That looks like a 0.86 effect size which is pretty substantial. Of course, testing the question of whether or not those who take makeup exams do worse than the class as a whole is not the same as testing the question of whether or not students benefit from delaying the test. It might indicate ability or study habit differences between the two groups but, on an individual basis, it may still be true that delaying the test might lead to a higher score on that test for most people. One imperfect way to approach that question would be to compare z-scores of those taking the makeup to their z-scores on the other tests. At least that way you could tell if their makeup test score was higher or lower than their score on the nonmakeup tests relative to others.

 

Rick

 

Dr. Rick Froman
Professor of Psychology
John Brown University
2000 W. University
Siloam Springs, AR  72761
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(479) 524-7295
http://www.jbu.edu/academics/sbs/faculty/rfroman.asp


From: Miguel Roig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 3:27 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Subject: Re: Make-up tests

 

I allow my students in General Psych. to miss up to 2 regular exams (out of 5) for whatever reason and they can then take them as make-ups during the week of final. So, I went back to my grade book and looked at four recent sections of General Psych. I took the final grades of all students who took make-ups and then compared them with a t-test to a group that had not taken any make-ups. For the latter group I simply went down the list for each course and selected every third student who had not taken a make-up. 
The data are below:

                        N       Mean    Sd      Range   Min.    Max.
Make-up group           41      66.48   10.89   45      50      95
No Make-up group        45      75.66   10.37   42      58      100

t (84) = - 4.021, p < .0001


Miguel

___________________________________________________________________________
Miguel Roig, Ph.D.                              
Associate Professor of Psychology               
Notre Dame Division of St. John's College       
St. John's University                           
300 Howard Avenue                               
Staten Island, New York 10301
Voice: (718) 390-4513
Fax: (718) 390-4347
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm
On plagiarism and ethical writing: http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/
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