Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T20:28:30.664Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Generalizability, transferability, and the practice-to-practice gap

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2022

Joshua R. de Leeuw
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY12604, [email protected]; https://www.vassar.edu/faculty/jdeleeuw/
Benjamin A. Motz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN47405, [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; https://motzweb.sitehost.iu.edu/; https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/fyfe-emily.html; https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/goldstone-robert.html
Emily R. Fyfe
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN47405, [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; https://motzweb.sitehost.iu.edu/; https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/fyfe-emily.html; https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/goldstone-robert.html
Paulo F. Carvalho
Affiliation:
Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA15213, USA. [email protected]; https://sites.google.com/view/paulocarvalho
Robert L. Goldstone
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN47405, [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; https://motzweb.sitehost.iu.edu/; https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/fyfe-emily.html; https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/goldstone-robert.html

Abstract

Emphasizing the predictive success and practical utility of psychological science is an admirable goal but it will require a substantive shift in how we design research. Applied research often assumes that findings are transferable to all practices, insensitive to variation between implementations. We describe efforts to quantify and close this practice-to-practice gap in education research.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Co-first authors.

References

Agarwal, P. K., Roediger, H. L., McDaniel, M. A., & McDermott, K. B. (2020). How to use retrieval practice to improve learning. St. Louis, MO: Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved from http://www.retrievalpractice.org.Google Scholar
Baribault, B., Donkin, C., Little, D. R., Trueblood, J. S., Oravecz, Z., van Ravenzwaaij, D., … Vandekerckhove, J. (2018). Metastudies for robust tests of theory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(11), 26072612.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 458. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fyfe, E., de Leeuw, J. R., Carvalho, P. F., Goldstone, R., Sherman, J., Admiraal, D., … Motz, B. (2021). ManyClasses 1: Assessing the generalizable effect of immediate versus delayed feedback across many college classes. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 4(3), 124. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459211027575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurung, R. A., & Burns, K. (2019). Putting evidence-based claims to the test: A multi-site classroom study of retrieval practice and spaced practice. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33(5), 732743. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawe, P., Shiell, A., & Riley, T. (2009). Theorising interventions as events in systems. American Journal of Community Psychology, 43(3–4), 267276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-009-9229-9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koedinger, K. R., Booth, J. L., & Klahr, D. (2013). Instructional complexity and the science to constrain it. Science, 342(6161), 935937. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1238056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1986). But is it rigorous? Trustworthiness and Authenticity in Naturalistic evaluation. New Directions for Program Evaluation, 1986(30), 7384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makel, M. C., & Plucker, J. A. (2014). Facts are more important than novelty: Replication in the education sciences. Educational Researcher, 43(6), 304316. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X14545513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreira, B. F. T., Pinto, T. S. S., Starling, D. S. V., & Jaeger, A. (2019). Retrieval practice in classroom settings: A review of applied research. Frontiers in Education, 4(5), 116. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00005.Google Scholar
Motz, B. A., Carvalho, P. F., de Leeuw, J. R., & Goldstone, R. L. (2018). Embedding experiments: Staking causal inference in authentic educational contexts. Journal of Learning Analytics, 5(2), 4759. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2018.52.4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, M. (2018). A more systematic approach to replicating research. IES Director's Blog, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/director/remarks/12-17-2018.asp.Google Scholar
Yang, C., Luo, L., Vadillo, M. A., Yu, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2021). Testing (quizzing) boosts classroom learning: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 147(4), 399435. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed