Cognitive + Crime Practical Flashcards
What is the Practical Report Title?
An experiment to investigate the effect that time has on an eyewitness memory, focusing on the concept of memory decay
What is the Aim of the Practical?
Investigate the effect of memory decay on an eyewitness memory recall when Ps had a time delay in between reporting an incident
What is the Independent Variable of the Practical?
Amount of time between witnessing the stabbing incident + recall between immediate recall and recall after time delay (3 weeks)
What is the Dependent Variable of the Practical?
Memory recall of the stabbing - amount of correctly answered questions on a cued recall (fixed response) memory test based around the event (total score = 10)
What is the Alternate Hypothesis of the Practical?
There will be a significant difference in the amount of correctly answered questions in the cued recall about a stabbing incident when recall is immediate compared to recall 3 weeks later
What is the Null Hypothesis of the Practical?
There will be no significant difference in the amount of correctly answered questions in the cued recall about a stabbing incident when recall is immediate compared to recall 3 weeks later
What is the Sample of the Practical?
- 14 Reigate College students
- From a psychology class
- Aged 17 - 18 years
- 2 boys, 12 girls
What is the Sampling Technique used in the Practical?
Opportunity sample
What is a Strength of the Sample of the Practical?
- Quick and convenient
* So, doesn’t take up a lot of time
What is a Weakness of the Sample of the Practical?
Not a representative sample
What are the Ethical Issues in the Practical?
- No informed consent was given - Ps didn’t know the purpose of the study
- No Ps given the right to withdraw
What were the Materials used in the Practical?
- A pen
- BBC clip of simulated stabbing carried out by actors - footage from the BBC 2 Eyewitness programme
- Questionnaire 1 - qualitative data space + 10 closed questions to obtain quantitative data
- Questionnaire 2 - qualitative data space + 10 closed questions to obtain quantitative data
What was the Experimental Designused in the Practical?
Repeated measures design
What was the Procedure in the Practical?
- Ps watched a video of a stabbing incident
- The video lasted 2:09 seconds + was from a BBC eyewitness programme
- Then, Ps completed a questionnaire - one side was a free recall account of the video + the other side had 10 closed questions
- 3 weeks later, the Ps completed the same questionnaire, but the structure of the questions were different to prevent order effects
- Results were analysed through a bar graph + qualitative data analysed through a Wilcoxon signed ranks test
Why was a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test used in the Practical?
- Ordinal data - scores from cued response data can be ordered
- Related data - Ps do both conditions
- Looking for a difference between immediate recall + recall 3 weeks later
What were the Results for Practical?
- No significant difference in results
- So, this study doesn’t support that memory decay contributes to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony
- So, findings are due to chance
What were the Weaknesses of the Practical?
- Unethical - Ps didn’t know they were part of the study as they weren’t debriefed + weren’t given right to withdraw
- Low in generalisability - small sample as only 14 Ps, Ps ages 17-18 years, Ps from psychology class in Reigate College
How could you make the Practical more generalisable?
- Make the teachers and more students from Reigate College take part in the study
- So, that it can be generalisable to more ages
How could you make the Practical more ethical?
- Researchers should debrief the Ps straight after the study
* If possible, researchers should make Ps aware that they can withdraw from the study at any point
What were the Strengthd of the Practical?
- High reliability
- As, standardised procedures were used
- E.g. Ps all watched the same video of the crime + all completed the same questionnaire
What is Eye Witness Testimony?
Evidence that is provided by a person who has seen a crime occur
Why is Psychological Research focused on which Factors Affect the Reliability of an EWT?
In some cases, inaccurate eyewitness testimony has led to a miscarriage of justice
What are Factors which Influence EWT?
- Post event information - leading questions
- Arousal/anxiety experienced during witnessing a crime
- Issue of memory decay
- Schema theory
