John E.

Wick
LAB B4 Narrative
EDUC 746

The purpose of this research study was to determine if differential treatment of learning

disabled students had an effect upon their reading scores. There are two research questions that

are posed by this study and, therefore, two methods of data analysis.

The first research question is: Does differential treatment of learning disabled children

affect reading scores? The method of data analysis chosen for this research question is Analysis

of Variance [ANOVA].

The participants for this study are learning disabled students and the sample size is: n=9.

Two variables were used for the ANOVA analysis. The independent variable used was

the treatment group to which a student was assigned. The dependent variable was the students’

scores on the post-test exam. The independent variable is categorical, while the dependent

variable is continuous.

The ANOVA results indicate that differential treatment of learning disabled children does

not affect their reading scores: F (2,6) = 4.52, p>.05, therefore the Ho is not rejected.

The second research question is: Does differential treatment of learning disabled children

affect reading scores, after adjusting for differences in the children’s prior reading ability? The

method of data analysis used for this research question is Analysis of Covariance [ANCOVA].

Three variables were used in the ANCOVA analysis. The independent variable used was

the treatment group to which a student was assigned. The dependent variable was the students’

scores on the post-test exam. The third variable is a pretest score on the reading subtest of the

Wide Range Achievement Test measured before the study begins; this variable is a covariate and

is used to adjust for differences in the children’s prior reading ability.

Results of the ANCOVA analysis indicate that differential treatment of learning disabled
 John E. Wick
LAB B4 Narrative
EDUC 746
children significantly affects reading scores, after adjusting for differences in the children’s prior

reading ability: F (2,5) = 6.126, p < .05. The results indicate that when adjusting for prior

reading ability the best treatment to administer is treatment 1 (M=101.00, SD=3.61). Also,

treatment 2 (M=99.67, SD=8.02) was found to be more effective than administering no treatment

(M=85.67, SD=8.14)
 John E. Wick
LAB B4 Narrative
EDUC 746
UNIANOVA Post BY Groups

/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/INTERCEPT=INCLUDE
/PRINT=ETASQ DESCRIPTIVE
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/DESIGN=Groups.

Univariate Analysis of Variance

[DataSet2]

Between-Subjects Factors
Value Label N
Groups 1.000 Treatment 1 3
2.000 Treatment 2 3
3.000 Control 3

Descriptive Statistics
Dependent Variable:Post
Groups Mean Std. Deviation N
Treatment 1 101.0000 3.60555 3
Treatment 2 99.6667 8.02081 3
Control 85.6667 8.14453 3
Total 95.4444 9.48830 9

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Dependent Variable:Post
Type III Sum of Partial Eta
Source Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Squared
Corrected Model 432.889a 2 216.444 4.520 .063 .601
Intercept 81986.778 1 81986.778 1712.021 .000 .997
Groups 432.889 2 216.444 4.520 .063 .601
Error 287.333 6 47.889
Total 82707.000 9
Corrected Total 720.222 8
a. R Squared = .601 (Adjusted R Squared = .468)
 John E. Wick
LAB B4 Narrative
EDUC 746

UNIANOVA Post BY Groups WITH Pre

/METHOD=SSTYPE(3)
/INTERCEPT=INCLUDE
/PRINT=ETASQ DESCRIPTIVE
/CRITERIA=ALPHA(.05)
/DESIGN=Pre Groups.

Univariate Analysis of Variance

[DataSet2]

Between-Subjects Factors
Value Label N
Groups 1.000 Treatment 1 3
2.000 Treatment 2 3
3.000 Control 3

Descriptive Statistics
Dependent Variable:Post
Groups Mean Std. Deviation N
Treatment 1 101.0000 3.60555 3
Treatment 2 99.6667 8.02081 3
Control 85.6667 8.14453 3
Total 95.4444 9.48830 9

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Dependent Variable:Post
Type III Sum of Partial Eta
Source Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Squared
Corrected Model 570.784a 3 190.261 6.366 .037 .793
Intercept 29.103 1 29.103 .974 .369 .163
Pre 137.895 1 137.895 4.614 .084 .480
Groups 366.201 2 183.101 6.126 .045 .710
Error 149.439 5 29.888
Total 82707.000 9
Corrected Total 720.222 8
a. R Squared = .793 (Adjusted R Squared = .668)
 John E. Wick
LAB B4 Narrative
EDUC 746