Hi
On 29 Feb 2000, Magill, Brett wrote:
> I am planning to design a study of an educational program. Of interest is
> the decay over time of knowledge and skills learned through the program.
> Specifically, we want to know if there is a point in time when the rate of
> decay changes (a steady drop turns into a crash). In addition, we want to
> be able to determine at what point the level of knowledge/skills drops below
> a certain standard. At issue at what point is additional education
> necessary. The argument as it appears in the literature is 1 or 2 years.
>
> So, my question is what is the best design/method for approaching this
> question and with this design, what is the best analytic method? Right now,
> we are considering a longitudinal study with data collection pre/post
> education with follow-up every three months for two years. With this
> design, we could use repeated measures ANOVA. It has also been suggested
> that survival analysis might have some applicability here. In addition, I
> understand that one can use a squared term in a model (for example time
> along with time^2) to examine a change in the rate of decay.
>
> What I am looking for is references to any of these topics--especially if
> they are applied to a similar question as above. In addition, I welcome any
> other suggestions about how to approach this topic--either methodologically
> or statistically.
If you haven't already done so, you should do a literature search
(e.g., on PsycLIT) of the psychological and educational
literature. One person who has done much work on the long-term
retention of school learning is Harry Bahrick. A search in
PsycLIT or even on the WWW will turn up a number of references to
his work. My recollection is that you probably won't find
evidence for catastrophic forgetting, but rather for a gradual
decline and then levelling off. The rate of decline and height
of the asymptote will depend in part on the type of test that you
do (e.g., recall, recognition, relearning). The story could be
quite different (e.g., steeper decline) for material learned more
analagously to what happens in research studies of memory (i.e.,
relatively short periods of learning).
Best wishes
Jim
============================================================================
James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
============================================================================
===========================================================================
This list is open to everyone. Occasionally, less thoughtful
people send inappropriate messages. Please DO NOT COMPLAIN TO
THE POSTMASTER about these messages because the postmaster has no
way of controlling them, and excessive complaints will result in
termination of the list.
For information about this list, including information about the
problem of inappropriate messages and information about how to
unsubscribe, please see the web page at
http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/
===========================================================================
