Research Design

  This week you will have the opportunity to work with your colleagues in the course to develop a Team Assignment. You will consider some of the political, procedural, and ethical challenges that researchers must often face. Consider the scenario where you have been asked to conduct a study on the effectiveness of a new educational program for inmates and whether it reduces re-offending after release and improves long-term educational achievement. Explain the type of research design that you feel would most effectively control for threats to internal validity, such as testing and selection bias. Provide rationale for your answer, with support from this week's Reading and/or outside scholarly sources.