practical Flashcards
what was the aim of the pratical
The aim of our practical was to investigate the effect of acoustically similar or acoustically dissimilar word type on STM recall.
what was the IV
Acoustically similar 10 word list or acoustically dissimilar 10 word list
what was the DV
How many words out of 10 each participant can recall in the correct order
what was the research hypothesis
There will be a significant difference between the number of acoustically similar words recalled by participants in correct order out of 10 and the number of acoustically dissimilar words recalled by participants in the correct order out of 10. Participants will correctly recall the order of 10 acoustically dissimilar words more accurately than acoustically similar words out of 10.
was the research hypothesis one or two tailed
This is a one tailed hypothesis as we state that acoustically dissimilar words out of 10 will be recalled more accurately than acoustically similar words out of 10 by participants.
what was the research method
We conducted a lab experiment for our practical investigation so we could investigate the effect of word type on short term memory in a controlled environment so no extraneous variables would have an effect on the results making sure that it was acoustically similar or acoustically dissimilar words that had an effect of the number of words recalled in order out of 10. By doing our experiment in an empty classroom with the door shut we reduced the chance of noise affecting our results so participants were less likely to be distracted. We used repeated measures experimental design meaning every participant did both conditions of acoustically similar words and acoustically dissimilar words. We made sure to reduce practice and fatigue order effects by using counterbalancing. This means that 5 participants did the acoustically similar condition first then acoustically dissimilar condition second. The other 5 participants did the acoustically dissimilar condition first and the acoustically similar condition second.
what acoustically similar words were used
Hat, cat, mat, sat, pat
what acoustically dissimilar words were used
Write, house, tree, dog, pen
what sampling method was used
We used opportunity sampling as we wanted to gather sixth form students over 16 who were willing to take part in our experiment on word type effect on STM. this sampling method enabled us to gather 10 sixth form students more quickly and conveniently than other sampling methods
what was the method
All researchers in the team met to create a 10 word list of acoustically similar words and another 10 word list of acoustically dissimilar words, all words being 1 syllable. For example, acoustically similar words include : sat, mat, hat, cat and pat. Acoustically dissimilar words include: write, house, dog, tree, pen. We gathered our 10 participants by asking people in the sixth form if they would like to take part in a study testing memory. We gained consent from them and told them they could leave at any point and their data would be removed. We then briefed them and told them we were conducting a study to look at the effect of acoustically similar and dissimilar words on short term memory. We wrote down all their names and placed them into a hat and selected 5 names who would do the acoustically similar condition first, the other five did the acoustically dissimilar condition first. A whiteboard was placed in front of them with the 10 words on in a random order. We read out the word list for each group and then they had 1 minute to recall the 10 words in order. A score out of 10 was given. The groups then switched and did the opposite condition.
what ethics were considered
We needed to make sure that participant short term memory scores were kept confidential. We therefore made sure not to collect any personal information such as names and made sure each participant was aware they could leave at any time with all data removed.
describe the analysis
The appropriate statistical test to analyse our results from our practical investigation on word type affecting memory was the Wilcoxon test as our practical used repeated measures design and the data collected was ordinal as it was how many words out of 10 were recalled in the correct order. At the 0.05 level of significance the critical value for a one-tailed hypothesis when N=7 is 3. Since the calculated value of 5 is higher than the critical value the null hypothesis can be accepted and the experimental rejected, therefore there is a more than 5% probability that the results are due to chance, therefore there is no significant difference between the number of acoustically similar words recalled in order out of 10 and acoustically dissimilar words recalled in order out of 10.
describe the results
Mean
7.6
8.5
Median
7.5
8.5
mode
7
10 and 7
range
5
3
Standard deviation
1.506
1.269
what conclusions were made
Our results are not significant so we can’t be certain that short term memory is encoded semantically. However the mean results show there is a slight difference in the number of acoustically similar words out of 10 recalled in the correct order and the number of acoustically dissimilar words recalled in the correct order out of 10 in the correct order. The fact that fewer acoustically similar words were recalled in the correct order out of 10 would suggest that they were muddled up in short term memory so couldn’t be recalled accurately therefore short term memory is most likely to be encoded semantically.
what are the strengths
One strength of our researcher was that standardised instructions were used throughout the experiment. Both groups were given the same lists of acoustically similar words and the same list of acoustically dissimilar words. They were both given one minute to learn and one minute to recall. This increase the reliability of the research because every participant has the same experience making it easier to be replicated to check validity of the results.
Another strength is the use of counterbalancing to reduce order effects. This reduces practice and fatigue effects that occur during repeated measures design. We split the 10 participants in half so that 5 completed the acoustically similar condition first and then acoustically dissimilar condition second. The other 5 completed the acoustically dissimilar condition first and then the acoustically dissimilar condition second. This increases the validity of the findings as the results are less affected by the condition they did first.
