Catalogic Sample T-Test

STUDY FINDINGS Before comparing the group means, assumptions for the paired sample t-test were evaluated and no violations were noted. Results from the paired sample t-test revealed statistically significant differences (p <= .05) in student competency self-assessment between the pretest and the posttest, and the posttest and the retrospective test on all 19 competencies (Table 2). Cohen’s effect size values ranging from 0.51 to 2.30 suggested moderate or high practical significance. These findings indicate that students perceive significant progress on their practice competencies after completing the SWCO course.
[Table 2 here]
However, upon examining the differences in the pretest and the retrospect test, the findings demonstrated statistically significant differences on nine competencies, including C3, C5, C6, C8, C9, C13, C15, C17, and C19 (Table 2). The statistically significant differences between the pretest and the retrospect test suggest that students tended to underrate their competencies regarding direct practice with community (C3, C6, C8, C9, and C15) and use of secondary data (C5) at the pretest. On the other hand, they were likely to overrate their competencies regarding professional roles
This assessment method helps students evaluate their own competencies by deeply reflecting upon different time point perspectives. Self-reflection is one of the key practice which social workers need to conduct for their whole career (Dochy & McDowell, 1997). This assessment method also jives on the CBE model of the SWCO course. Furthermore, we agree upon prior studies’ findings that multiple-time point self-assessment with retrospect test addresses the threat of validity and reliability stemming from response-shift bias of the traditional two time point assessment (Drennan & Hyde, 2008; Howard, 1980; Sprangers,