Polson Fall 2001Data Collection
Road Map for the Data Collection Assignment
There are TWO parts to the Data Collection Assignment
Run your subjects, analyze their data, and turn in the results by September 2.
Analyze the combined results from the whole class and turn in the write up by September 9.
The packet contains 7 sections.
Section 1. Step by Step Instructions. This section tells you how to run the experiment and what you have to turn to me on September 19. YOU must collect data before you can do the write-up for a grade.
Section 2. Introduction and Method. This section is the introduction to the APA format write-up and the methods section. Here is where you get the details on how to run the experiment.
Section 3. Here is the consent form that MUST be signed by each of your subjects before they participate in the experiment. Make FIVE copies. Turn in the signed copies to me.
Section 4. Instructions to Subjects. These are the instructions that you read to your subjects. I have written instructions for the Imagery and Intentional conditions. YOU are going to have to write the instructions for the three remaining conditions.
Section 5. Word List. Copy this list on to 27 3” by 5” cards
Section 6. Data Sheet. Make FIVE Copies. Turn in the filled out copies to me.
Section 7. Recall Sheet. Make FIVE Copes. Turn in the filled out copies to me.
The APA Format Report, Due by October 8th or 11th
You will turn in the analyzed data from your five subjects by September 19th. YOU must collect data before you can do the write-up for a grade.
I will combine everyone’s data into a single StatView data file.
You will analyze the combined data using the appropriate StatView analyses.
You will ONLY get credit for your write-up if you collect data.
(Over)
Your write-up will be in APA format. It will include
- a title page
- a 100 word abstract
- a methods section
- a results section
- a discussion section, and
- an appendix containing the instructions for the counting, rhyming,
and adjective conditions.
You don’t have to write an introduction or include a reference section.
The details of the requirements for the write-up are in the Data Collection Template on the server. Be sure that you read the introduction carefully. You must discuss the points raised in the introduction in your conclusion section.
1. Step by Step Instructions
Read carefully the Introduction and Method, Section 2, for the experiment. Be sure you understand the details of the procedures for each group.
Find a place to run your experiment. You will need a desk or table. The place should be free of serious distractions.
Get five friends to volunteer for the study. Tell them it is a cognitive psychology experiment studying different kinds of mental manipulations of words.
Do not let them even consider the possibility that your study is a memory experiment. If a friend guesses the purpose of the experiment, replace them with a new volunteer.
Make copies of the recall sheets.
Make copies of the data sheet.
Prepare a deck of 27 3”x5” cards with one word printed clearly or typed on each card.
The general instructions for the experiment are found in Section 4.
You will have to write the instructions for three of the experimental conditions. Include your instructions in the write-up. I have written the general instructions, the instructions for the Intentional (Control) Condition, and the Imagery Condition.
Practice administering the procedure for each of the five conditions using participants that will not be included in your 5.
Try to schedule your participants during times that they are awake and not distracted by other activities, e.g., a test an hour after the experiment.
Try to schedule your participants close enough together so that they don’t have a chance to talk about the experiment with other participants.
A few minutes before each participant arrives, make sure all is ready.
- You have all the instructions ready.
- The cards have been shuffled into a new order
- You have a copy of the consent form
- You have a copy of the data sheet.
- You have a copy of the recall sheet out of sight
- You have a watch or clock with a second hand
When your participant arrives, get them seated and have them read and sign the consent form.
Hand the participant a copy of the instructions so that they can read along with you. Keep the recall instructions separate.
Read the instructions to them.
Answer questions by paraphrasing the instructions.
Follow the procedure in the write-up.
For each participant, record number correct on the recall task, age, and if they are a CU student.
YOU MUST TURN IN THE
- signed consent forms
- the data sheets
- the recall sheets
- and a data summary sheet containing the age, number correct, and experimental condition for each of your five subjects. Please compose this summary sheet in MS Excel and email it to me as an attachment.
Put all of the paper material into a folder, and turn it in in lab. The deadline is given on Page 1.
2. Introduction and Method
A fundamental question in the psychology of memory has been function of intention to learn a list of words or other experimental material. Obviously, one cannot learn without paying attention or orienting to the material. Thus, researchers have compared the performance of groups given instructions to intentionally memorize the materials with groups that were given different orienting tasks, tasks that caused them to attend to materials while performing various cognitive operations on them. However, the purpose of the orienting tasks was to assure that participants attended to the materials while concealing from the fact that they were going to be tested for recall.
Craik and Lockhart (1972) developed a theoretical framework that provides an elegant account of the role of intention to learn in memorization and that makes startling predictions. Craik and Lockhart argued that route rehearsal, saying words over and over without any other cognitive processing, will not lead to successful storage in long-term memory. What determines successful storage and later retrieval of information are the kinds of cognitive operations that are carried out on the material to be memorized.
They distinguished between shallow and deep operations. Shallow operations involved attending to orthographic characteristics of the word (whether it was in upper or lower-cased letters, counting the number of letters in a word) or simple rehearsal. Intermediate operations involved generating a rhyme for the word. Deep operations all involved accessing and manipulating meaningful or semantic information associated with the word, like being required to incorporate the word in a meaningful sentence.
Concurrently with Craik and Lockhart, Hyde and Jenkins (1973) and Hyde (1973) did a series of experiments that strongly confirmed the Craik and Lockhart depth of processing hypothesis: that deep processing leads to very durable memory traces. Hyde and Jenkins (1973) and Hyde (1973) did a series of classical incidental learning experiments in which they manipulated the characteristics of the orienting task. They found that subjects given tasks that required meaningful or semantic manipulations of the words but no instructions to learn recalled lists of words as well as subjects given explicit instructions to memorize the materials.
This experiment employed the various orienting tasks use by Craik and Tulving (1975) in the incidental learning paradigm used by Hyde and Jenkins (1973). Four groups of participants were given different kinds of orienting tasks and then later given a surprise recall test. Their performance was be compared to a group that was given explicit instructions to memorize the materials.
This experiment evaluates the hypothesis that deep processing, processing involving accessing and manipulating the meanings of words, leads to recall performance that is equal to the performance of participants given intentional instructions to learn. Intention to learn, per se, does not determine recall performance. What is critical is the kind of cognitive operations that participants perform on the to-be-memorized material.
Method
Parts of this method section are taken from Eysenck (1974). The design consisted of a one-way analysis of variance. One group was given explicit instructions to memorize the materials. The remaining four groups were given different orienting tasks described below followed by a surprise recall task,
Participants
The XX participants were friends of the XX experimenters and served as volunteers. All were students at the University of Colorado at Boulder and ranged in age from YY to ZZ. Each experimenter ran one participant in each condition. Participants were randomly assigned to each condition.
Materials and Apparatus
A 27-word list was constructed by selecting concrete nouns that have at least one easily recalled rhyme from a list normed by Paivio, Yuille, and Madigan (1968). All had scores of 6 or higher on both the imagery (I) and concreteness (C) rating scales. The list was arranged in a random order. Each word was printed or typed in capital letters on a card that was 3 by 5 inches.
The data were collected at various locations on and off campus that were relatively free of distractions. Participants and experimenters sat at a table or desk.
Design and Procedure
The following are the five orienting tasks (all self-paced) used in this experiment.
Letter counting. This task involved counting and recording the number of letters in each word the first time through the pack of cards. The second time through the pack, subjects were to count and record the number of consonants in each word. The third time through the pack, they were to count and record the number of letters in each word coming before the letter M in the alphabet.
Rhyming. This task consisted of finding a word that rhymed with each of the list words in turn. Subjects were instructed to say the rhyming word out loud. On completion of the pack of cards, subjects were to go through the pack a second and third time, attempting to think of a different rhyme for each word.
Adjective. This task involved finding a suitable modifying adjective for each of the list words in turn. Subjects were instructed to say each adjective out loud. When they had completed the pack, subjects were to go through the pack a second and third time, attempting to think of a different adjective to modify each list word.
Imagery. The task involved attempting to form an image of each of the list words in turn. These images were to be rated on 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (no image at all) to 5 (the image is perfectly clear and as vivid as normal vision).
Control (intentional). This task consisted of working systematically through the pack, attempting to learn as many words as possible. On completion of the pack, subjects were to go through the pack for a second and third time.
Procedure
(You write the procedure section describing how the experiment was administered. Make sure to include adequate detail so that a reader could replicate your experiment.)
Results
(You write the results section.)
Discussion
(You write the discussion section.)
References
Craik, F.I.M. & Lock, R.S. (1972) Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671-684.
Eysenck, M.W. (1974) Age differences in incidental learning. Developmental Psychology, 10, 936-941.
Hyde, T. S. (1973) The differential effects of effort and type of orienting task on the recall and organization of highly associated words. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 97, 111-113.
Hyde, T.S. & Jenkins, J.J. Recall for words as a function of semantic, graphic, and syntactic orienting tasks. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 471-480.
Paivio, A. Yuille, J.C., and Madigan, S.A. (1968) Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns. Journal of Experimental Psychology Monograph Supplement, 76, 1-25
3. Informed Consent Form
Informed Consent Form for “Mental Operations on Words”
You are being invited to participate in a research project by ______, an undergraduate student in the University of Colorado’s Department of Psychology, Campus Box 345, Boulder, Colorado 80309. This is a class assignment being conducted under the direction of Professor Peter Polson in the Department of Psychology (phone 492-5622).
You are invited to participate in a research study about various kinds of mental operations on common words. Your participation will take place at a location mutually agreeable to you and the experimenter. The exact nature of the mental operations will be described to you in the experimental instructions given to you when you perform the task. The task should take less than 20 minutes of your time.
There are no potential risks, embarrassments, or discomforts associated with this study. Understand that your participation is completely voluntary. You will not receive any reimbursement, course credit, or any other benefit as compensation for your participation.
If you decide to participate in this project, please understand that your participation is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw your consent or discontinue your participation at any time. If in contrast to our expectations you find the procedure stressful, you have the right to withdraw.
In addition, your individual privacy will be maintained in all published or written data resulting from this study. No names or other identifying information will be recorded by the experimenter. The only information that will appear in written documents emanating from this project will be averages across subjects.
If you have any questions regarding our rights as a participant, any concerns regarding this project or any dissatisfaction with any aspect of this study, you may report them to, confidentially if you wish, to the Executive Secretary, Human Research Committee, Graduate School, Campus Box 26, Regent 308, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0026 or by telephone to (303)492-7401. Copies of the University of Colorado Assurance of Compliance to the federal government regarding human subject research are available on request from the Graduate School address listed above.
I understand the above information and voluntarily consent to participate in the research project entitled “Mental Operations on Words.”
Signature of participant ______Date ______
4. Instructions to Subjects
Intentional Control Group
Your task in this experiment is to memorize a list of common words. You will be given the words on a deck of cards. You will be allowed to study each word carefully for up to 15 seconds. If you spend more than 15 seconds on an individual word, the experimenter will say, “Next,” and should immediately go on to the next word in the deck.
When you have completed the deck for the first time, you will then collect the cards together and then you will go through the deck again. Study each word carefully for up to 15 seconds. After your third pass through the list of words, you will then attempt to recall them. You will be given a recall sheet with the numbers 1 through 27 and be asked to write down as many of the 27 words as you can remember.
Do you have any questions?
Say when you are ready to begin.
Counting Instructions
Write your draft of the counting instructions here.
Rhyming Instructions
Write the rhyming instructions here.
Adjective Instructions
Write your description of the adjective instructions here.
Imagery Instructions
In this experiment we are studying how people carry out mental operations on common words. We are also interested in how repetition effects the nature of your processing. Your task will be to attempt to form a clear mental image of the concept described by each word. You will then be asked to rate the image on a scale of 1 to 5. Assign a rating of 1 if it not possible for you to form a mental image for the word. Assign a rating of 5 if the image is perfectly clear and is as vivid as if you were staring at the actual object. You may take up to 15 seconds to form the image of each word and to give your rating. If you take more than 15 seconds, the experimenter will say, “Next.” You should immediately give a rating and go on to the next word. After you have completed all 27 words, we will go through the process again and ask you to perform the task for a second and third time.
Do you have any questions?
Say when you are ready to begin.
5. Word List
Materials
Common concrete nouns that have at least one easily recalled rhyme. All had scores of 6 or higher on both the imagery (I) and concreteness rating scales. The words were selected from Paivio, A. Yuille, J.C., and Madigan, S.A. (1968) Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns. Journal of Experimental Psychology Monograph Supplement, 76, 1-25.
APPLE
ARROW
BABY
BANKER
BEAST
BLOOD
CANDY
CHAIR
CLOCK
DOOR