Data Session 6, Part C: Comparative Experimental Studies

Session 6, Part C:
Comparative Experimental Studies (65 minutes)

In This Part: Measuring Short-Term Recall | An Experiment | Experimental Design
Analysis of the Experiment

Now we'll move on to an investigation of comparative experimental studies. We'll begin with a problem related to human memory and, in particular, short-term recall. Note 4

Is it easier to remember strings of characters that spell familiar words than to remember arbitrary strings of characters?

Which list do you think would be easier for most people to remember -- words like those in List A, or character strings (non-words) like those in List B?

In order to explore this question, you'll need appropriate data -- and to get this data, you'll need a method of measurement. Note 5

Problem C1

Describe the methods you might use to measure a person's ability to recall words and to recall non-words. Your description should be as specific as possible and include enough detail so that other people could follow your instructions well enough to perform the measurement themselves. Keep in mind that you want to use the results to make a fair comparison of the two sets of data you collect.


Problem C2
Consider your answer to Problem C1. Are there any ways in which the measurement process you described is biased? If so, think about ways you might try to remove this bias.

Remember, bias can come in many forms, including biases of the people conducting a measurement and biases of the people whose ability to recall words is being measured. Close Tip

Next > Part C (Continued): An Experiment

Session 6: Index | Notes | Solutions | Video