Purpose:  Summarize and appraise an article for bias and validity in a collaborative environment.

Instructions: Carefully read, summarize, and appraise your group's assigned article.  The discussion board for this week should cover the following concepts in order to have a complete draft by the end of the week. Apply the concepts discussed in the lecture and the readings.  As you provide input to your peers, be sure to state a rationale for your claims. 

1. Identify and discuss the following:
   • dependent variable(s) and the instrument(s) used to measure them.
   • how the data for the dependent variable(s) were collected.
   • the intervention and procedures for delivering it.
   • the key results for the study, including any p-values, reported.
   • the conclusions the researchers drew.
2. Appraise and debate the quality of the data collection methods and determine whether the conclusions of the study were supported by the statistical results.  Consider the following questions:
   • Were the measurement instruments reliable and valid?  Why or why not? 
   • Was treatment fidelity for the intervention ensured?  Why or why not?
   • Were the conclusions of the study were supported by the statistical results, as indicated by the variable values and the p-values if reported?