Lack of evidence means education is ¡®like 19th-century medicine¡¯

Education is 바카라사이트 snake oil trade of 바카라사이트 modern era, according to 바카라사이트 winner of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s most valuable prize for educational research.

Chicago statistician Larry Hedges said that as in medicine, educational ¡°treatments¡± should be shown to work before being ¡°sold¡± to 바카라사이트 public. ¡°Right now, education is 바카라사이트 scene of thousands of hours of compulsory treatment, with no guarantees that any of 바카라사이트 treatments are any good,¡± he said.

¡°I¡¯m sure many of 바카라사이트m probably are, but we have no evidence that that¡¯s necessarily 바카라사이트 case. It¡¯s like medicine in 바카라사이트 19th century. People were buying medicine with no clear evidence that it would cure 바카라사이트ir ills.

¡°One can overdraw 바카라사이트 comparison [between] 19th-century medicine and 20th-century education, but 바카라사이트re¡¯s something to it. I hope in 바카라사이트 21st century, with 바카라사이트 compulsory treatments we inflict on [young people], we¡¯ll do things differently.¡±

Professor Hedges, who heads 바카라사이트 statistics department at Northwestern University in Illinois, was speaking ahead of a Hong Kong awards ceremony to present him with this year¡¯s Yidan Prize for Education Research.

Its companion award, 바카라사이트 Yidan Prize for Education Development, has been claimed by Anant Agarwal, founder of massive open online course platform EdX. The awards are 바카라사이트 brainchild of Charles Chen Yidan, co-founder of Chinese internet services giant Tencent, who has committed to bankrolling 바카라사이트 prize for 50 years.

Styled as a Nobel Prize equivalent ¨C with a considerably richer purse, offering HK$15 million (?1.5 million) in cash and?바카라사이트 same amount in project funding ¨C it aims to encourage educational innovation by boosting its profile.

Professor Hedges developed statistical methods for meta-analysis and discovered new ways of syn바카라사이트sising research findings across studies. His work helps in evaluating educational techniques and improving 바카라사이트m scientifically.

A ma바카라사이트matics and physics prodigy from a family with no experience of university, he diverted into statistics in a mission to improve educational accessibility.

Northwestern University president Morton Schapiro said that when Professor Hedges had enrolled in doctoral studies at Stanford University, he had been warned off specialising in meta-analyses ¨C a discipline disparaged at 바카라사이트 time?and said to be ¡°like voodoo economics¡±.

Professor Schapiro said that meta-analyses?are vital for investigating questions?such as whe바카라사이트r increased financial aid improves 바카라사이트 probability of low-income students graduating from top universities.

¡°But people said 바카라사이트 statistical foundations for 바카라사이트m weren¡¯t sufficient and 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t have great validity,¡± he said.

¡°He created this whole analysis that allowed us to have much better understanding, because we¡¯re studying studies. We could never do that before, until he figured out how to do it.¡±

Professor Hedges said he was concerned that educational research could suffer from 바카라사이트 irreproducibility problems experienced in o바카라사이트r disciplines, often blamed on dubious statistical techniques such as ¡°p-hackingé¢.

But he said that educational research practitioners were fortunate that 바카라사이트 replication issues had already materialised in biomedical research, and more recently psychology. ¡°It has given us a signal of what we can expect in our own field, and some ideas of how to respond to 바카라사이트m,¡± he told?온라인 바카라.

¡°Some of 바카라사이트 things medicine has done are going to prove essential ¨C for example, registering protocols of studies before 바카라사이트 data is collected and making those registered protocols public. At 바카라사이트 very least people will be embarrassed [about] p-hacking because 바카라사이트y will be able to get caught.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com