Trick or Treatment

Comparative analyses of educational methods have often been inconclusive; there are several possible explanations: (1) each method is optimally effective under specifically differing circumstances; (2) the studies tend to emphasize one input variable to the exclusion of the others; (3) the methods do not have widely accepted definitions; and (4) the methods are often tested before they are perfected. Comparative studies could be enhanced by more rigorously defining the methods that are being investigated and by standardizing the laboratory techniques and observation schemes that are employed. In addition, the studies could be made more usable to the layman by spelling out what standards of educational effectiveness the researcher has employed. To obtain an answer for a specific comparison in a designated milieu, carefully controlled studies can be mounted using similar populations aimed at similar instructional goals and exposed to two differing treatments. (EMH)