Parental Influences on Primary School Children's Mathematics Achievement by Carmichael and MacDonald - Case Study Example

Quantitative Research Article Critique Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction This essay critiques a peer-reviewed journal titled: "Parental influences on primary school children's mathematics achievement: Insights from the longitudinal study of Australian children." The journal was published online on 17th July 2014. The Journal is an influential peer-reviewed piece of academic research work that seeks to among other factors elucidate on the impact of parents/guardians on mathematics achievement of primary kids. The study was conducted by two eminent scholars including Colin Carmichael and Amy MacDonald who have played a crucial role in the field of primary, early childhood education as well as elementary. Utilising primarily bivariate analysis of existing data, Carmichael and MacDonald investigated the effectiveness of Australian parents’ involvement in their children’s homework. The research employed secondary analysis of data from a longitudinal research of Australian Children (LSAC). Particularly the paper pays to focus on wave 3 and wave 4 in years 2008/9 and 2009/10. In order to meet all its requirements, the essay follows a structured critique where the first section seeks to conceptualise the reading, the second section addresses the appropriateness of design, the third section looks into the quality of analysis, the fourth part discusses the findings, while the last but not least section sums up the main ideas from the essay (conclusion). This critique systematically concentrates on key aspects of the article in terms of process and validity of research methods and results and further coins an explanation of the particulars of the research but which also critiques a clear interpretation of that research throughout. Aside from caution associated with the untested validity and use of a substantial sub-set of the LSAC sample, the research clearly suggests that helping students with their homework has, on average, a negative effect on achievement. Section One: Conceptualisation In their research, the authors seek to examine the relationship that exists between mathematical achievements of primary students and parental influences such as involvement in homework. In their opening paragraphs, the authors state that the research provides an opportunity to “explore homework and its associated issues in the Australian context, thus contributing to the larger international picture by both highlighting national differences and also identifying international similarities“(pg. 198). This statement, therefore, outlines the premise behind the research as a statement of intent upon which the authors frame the purpose and focus of this research. The study recognizes that Australian mathematics tutors have in the past been faced with challenges in regard to parental influences on children's educational achievement, especially in maths subject. The authors cite Dow and Harrington ( 2012) as providing practical necessity for this research problem being drawn from “much scrutiny around mathematics participation and achievement in the schooling years, and flow-on effects for Australian society” (pg. 200). In their research, Carmichael and MacDonald (2016) focus on addressing a specific relationship between homework, home, and mathematical achievement. As outlined on page 201, they posit the study that seeks to inform on the following research questions akin to the study's research problem which are clear and precise and coined as per the research objectives: To what extent are Australian parents of primary school children involved in their children's homework, and how beneficial is this involvement? To what extent does the socio-economic position of the family (SEP) influence the impact of parental involvement? What type of involvement is most beneficial? To what extent does SEP influence the impact of parental involvement? In addition, the study indicates a sound grasp of previous literature related to the research topic. The authors draw on pre-existing research to posit the context of their own study. Initially, this is around a definition of homework, and then addresses possible types of parental involvement and potential ramifications of these. The literature review then comprehensively explores (utilizing credible and contemporary work), the benefits of parental involvement and the likely influences of contextual factors particularly that of socio-economic position of the family. No firm conclusions are drawn in the review, rather a balanced presentation of competing claims from respective researchers. The article through use of literature review is in a position to transform tentative ideas into actual work. Additionally, the review of the literature forms a ground work for the research by informing the researchers on previous ideas that have been coined by others researchers in the related field. The literature review section has not only acted as the cornerstone for the main ideas brought up in the article regarding parental involvement but also significantly influenced the development of the research and is used in the justification of the research questions (Boote & Beile, 2005). Completion of the research will have a great importance on various stakeholders ranging from parents, teachers to policymakers in the field of information. It will influence a lot on means and methods of educational practices that bring about favorable education outcomes at the end of the learning process. Section Two: Appropriateness of Design In order to capture the research questions, the study employed a descriptive analysis that examined initial frequency and articulation of homework environments, monitoring of homework that has been attempted and completed, amount and type of help from parents, parent's expectations on children's future achievement and communication frequency and intent regards homework. From these, bivariate analyses were conducted for: Parental involvement and children’s achievement Parental involvement and SEP The study, therefore, reports a secondary analysis of data from LSAC that was used to investigate parental involvement with homework and its relationship with primary children’s achievement in mathematics. Finally, multivariate analyses were conducted via a series of linear regression models around each of the parent involvement measures identified as statistically significant in the bivariate analyses. The article does not provide definite information in regard to actual participants in the research. For instance, on page 201, the paper talks about kids being selected from a survey of wave 3 and 4 of LSAC most of which their achievement data was readily available. However, the paper goes on to talk about Wave 5 surveys while referencing age percentages (Carmichael and MacDonald, 2016). Under this section, it does not substantiate whether data derived from wave five was incorporated in the long run or not. Similarly, the representation of the limitations of the LSAC and acknowledgment of transferability or denial of these would substantiate data interrogation plausibility. Whilst it is hoped that national longitudinal studies have reliability and integrity, there is a risk within this paper that the platform of the ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ is a basis on which to project future findings. Looking at the choice of data collection procedures, it is evident that the study they were ambiguous in the sense that considerable amount of second analysis was drawn from a large longitudinal study in Australia as seen on page 198. Clear procedures were not presented in the study in that data collection procedures are somewhat inappropriate to the research aims as they pose potential problematic aspects. On the same note, use of inappropriate procedure breaches ethical considerations of the research by jeopardizing the credibility, validity, transferability and integrity of the research (Gay, Mills & Airasian, 2011). Generally, the review of literature seems comprehensive. The authors reference several previous studies in each of the areas of consideration. In terms of being up-to-date, the review of the literature seems valid. That is, the article includes a well-organised reference list of 48 research documents of which 37 were published after 2008. Additionally, as previously noted the literature is directly related to the development of this study and is involved in the justification and development of the research question. Section Three: Quality of Analysis In order to inform on reliability, validity, and trustworthiness of the research, the article employs an understanding of terms such as reliability, transferability, validity, replicability, dependability, conformability and generalisability. The research used multivariate analyses by use of linear regression models. According to Lumley (2010), use of Taylor's series linearization to examine errors of estimates is achieved through the use of Lumley's R survey functions. These functions encompass the use of clustering, stratification and multistage sampling which are relevant in allowing unequal sampling probabilities (Muijs, 2011). The analytic procedures, however, did not clearly describe the parameters of the LSAC clustering and stratification occurrence which impacts negatively on the trustworthiness, reliability, and validity of the research. In addition to this, the research lacks explication of the methodological background of LSAC. The study mentions LSAC 2002 in page 198, wave 3 and wave 4 (Carmichael and MacDonald, 2016). However, lack of exploration of the rationale for the selection of the waves mentioned above carried forward the incompetence to the research analysis thus compromising with the credibility of the research. It should be noted that Taylor’s series linearization to determine errors of estimates is achieved via Lumley’s R survey functions which incorporates stratification, clustering, and multistage sampling, and which allows unequal sampling probabilities or weights (Lumley, 2010). The analysis plan, however, does not specify the parameters of the LSAC stratification and clustering occurrence. It would also be helpful to justify the utilization of R survey functions as opposed to others such as PC CARP or the Generalized Estimation System (Estavo et al., 1995). Section Four: Findings From a general point of view, the research findings were clearly explained. The discussion of results centered around providing initially a “snapshot” of Australian parents’ involvement with homework and then the effectiveness of this parental involvement. These were further explicated in the implications and conclusion of the research paper. In the discussion of the results section, the authors provide a discourse of the Australian parents' influences on student's homework and the effectiveness of parent involvement in child education. With respect to the ‘outcome measures’ (pg. 202), the internal reliability of the academic rating scale is noted. However the theory underlying Rasch models is of item response theory and, more generally, a special case of generalized linear modeling. The data in the study comes from teachers who were asked to assess their student numeracy competency using domain specific descriptors subjectively. If this data is to form part of a cross tabulation and particularly bivariate analysis and subsequent multivariate analysis, then again, the transferability credibility should be discussed and established. For instance, the study notes that while parent involvement in homework is common among Australian parents, there exist different forms of participation of the same. A certain percentage of parents limited their child's hours of watching television while others were involved in child education by holding talks regarding school stuff. The findings answer the initial research questions set by the researchers. They answer the various questions posed by the research in regard to student learning within the field of mathematics. The research could be used to answer the various problems that revolve around parent's engagement in the learning of their child. Conclusion In conclusion, therefore, the essay has provided critique analysis of the article as mentioned earlier regarding parental involvement in the mathematical achievement of children. While the paper offers great insights in regard to various segments in the article such as the conceptualisation of the research, study findings, research design and analysis, the paper advocates for a more multifaceted approach geared towards improving the effectiveness of the study. A further critique could, however, infer that while the Australian perspective is cited in the context of government policies across Australia’s states and territories; the research literature is skewed to the international context thus pre-empting a possible skewed transferability of the background rationale to the Australian context. The study has employed key resources at their disposal to illuminate on primary areas of the research. However, from the information provided in the article, the research has raised the alarm on the reliability and validity of the research due to a number of need gaps noted in some sections of the research. A point worth noting is that, in future works related to the study questions, researchers should aim at collecting reliable and detailed research data that will be imperative for the achievement of research objectives and aims. References Boote, D. N., & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars before researchers: On the centrality of the dissertation literature review in research preparation. Educational Researcher, 34(6), 3-15. Carmichael, C, and MacDonald, A. (2016). Parental influences on primary school children's mathematics achievement: Insights from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education Volume 3(13), 197-211. Estevao, V., & Sa, C. E. (1995). Methodological principles for a generalized estimation system at Statistics Canada. Journal of Official Statistics, 11(2), 181. Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. W. (2011). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and applications (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Lumley, T. (2010). Complex surveys: a guide to analysis using R (Vol. 565). John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey. Muijs, D. (2011). Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Read More