The danger of a result that is significant in the absence of other factors may lead to the endorsement of a spurious association. In this research, the spurious association would be: the presence of Internet in the home is associated with higher academic standing. This statement rings true only when one considers reality with reckless abandon.
Since the completion of this study in 2005, other research-based publications support the findings, specifically, that the quality of the research is enhanced by consideration of confounding factors.
Jackson, von Eye, Biocca, Barbatsis, and Zhao (2006) published in a recent issue of Developmental Psychology an article titled “Does Home Internet Use Influence the Academic Performance of Low-Income Children?” The authors state that, in their review of the literature, “Available evidence suggests that having a home computer is linked to somewhat better academic performance, although most studies fail to control for factors that covary with having a home computer (e.g., parental income and education)” (¶ 11). Their research did consider race and patterns of Internet use as a confounding factor in the analysis, and their results indicate that “Children who used the Internet more during the last four months of the project had higher GPAs and standardized test scores in reading than did children who used it less” (Discussion section, ¶ 1). Research such as this, which considers confounding factors, presents more exact insight into the complexity of understanding the effects of Internet access on learning.
The issues expressed regarding the notion of the digital divide—that an inequity of resources may perpetuate and exacerbate social divisions—is a key aspect to this research. The Digital Divide and Academic Achievement , published by Huang and Russell (2006), states: