Method
Design
For this experiment a laboratory experiment was chosen. This is a type of experiment that is conducted in a well-controlled environment. All the participants took part in the experiment in the same room, which was a biology classroom. This meant that noise levels lighting and other extraneous variables would be the same.
The independent variables in the experiment are wordlists as there will be two different ones that will affect the dependent variable, which is the amount of words recalled. The independent variables are the categorised and non-categorised word lists. The extraneous variables are background noise as this could affect the attention of the participants and therefore make it less likely for them to memorise any of the words, difficulty of the words-if they are too hard then there could be a floor effect where participants can not memorise or recall any words, or if they are too easy there could be a ceiling effect, where the participants find the task too easy and recall and memorise all of the words and the results would be unreliable, and the lighting of the room they must be able to see the words clearly otherwise it would be hard for them to memorise the words. These will be controlled as much as possible.. The lighting and background noise will be similar to each of the participants, as they will all be doing the experiment in the same room. The experimenters must also remain silent as any noise created by them when the participants are memorising the words could affect the participants. The difficulty of the words was determined in the pilot study when the feedback from the two students said that the words were not too difficult.
A total of 10 checklists were created for the 10 participants who were going to participate in the experiment. The experimenter decided the words that were selected for the final piece. Five (5) participants memorised words from the categorised wordlist and 5 participants memorised words from the uncategorised wordlist whilst being timed. The participants did not repeat the experiment, as this would make the results less reliable because they would have already seen the words.
The ethical issues that are involved in my experiment are:
Right to withdraw-when the students were briefed about the experiment they were informed that they would have the right to withdraw from the experiment at any point even after they have been tested, and all data will be removed.
Confidentiality-when the participants were briefed they were told that their names will remain confidential and their names will be replaced with Participant A, B and C
Deception- I will inform the participants that they will not be deceived in the experiment.
Participants
The target population chosen for this experiment was year 12 students at Ilford County High School; this is because I know that I do not need to get consent from any teachers, as they are over 18 and could give their own consent.
The sampling method chosen for this experiment was opportunity sampling. The first 10 year 12 students that were seen in the P.E. department were chosen for the experiment if they complied and were wiling to participate.
Opportunity sampling involves choosing people who are willing, available and suitable to take part, and are members of the target population. They are representative because the experimenter can choose who they want to take part to balance the different types of people. This is a very efficient method of sampling and allows for you to sample people who fit the desired criteria.
Apparatus and materials
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Stop Watch-This is needed so that the memorising time and recall time can be noted.
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Pen- this will be needed so that the words recalled can be checked off.
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Checklists-I will need the checklist when doing the experiment as it is an efficient way of recording the words recalled
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Wordlists (categorised (appendix 5) and uncategorised(appendix 6))-These are needed so that the participants can learn the words. Words used to test participants’ recall
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Spare room- needed so the experiment can be carried without interruption
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Participants-memory test will be carried out on them
Procedure
Firstly a word processor was used to create 2 sheets with 20 words. Five words main words were selected, these words would be the category and for each of the words, 3 other words were selected that would link or fit in the category in some way e.g. sport (being the main word), cricket, football and rugby are linked to it. On one of the sheets of paper I put one of the main words and then the 3 linked words next to it. I did the same thing for the next main word on the line below, and continued this process until all of the words have been used up. This sheet of paper is the categorised wordlist. On the other sheet of paper I put all 20 words on in a random order but 4 words must be on each line so the format is the same as the other wordlist. This sheet will be the uncategorised wordlist. After I created the wordlists I created 10 checklists with all the words used in it, so that during the experiment words mentioned can be ticked off.
Once I finished making your wordlists go to the PE department and using opportunity sampling choose the first 10 willing participants and brief them. (See Appendix 1).
Once the participants are in the laboratory the categorised and un-categorised wordlists will be handed out alternately, e.g the first participant will get the categorised and the second participant will get the uncategorised and so on. Before the experiment I will read out the standardised instructions (See Appendix 2). I will hand one of the wordlists to the participant and then using the stopwatch time 20 seconds, whilst they are memorising the words the experimenter must remain silent so as not to affect them. After the 20 seconds are up ask the participants are asked to recall as many words as possible in another 20 seconds, whilst they are doing this the experimenter will tick off the words that have been said.
At the end of the experiment debrief the participants. (See Appendix 3).
Following this procedure it is expected similar results will be obtained
Results Table
Calculations see appendix 4.
Raw data appendix 7 onwards
Discussion
The results from the experiment show that more words were recalled from the categorised word list than from the uncategorised. On average only 8 words were recalled from the unorganised word list, whereas the average amount of words recalled for the categorised word list was 12.These results appear to match my original hypothesis which was stated earlier, and as the number of words recalled from the categorised word list is higher, than the amount of words recalled from the uncategorised word list, my hypothesis can be accepted. The results also fit in with the background material this was because the level of processing needed when memorising words from the categorised word list was higher, which lead to a more durable memory, than the levels of processing needed when memorising words from the uncategorised word list, which meant that memories were less likely to be retrieved. This therefore means that Craik and Lockhart’s levels of processing work can be accepted as I have confirmed it in my work. Two anomalies in the experiment was when someone only recalled 8 words from the categorised wordlist. This could be because he never realised that the words were in an order and so looked all over the sheet rather than linking the words together. Another reason could also be because that person just has a bad memory. The other anomaly was when a participant recalled 12 words from the uncategorised wordlist. A reason for this maybe that the person spotted that around the sheet some of the words were linked and so memorised them the same way as the participants from the categorised wordlist would do. Another reason could be that the participant has a good memory.
A limitation for this experiment would be that different people naturally have better memories than other people. This is evident as two of the people who recalled words from the categorised list could only recall a few words and one could only recall 8. This shows that they may just not have good memories. This affects the results because when choosing the sample I may have selected 5 people with bad memories to memorise words from the uncategorised word list, and selected 5 people with really good memories to memorise words from the categorised word list. This therefore affects the validity of the results and means that the results were not linked to the levels of processing theory but was just down to bad luck.
To improve the experiment I could try and remove the limitation I noted above. I could have produced another categorised and uncategorised wordlist with the same words but different words to the originals. Then I would give each participant a categorised and uncategorised wordlist. That would therefore eliminate the problem, as people with bad memories will be tested with both lists and so would people with good memories and so the results would be more reliable and so it could be linked to the theory without any problems
Another experiment I could do to investigate the levels of processing theory further would be to conduct another experiment. The aim could be to investigate whether rhyming words will be more likely to be recalled than words that do not rhyme. This is related to levels of processing as the words that do rhyme should be processed at a deeper level than the words that do not rhyme. Therefore more rhyming words will be recalled compared to the non-rhyming words.
I would have a sheet of paper with 20 words. Ten (10) of the words are rhyming words, e.g. bean, cream, stream, mean etc. and the other 10 would be non-rhyming words e.g. tree, chair, road, spoon etc. I would then record how many words are recalled and note whether they are the rhyming words or not. The results table would look like, this.
Conclusion
When memorising words, which require semantic processing, the words will be retained more as the memory is more durable compared to the words that are memorised at a shallow or perceptual level. As the results show when a person has to use their brain more when memorising words they will be able to recall more of the words. This links in with the levels of processing theory, as memorising words from the categorised list involves higher levels of processing. As the average amount of words recalled for the categorised wordlist was higher than the amount of words recalled from the uncategorised wordlist my results support my theory. I conclude that if something is processed at a deep level it will be retained for longer than something that is processed at a shallow level.
References
Boswell, K. Dancer, L. McLoughlin J. Pennington D. Robinson D. & Smithson R. (2002) Introducing Psychology Approaches, Topics and Methods, Hodder Headline
Eysenck, M.W.(2004) Psychology and International Perspective, Psychology Press
1.Briefing
Excuse me could you please participate in a psychology experiment for me, it is for my coursework. The coursework is to investigate different types of wordlist and how it affects memory and recall. There will be no deception involved and your name will remain confidential. You also have the right to withdraw from the experiment at anytime even after I have the results. The experiment will take place in the biology lab. Are you willing to participate?
2.Standardised Instructions
I will give you a wordlist with 20 words on it. When I say begin you will have 20 seconds to memorise as many of the words on the paper as possible. I will use the stopwatch to time 20 seconds. After the time is up, you will have another 20 seconds to recall as many of the words as possible, and I will tick off the words you recalled. Do you understand?
3.Debriefing
Thank you for participating in my psychology experiment. The aim of the experiment was to find out whether word recall is better when a word list is organised rather than unorganised. I repeat your results will remain confidential and you have the right to withdraw your results from the experiment at any time. Once again thank you for participating.
Appendix
1.Briefing
Excuse me could you please participate in a psychology experiment for me, it is for my coursework. The coursework is to investigate different types of wordlist and how it affects memory and recall. There will be no deception involved and your name will remain confidential. You also have the right to withdraw from the experiment at anytime even after I have the results. The experiment will take place in the biology lab. Are you willing to participate?
Appendix
1.Briefing
Excuse me could you please participate in a psychology experiment for me, it is for my coursework. The coursework is to investigate different types of wordlist and how it affects memory and recall. There will be no deception involved and your name will remain confidential. You also have the right to withdraw from the experiment at anytime even after I have the results. The experiment will take place in the biology lab. Are you willing to participate?
2.Standardised Instructions
I will give you a wordlist with 20 words on it. When I say begin you will have 20 seconds to memorise as many of the words on the paper as possible. I will use the stopwatch to time 20 seconds. After the time is up, you will have another 20 seconds to recall as many of the words as possible, and I will tick off the words you recalled. Do you understand?
3.Debriefing
Thank you for participating in my psychology experiment. The aim of the experiment was to find out whether word recall is better when a word list is organised rather than unorganised. I repeat your results will remain confidential and you have the right to withdraw your results from the experiment at any time. Once again thank you for participating.
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