Artifact 2

ETR 521 Educational Statistics 1

Students Achievement in Online and Traditional Course at King Khalid University in
Saudi Arabia: A comparison Study
Introduction and Reflection
The paper shown above is the final research proposal for ETR 521. This course is an
introduction to basic educational statistics and it aims to prepare students to understand
quantitative research as well as applying statistical methods to answer given research questions.
In addition, the course teaches students basic statistics principles using SPSS such as descriptive
statistics, t-test, correlation, and so on. In this course, I conducted a research study, which
entitled A comparison of Students Achievement in Online and Traditional Course at King
Khalid University in Saudi Arabia .
The purpose of the study is to compare the achievement of undergraduate students in
online and traditional courses at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia. The data obtained from
a course Computer Ethics taught by one of the faculties of Computer Science College at King
Khalid University. The students divided into two sections: (1) face-to-face section with 43
students (2) full online section with 28 students.
Independent sample t-test was carried out to compare students final grades means from
both sections. The researcher hypothesized that grades mean for both section are equal (H_0:
_1=_2). The results showed that t-test (two-tailed test) that does not assume equal variances in
the two groups, was statistically significant (p = 0.01< 0.05). Therefore reject the null hypothesis
that the means of the final grade in the two sections are equal.
Evidence of Mastery of Objectives 4, 5, and 6

Objective 4, Select appropriate analyses for a given research question: Objective 4 is met
in this research project. As I mentioned earlier, the goal of the research paper is to

examine whether the mean of students grades is equal or not. To answer the given
hypothesis, independent sample t-test was carried out. The results showed that the mean
of students grades is not equal (p = 0.01< 0.05). As result, the researcher rejected the
null hypothesis (H_0: _1=_2) and accepted the alternative (H_1: _1_2). Based on
that, the results suggested that students in online section might not have had experienced
online learning before or had a lack of technology skills.
Objective 5, Apply appropriate technology to conduct analyses of educational data: This
objective is satisfied via my use of SPSS to analysis the collected data. In this course, I
learned several features and functions of SPSS and most importantly is how to choose the
appropriate statistical test in order to answer research questions. As stated previously, I
used independent sample t test to evaluate whether students grades in both sections
(online section and face-to-face section) are equal or not.
Objective 6, Conduct a study pertaining to an educational research problem or
phenomenon: The implementation of online learning at King Khalid University in Saudi
Arabia started a few years ago according to recent literature (see artifact 2). That
motivated me to conduct a research project that mainly aimed to compare undergraduate
students achievement in computer ethics course that offered in an online and traditional
format at king Khalid University in Saudi Arabia. Although this study was not guided by
a theory or theoretical framework but the obtained data and the results from data analysis
could provide insights regarding undergraduate students achievement in online learning
at king Khalid University in Saudi Arabia.