This is a final exam question for a Phd level educational research methods class:
An educational researcher is interested in the relationship between students' participation in two after school programs and academic achievement. She states the following hypothesis in the description of her study:
Children who participate in an after school program that emphasizes critical thinking skills will score higher on measures of academic achievement and self-esteem than students who participate in a program that emphasizes rote memorization.
Propose an appropriate research design and provide a justification for the selected design.
Explain potential threats to validity with the selected design.
Describe the specific population, sample, and sampling procedures.
Identify at least one independent variable and one dependent variable that will be measured. Describe how the identified variables will be measured.
Thoroughly explain how data would be collected in this study.
Define ethical issues with the study, if any.