Purpose of the Study
The article has deliberated over the impact of various factors on academic performance, particularly Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). The research problem that was studied is how SEL impacts academic performance (Panayiotou et al., 2019). There is an unequivocal justification for the research; for instance, it is essential in assisting schools to ameliorate not only students’ performance but also their wellbeing. The authors of the article were trying to determine the benefits of SEL interventions to children’s mental health as well as academic performance.
Study Participants
The study involved students from 45 state-maintained elementary schools in northwest England. A total of 1626 students participated in the research. To sidestep gender biasness, the researchers selected both boys and girls i.e. the number of boys and girls was 832 and 794, respectively (Panayiotou et al., 2019). The following criteria were followed when selecting or recruiting the participants for the study:
- The age of the student.
- Gender of the student.
- Ethnic group of the student.
- Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility
- Special educational needs (SEN).
Study Methodology
The variables that were used in the study include academic attainment, social-emotional competence, school connectedness and mental health difficulties. Social-emotional competence was measured using the 46-item SSIS-SEL. “The social connectedness was measured using the 4-item School Environment subscale of the Kidscreen-27” (Panayiotou et al., 2019, p.197). While “mental health difficulties were measured using the 20-item teacher informant-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)” (Panayiotou et al., 2019, p.197). Lastly, “academic performance was assessed using the 2014 Key Stage 2 (KS2)” (Panayiotou et al., 2019, p.197).
Regarding the procedure, an online survey site was used to amass data. The students were required to access the measurements and respond appropriately and those with literary problems were bolstered by the teachers and other school staff (Panayiotou et al., 2019).
Study Results
The authors found out that the mental health difficulties lower academic performance, school connectedness as well as the social-emotional competence. The answer to the research question is that there is a link between the SEL and the academic performance, hence the hypothesis was accepted. Social-emotional competence impacts on mental health difficulties, which affects the students’ academic performance. SEL skills contribute vastly to emotion regulations and simultaneously assisting students to make informed decisions. Further, they lessen the impact of risky behaviours among children, hence augmenting their academic performance (Panayiotou et al., 2019).
Critique of Article
Construct Validity
In my viewpoints, the construct validity of the study’s variables was superb. They are operationalized fairly and logically. Flawless definition of variables played pivotal roles in how they were measured in the study (Mathieu et al., 2020). Further, the scales measured the constructs adequately. There are some other ways that I would use to augment the construct validity; for example, using different methods to amass data, such as observation and questionnaires. Also, I would create a good plan and keeping track of the students to increase construct validity. In addition to increasing construct validity, there are other better instruments that I would use including Diagnostic Statistical Manual Version 5 (DSM-5) for measuring students’ mental health difficulties.
The External Validity of the Study
Arguably, the authors’ choice of the sample is appropriate since they selected students from different state-maintained elementary schools. Besides, there is also a credit for the sample size that was used in the study. The sample was picked wisely since the authors did their best to sidestep issues related to gender biasness (Andrade, 2018). They selected both girls and boys for the study. However, the fact that the authors overgeneralizing the findings of the study to a population that is too broad is irrefutable because the research included students from grade 3 to five who were almost at the same age. Concerning study results, they cannot be generalized to other geographical locations since the study only involved students from Northwest England. I would have picked students from different parts of England to increase the study’s external validity.
Internal Validity
I think it was a good idea for researchers to ensure that there are no alternative explanations for their results i.e. no confounding variables. The reason for my standpoint is that confounding variables can give useless results. They can show a correlation among variables when there is not (Banerjee et al., 2017). Some of the threats to the internal validity of the study include maturation and experimental mortality (Flannelly et al., 2018). Concerning an alternative explanation for the research results, the SEL leads to positive learning, thereby increasing chances of students to excel in academics. I would have increased internal validity by counterbalancing as well as getting rid of the investigator effects.
References
Andrade, C. (2018). Internal, external, and ecological validity in research design, conduct, and
evaluation. Indian journal of psychological medicine, 40(5), 498-499.
Banerjee, A. V., Chassang, S., & Snowberg, E. (2017). Decision theoretic approaches to
experiment design and external validity. In Handbook of Economic Field Experiments (Vol. 1, pp. 141-174). North-Holland.
Flannelly, K. J., Flannelly, L. T., & Jankowski, K. R. (2018). Threats to the internal validity of
experimental and quasi-experimental research in healthcare. Journal of health care chaplaincy, 24(3), 107-130.
Mathieu, J. E., Luciano, M. M., D’Innocenzo, L., Klock, E. A., & LePine, J. A. (2020). The
development and construct validity of a team processes survey measure. Organizational Research Methods, 23(3), 399-431.
Panayiotou, M., Humphrey, N., & Wigelsworth, M. (2019). An empirical basis for linking social
and emotional learning to academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 56, 193-204.
