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E538—Statistics for Environmental Science
I asked for consent for:
- Administering, and later reporting on, a pre-test and post-test with
questions about statistical practice and interpretation, to see what
students learn during the semester.
- Using answers from regular exams to illustrate learning (or lack of
learning), and to check how well my graded exams correlate with the
learning measured by the pre- and post-test.
- Using admissions data (GRE scores, undergrad GPA, undergrad grades
in statistics and math courses) to look for correlations with course
performance.
Students can consent or not to each of these individually.
To protect students, I proposed that:
- A colleague would come to first class (and I would not), pass out
consent forms, collect consent forms, and administer pre-test.
- This colleague would retain the consent forms throughout the semester,
and I would not see them until after course grades were turned in in
May. (This prevents my penalizing a student for non-participation.)
- I would, however, see the pre-tests (with code numbers only, no names)
to guide my teaching.
- I would not see the admissions data until after course grades were
turned in.
HSC required two changes:
- I must pass out consent forms at a time prior to the colleague administering
the pre-test. (Somewhat less than ideal…)
- I had to remove a reassurance I had included in my proposed consent
form.
Overall—Useful for protecting students, and not too difficult to
accommodate in this case.
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