ABSTRACT

Introduction .........................................................................................................288 Computer Use and Educational Achievement: Empirical Findings ...........288 Methodological and Conceptual Issues in Studying the Relationship between Computer Use at Home and Educational Achievement in Large-Scale Assessments .................................................................................... 289

Methodological Issues I: Observational Research Designs ...................... 289 Methodological Issues II: Endogeneity Bias ............................................... 290 Conceptual Issues I: Proximity to Educational Achievement .................. 291 Conceptual Issues II: Psychological Mechanisms ..................................... 291

Example of Investigating the Relationship between Computer Use at Home and Educational Achievement in Large-Scale Assessments ............................................................................... 292

Participants ...................................................................................................... 293 Instruments ..................................................................................................... 293 Statistical Analysis.......................................................................................... 294 Results .............................................................................................................. 294

Model I ........................................................................................................ 294 Model II ....................................................................................................... 294 Model III ..................................................................................................... 295 Intercorrelations among Productivity Factors ....................................... 295

Discussion........................................................................................................ 296 References ............................................................................................................. 297

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) are carried out not only to describe educational achievement but also to examine factors that influence educational achievement. These factors are called productivity factors by Walberg (2006). The aim of studying productivity factors in educational research is to advance the understanding of the phenomenon educational achievement by elucidating the question of how productivity factors produce this phenomenon. In educational research, an answer to this question usually results in a scientific explanation. The quality of such a scientific explanation, however, might greatly vary depending, among others, on the research designs used to investigate productivity factors and on the theoretical underpinnings of how productivity factors bring about their effects on educational achievement.