Effects of an Interteaching Probe on Learning and Generalization of American Psychological Association (APA) Style

Abstract

This study implemented the components of interteaching as a probe to teach American Psychological Association (APA) Style to undergraduate university students in a psychology research methods and statistics course. The interteaching method was compared to the traditional lecture-based approach between two sections of the course with the same instructor. Both teaching strategies significantly increased student performance on the APA Style knowledge relative to pretest performance, with a greater average increase and larger effect size for students exposed to interteaching methods. However, 2 months after the initial intervention, the application of APA Style knowledge to a draft of a research report resulted in no significant differences. Future research is warranted to determine conditions that result in enhanced generalization and retention of APA Style knowledge.