Pedagogical Experiment and the Use of Statistical Methods

Experiment in pedagogical sciences has specific conditions by which social phenomena in this field are differentiated from the natural science phenomena. In chapter A the author summarizes the general basic instructions as regards planning and evaluating the pedagogical experiment and considers the possibilities of using statistical methods, which are, of course, only auxiliary methods here in various kinds of analyses, such as content, typological, relationship, causal or dialectical analysis. In chapter В the use of statistical methods is further developed and several examples are given to illustrate their use in a simple experiment from the field of teaching the biology of man in the 8th year of the Basic Nine-Year School. The closing chapter is devoted to demonstrating the complexity of the interpretation of the research results. Even if statistical methods are used, such interpretation must proceed above-all from the knowledge of the complete theory of the respective fields of science coupled with a good knowledge of the practice.