A: To see whether environment effects recall based on research from the cue dependent theory. Directional hypothesis: PP’s in the same environment condition will recall more words than pp’s in the learning and recall in different environment condition. Null hypothesis: there will be no difference in recall between groups that learn and recall in the same or different environment, any difference is due to chance.
P: Chose 20 random words using the dictionary and put words onto a PowerPoint slide in a font that everyone in the classroom would be able to see. An opportunity sample of 20 pp’s was used – we found 10 males and 10 females from the common room and asked them to come and take part. Those who agreed to participate were given a brief saying that the study was looking at memory and asked to sign a consent form. PP’s were told not to talk to each other and were given 2 minutes to learn the words shown on the board. After this a distraction task of 3 maths sums were shown to pp’s. Half of them were then taken to the canteen. PP’s then had 5 minutes to recall as many words as they could.
F: Mean for same environment:
Mean for different environment:
C:
Evaluation:
Opportunity sample from one 6th form during one lesson time – cannot generalize as it may be one type of person free at that time
We tried to follow a standardized procedure – pp’s all shown the same words and we asked for silence. Our experiment could be replicated.
Not reliable as conducted in a small classroom and pp’s sat next to each other – may have cheated.
Not reliable – lack of control – our group forgot to plan how long to wait in the classroom before asking pp’s to recall words – this means the group who moved to the canteen may have had longer to think about the words.
Lack of ecological validity – although pp’s are stuents and expect to study, they do not tend to learn lists of words and then to recall in the canteen.
Demand characteristics – some pp’s may have guessed the aim. Also some students had studied psychology before so knew what we were doing.
Useful for studying – students could revise in the exam hall to aid recall.
Pp’s gave consent to participate and were given the right to withdraw at the end
Deception – pp’s were only told it was an experiment about memory. It was actually forgetting and context. However a debrief was given
P: Chose 20 random words using the dictionary and put words onto a PowerPoint slide in a font that everyone in the classroom would be able to see. An opportunity sample of 20 pp’s was used – we found 10 males and 10 females from the common room and asked them to come and take part. Those who agreed to participate were given a brief saying that the study was looking at memory and asked to sign a consent form. PP’s were told not to talk to each other and were given 2 minutes to learn the words shown on the board. After this a distraction task of 3 maths sums were shown to pp’s. Half of them were then taken to the canteen. PP’s then had 5 minutes to recall as many words as they could.
F: Mean for same environment:
Mean for different environment:
C:
Evaluation:
Opportunity sample from one 6th form during one lesson time – cannot generalize as it may be one type of person free at that time
We tried to follow a standardized procedure – pp’s all shown the same words and we asked for silence. Our experiment could be replicated.
Not reliable as conducted in a small classroom and pp’s sat next to each other – may have cheated.
Not reliable – lack of control – our group forgot to plan how long to wait in the classroom before asking pp’s to recall words – this means the group who moved to the canteen may have had longer to think about the words.
Lack of ecological validity – although pp’s are stuents and expect to study, they do not tend to learn lists of words and then to recall in the canteen.
Demand characteristics – some pp’s may have guessed the aim. Also some students had studied psychology before so knew what we were doing.
Useful for studying – students could revise in the exam hall to aid recall.
Pp’s gave consent to participate and were given the right to withdraw at the end
Deception – pp’s were only told it was an experiment about memory. It was actually forgetting and context. However a debrief was given