal relation­
ships. ........................ 39
The final test .......................... 40
The steps of procedure . . . . . . . . . . 41
Administration of the initial test . . . 41
The teaching procedures............... . 43
The supervision of class-room instruc­
tion ........................
46
Administration of the final test 48
Marking the test ...................... 49
Matching the pupils of the experimental
and control groups ................. , 51
iv
CHAPTER III (continued) PAGE
Criteria used for matching.............. 52
The statistical procedure employed . . . 54
Summary.................. . . . . . . . . . . 5 8
IV. THE CONSTRUCTION OP THE TESTS USED............ 60
Construction................... 60
Porm and content.............................60
Selection of the items..................... 66
Validation................. 70
Difficulty index .......................... 72
The internal validity index.................72
Reliability index . ...................... 73
Summary.........................................77
V. THE TEST PIHDIUGS..............................79
Differences between the two groups.......... 79
As a /hole................................ .79
As to intelligence level .......... 87
On the basis of sex..........................91
Recognizing each of the three degrees of
cause and effect relationships............ 95
On the '/hole................................95
Differences between the three intelligence-
levels.................................... 99
Upper intelligence-level . . . . . . . . 100
Middle intelligence-level ..............101
Lower intelligence-level ............... 101
v
CHAPTER V (continued) PAGE
Sex differences............... 102
The correlation between intelligence and
growth in the criteria under investiga­
tion ......................................105
Summary........................ 100
VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.......................109
Method of the study........................... 10$
Statistical findings........................ Ill
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
VII. DISCUSSION...................................... 116
Suggestions for further research .......... 117
Suggested refinements in procedure . . . . 118
Miscellanea . . . . . 119
BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................121
APPENDIX A. Bulletin of Instructions for Cooperat­
ing Teachers...........................129
APPENDIX B. Instructions for Administering the
Tests ..................136
APPENDIX C. The Test on Cause and Effect Recogni­
tion Ability....................... 138
APPENDIX D. Samples of Causal Analysis for the Pour
Units of Instruction.............. . 143
APPENDIX E. Scatter Diagram used in Matching
Equated Pairs of Pupils . . . . . . 163
vi
PAGE
APPENDIX P Roster of Teachers Who Cooperated as
(l)Jurors in Validating the Tests Used
in the Study, and (2 instructors of the
Classes Used in the Teaching Experiment 164
APPENDIX G Complete Data on the Point Gains Hade bet­
ween the Initial and Pinal Scores by the
Pupils of Each Pair of Matched Classes • 165
v ii