Grant et al

Question 1

aim of the study?

Answer 1

to test the effect of noise as a source of context on the studying and retrieval of meaningful material in an academic context

Question 2

experimental design?

Answer 2

independent measures

Question 3

sample?

Answer 3

39 participants aged 17-56 (17 females and 23 males) recruited by opportunity sampling; 8 psychology students acting as experimenters each found 5 acquaintances who would be participants

Question 4

IV?

Answer 4

whether the study and test conditions were matching or mismatching

Question 5

4 possible combinations participants could experience?

Answer 5

matching: silent and silent or noisy and noisy
mismatching: noisy and silent or silent and noisy

Question 6

procedure?

Answer 6

each participant was asked to read a 2 page article on psycho-immunology through once and highlight or underline if they wanted to. During reading, all participants wore headphones and after a 2 minute break they asked the participant to answer 2 tests

Question 7

DV?

Answer 7

retrieval of the article

Question 8

what were the 2 tests participants were asked to answer?

Answer 8

1. Short answer test of 10 questions

2. multiple choice test of 16 questions

Question 9

why was the short answer test always given first?

Answer 9

to ensure that material was being recalled from the article itself rather than information in the multiple choice test

Question 10

What was the background noise in the noisy condition?

Answer 10

a tape made in the university cafeteria at lunch with the hum of conversation, occasional words of phrases but no audible sentences, and the sound of chairs and dishes.

Question 11

results?

Answer 11

there were individual differences in reading time but no consistent differences between noisy and silent conditions or test retrieval conditions.
there was no significant patterns for the individual variable i.e. whether material was learned or retrieved in each of the environments made no difference to the short answer question test or the multiple choice test results
however, there was an interaction between study and test conditions. For both the short answer and multiple choice tests, performance was significantly better in matching conditions than in non matching ones which suggests that recall is better when studying are testing are performed in similar environments in terms of the noisiness of the surroundings

Question 12

2 conclusions from this study?

Answer 12

1. As there was no independent effect of noise on performance, the claim made by many students - that noise does not affect their capacity to study - is supported
2. However, as context dependence affects retrieval in both short answer test and multiple choice tests, student should study in quiet surroundings as exams are typically held in silence

Question 13

what data was gathered?

Answer 13

quantitative- the statistics allowed easy comparison of the conditions, clearly showing that although study and learning conditions independently do not affect retrieval, their match or mismatch does. However, no qualitative data meant you couldn’t see participants views on what it felt like to study in silence.

Question 14

ethical considerations?

Answer 14

• participants were aware they were participating and were not deceived and were debriefed after testing
• they were given enough info to give informed consent
• they were asked if they had any questions and were given the right to withdraw at any point

Question 15

validity?

Answer 15

• the material they had to learn was not relevant and did not have the pertinence that students’ own subjects would have therefore it reduces validity because if PPs had been retrieving info within an existing framework of knowledge, the results might have been different
• does not generalise to longer periods of time studying as the silent condition was only 30 minutes long
• the material used was more like course material than items used in memory experiments so this made the study valid

Question 16

reliability?

Answer 16

• several aspects were standardised (headphones and tape) which ensured reliability
• the similarity in the pattern of the results across test conditions also suggests the results are reliable
• amount of time given for the initial reading was not controlled therefore this reduced reliability

Question 17

sampling bias?

Answer 17

• all the participants were chosen from the acquaintances of the experimenters so unlikely to form a representative sample
• there was a good age spread and equal number of male and females
• knowledge that their friends (the experimenters) were psychology students introduced demand characteristics

Question 18

practical applications?

Answer 18

-useful to student’s study habits and suggests students should try study in silence