Do We Have Internal Validity?
For those who are reading this web page, I am in need of your help. You see, I was appointed by the Department of Education to evaluate a program. This program was design to keep students in high school. The program is called "Keep Me In School". In this program every ninth grader, when entering into high school, were appointed a mentor from the surrounding community. The mentors were to stay involve in the student's life for at least four years to insure that the student graduate from high school. The program was first implemented in a high school in Washington, DC and also in a High School in Ithaca, New York.
Now that you know a little about the program, our "yes, I said our" job is to find out if the program works. In other word, does the "Keep Me in School" program have internal validity? I know exactly what you are thinking. I thought the same thing when I first read the proposal sent to me by the Department of Education, "what in the world is internal validity?" So I guess before we can evaluate the "Keep Me In School" program to see if it has internal validity, we should first find out what in the world internal validity is.
Now, you have to ask yourself, are you bold enough to take this journal toward understanding the meaning of internal validity? Before you make up your mind, I want you to know that internal validity is a relative to the statistical family. Yes, it is true, I believe they are first cousin. So, are you still brave enough to continual on this journal. However, if you are not ready to face the statistical family, I do understand. Just remember that one day you will have to confront this family before they come after you.
When you are ready, just follow the outline below. First, I will defined internal validity. And then, I will discuss the threats to internal validity. So lets begin. Just follow the outline and feel free to ask question if you don't understand something.
Table
of Contents
Copyright
©2000