Reed R. Rabbit is interested in whether phonics or whole-word instruction more effectively teaches children how to read. He decides to do a meta-analysis of prior studies. Which of the following issues should concern him when doing this meta-analysis?
A) Whole-word instruction subsumes a number of different strategies.
B) Experimental studies yield different effect sizes than comparative studies.
C) Few studies have been published that compare the two instructional approaches.
D) Some studies report correlation coefficients (r) whereas others report a mean difference (d).
E) a, b, and c

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A) Whole-word instruction subsumes a number of different strategies, so it may be difficult to compare studies that use different variations of the approach.

B) Experimental studies may yield different effect sizes than comparative studies, so Reed should be aware of the type of study design used in each study.

C) Few studies have been published that compare the two instructional approaches, which may limit the number of studies Reed can include in his meta-analysis.

D) Some studies report correlation coefficients (r) whereas others report a mean difference (d), so Reed should consider how the effect sizes were measured and reported in each study.

Overall, all of these issues should concern Reed when conducting his meta-analysis.

Reed R Rabbit Is Interested in Whether Phonics or Whole-Word Instruction