I think the variable of morals should be considered when compiling the data. High moral standards keep children out of trouble. These children will less likely to use drugs, be involved in teen pregnacies, and perhaps are more likely to keep marriages together. Standard of morals is an important factor to recognize.
Other possible independent variables might include full or part-time care. A possible interaction could be that the positive effects of public daycare may occurr more in children who attend part-time than those who attend full-time, possibly because of the added time at home with their parents.
The amount of time spent in the type of care could be an independent variable used.Children in full-time out of home care may have higher cognitve capabilities than thoe that are only in part-time.
The researchers could have included part-time or full-time care as a second variable. The amount of time spent at the daycare may influence the effects of the type of care. Other variables could include the quality of the time the child spends with his parents or even the time spent with friends outside of daycare.
Another variable that could have been considered is the amount of time the child spent on verbal or math skills outside of schools. Parents or daycares that valued these skills may have spent extra time on homework or games that strengthened these skills.
The results could be used to answer their research questions as the type of care given did influence cognitive abilities, but many questiond could be posed to the results. (as Lynn said) They should have measured how much time the children did spend on math and verbal learning. The parents were aware that their children were involved in a study that would measure their child's cognitive abilities, so maybe due to that fact, they helped their children learn an additional hour a night just on these skills, which could have influenced the results.
I like the idea put forth by Lynne and furthered by Filgate of extra time spent on the skills being tested (whether by interest or extra practice). I wonder if the child's natural aptitudes could also affect the results of the study?
I like the idea of making the second variable full-time and part-time daycare.Another variable could be if the child had any siblings or not while in daycare and if they did ,were they born shortly after the child entered or awhile after.
By Brandi G. on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 03:16 pm:
By Keri on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 03:29 pm:
By DonnaR on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 03:31 pm:
By Lynne on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 03:34 pm:
By Filgate C. on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 03:46 pm:
By Lori on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 03:55 pm:
By Dupuis on Tuesday, March 24, 1998 - 04:28 pm: