Overview and Analysis:

There is currently a limited supply of specific resources that include targeted research into the effects of the flexible seating model on student achievement, mental and physical well-being. In the process of creating this site, the authors made use of several, high quality studies written by well known researchers and learning theory specialists. The work of psychologists such as Albert Bandura were examined as key questions about student learning and efficacy were considered. Many of the research papers looked at specific situations, for example, the effects of therapy balls on students with ASD and ADHD or the effects of stationary bicycles on student behaviours. Some of these studies were limited by small sample sizes. However, they followed the elements of good quantitative study designs by providing objective statistical information, describing the impact of the variables and suggestions about the implications of their results.

While limited in number, there are some resources that make use of good, critical research. The Edutopia article references a study completed by the University of Salford in Manchester, England. The link embedded in the article provides an overview and significant findings of the study; the full study is included in the references section of this site. The authors hold doctoral degrees and they are lead by Dr Peter Barrett, who is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at Oxford University. This study included 27 schools and 153 classrooms,and 3766 students which would represent a fairly significant sample size. Larger sample sizes are important because they increase the chances of reliability by providing a sound confidence interval (margin of error around the estimate. This study was a non-experimental design; in this case, the researchers made use of a broad, exploratory hypothesis. They used a specialist modelling software package, MLwiN, for the study and made use of appropriate statistical procedures described in the methods section of the study. The authors recognize limitations with their study (for example, it is limited to primary classrooms in Britain), and they suggest avenues for further research such as studies that would make use of an action research approach. It is important that studies such as this one are replicated by other researchers in other countries in order to fully explore the implications of flexible seating design on student achievement.