Definitions of "control group":
The control group is composed of participants who do not
receive the experimental treatment. When conducting an experiment, these people
are randomly selected to be in this group. They also closely resemble the
participants who are in the experimental group, or the individuals who receive
the treatment. While they do not receive the treatment, they do play a vital
role in the research process. Experimenters compare the experimental group to
the control group to determine if the treatment had an effect. By serving as a
comparison group, researchers are able to isolate the independent variable and
look at the impact it had.
Options:
1.
Compare the general population of all community
college students who register for courses, certificates, diplomas and/or
associate degree programs in technical fields to participants in Project IMPACT(comparing
population data to target data)
2.
A sample of new employees in manufacturing who
have not interacted with community colleges compared to students who are part
of Project IMPACT (comparing convenience sample data to target data)
3.
A comparison of the range of involvement of
participants, using those who take the fewest courses with those who complete
the MG certification, a diploma, an AAS degree and/or a BS at UNL (in essence,
those who are least involved might constitute a “control group”
4.
Select a random sample of participants who
register for Project IMPACT courses to receive no support (ie. remediation,
coaching, etc.) and compare the progress to those participants who receive the
full complement of services provided by the program
5.
Select a community college in the Midwest that
has courses similar to Project IMPACT and compare educational and employment
outcomes
6.
Utilize meta-analysis to determine a
“pseudo-sample” that could function as a control group and compare to
participants in Project IMPACT
7.
Select a small sample of participants in Project
IMPACT activities and a matched small sample of participants in technical
courses not affiliated with the project and monitor over time using the case
study method
