Question

SCENARIO: A small hospital uses a standardized test to measure depression. The psychometric properties of the test are Cronbach alpha of .48 and a test-re-test of .25. The test has a concurrent validity with another well-used test of .50. With so many current concerns of depression in adolescent girls, a nurse decides to conduct a study to determine if a nationally acclaimed intervention program for depression, Live Happy, could reduce the incidence of depression. The nurse develops a proposal that is accepted by the hospital. The nurse randomly selects four schools within the city and randomly assigns 8th grade female students to a control group and an experimental group. The control and experimental groups are maintained within one of the four schools allowing for two schools as strictly experimental and the other two schools strictly controlled. The experimental group participates in Live Happy for a ten-week session. The control group has no intervention or activity. After the ten-week session, all students are measured using a standardized test for depression in the spring semester of the 8th grade and again during the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. The scores are statistically compared using a MANOVA each year and a multiple regression over time. The nurse finds that the experimental group has a lower incidence of depression than the control group until the 10th grade. Tests results in the 11th and 12th grades indicate an increase in depression for the experimental group and are comparable to the control group. Questions: a) What kind of study is this according to the methodology used? Justify your choice. b) Critique the psychometric properties of the standardized test. Be specific. c) Write a research hypothesis/hypotheses or question(s) for this study and identify the independent and dependent variables in the study. d) Critique the internal and external validity of the study as it is designed. e) Critique the data analyses used in the study. f) If you were going to conduct this study, how would you redesign to enhance its validity and at the same time make it reasonable to conduct in a public school setting? In your redesign be sure to address the appropriateness of the tests used to measure the outcomes of the study and the statistical procedure(s) that you would use to analyze data.

Answer 1

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