Grant at al Flashcards
What was the aim of Grant’s study?
To test the effect of noise as a source of context on the studying and retrieval of meaningful material in an academic context. A focus on changing learning context was important as students can choose where to study but not where they are tested.
What were the participants for Grant’s study?
39ps aged 17-56 (17 females and 23 males). They were recruited by opportunity sampling: eight psychology students, acting as experimenters, each found 5 acquaintances who would be participants (The result from one participant was excluded.)
What was the IV and the DV for Grant’s study
IV- Whether the study and test conditions were matching (the same) or mismatching (different).
DV- Retrieval was therefore ensured in two ways (recall and recognition) for each participant:
Recall: a short answer test of 10 questions
Retrival: a multiple choice test of 16 questions.
Where was the background noise for the noisy condition in Grant’s study?
A tape made in the university cafeteria at lunchtime, with the hum of conversation, occasional words or phrases but no audible sentences, and the sound of chairs and dishes.
What article were the ps asked to read in Grant’s study?
A two page article on psychoimmuniology, which was interesting and understandable (but unfamiliar) to the participants.
What were some controls in Grant’s study?
Everyone wore headphones despite being in teh silent or noisy condition.
The short answer test was always given to ps first, to ensure that material was being recalled from the article itself rather than from information in the multiple choice test.
What was the brief procedure in Grant’s study?
Each p was asked to read the article through once, highlighting or underlining if they wanted to. Reading time was recorded but not controlled. After a 2 minute break, they asked ps to answer the two tests.
What were some results from the multiple choice test in Grant’s study?
SS and NN condition= mean of 14.3/16
SN and NS condition= mean of 12.7/16
What were some results from the short answer questions in Grant’s study?
SS condition= Mean of 6.7/10
SN condition= mean of 5.4/10
NN condition= Mean of 6.2/10
NS condition= Mean of 4.6/10
What were the two main conclusions Grant drew from this study?
- As there was no independent effect of noise on performance, the claim made by any students- that noise does not affect their capacity to study- is supported.
- However, as context-dependence affected retrieval in both SAQ and MCQ tests, students should study in quiet surroundings, as exams are typically held in silence.
In Grant’s study why did ps have a break between the memorising and testing phases?
To ensure that the researchers were not measuring short term memory rather that the effect of context dependency.
