Contemporary Study: Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil A03 Flashcards
Generalisability - Strength
Generalisability was high as there was a large sample of 570 children and the findings can be generalised to the wider spanish population.
Generalisability - weakness
There were only 9 participants that had fvFTD - a small sample size can have an impact on the findings.
Therefore the conclusions regarding the functioning of the phonological loop in old age may be questionable.
Reliabillity - Strength
Reliability was high as the results have been replicated elsewhere and therefore have consistency.
Data can be compared with results on a previous intelligence test and English data and similar patterns in development have been found; that digit span increased to 17 years.
A study with Welsh children produced similar results.
Application - Strength
The finidings help us to understand cognitive abilities.
People with longer digit span are better readers and have high general intelligence. Shorter digit spans are linked with dyslexia.
This suggests that digit span can be used to explain important real-life cognitive skills.
Strength - Validity
The researchers used several standardised procedures (e.g. the digits were read aloud at a constant rate of one per second for every participant).
The use of the standardised procedure helped to control potentially confounding variables and therefore adds to the internal validity.
Counter argument for validity - weakness
The procedure lacked control in some areas - the researchers report that the children ‘did not present…impairments’.
This means the children were not tested and they relied upon the children and parents to divulge any hearing, reading or cognitive impairments.
Any such impairments could have an influence on their performance.
Task Validity - Weakness
Validity was low as the task of recalling digits was artificial and was presented in a controlled manner.
Therefore it lacks mundane realism and may not be representative of real life use of Working Memory/phonological loop.
