Hypothesis for the experiment
Group two will recall more of the 25 words than group one.
Null hypothesis for the experiment
There will be no significant difference between the two groups.
Experimental design
The experimental design I have used is Independent groups design. There are two main reasons for this; firstly I only have to come up with one set of words to remember. This means that setting the experiment up is easier and faster. Secondly there is no chance of people remembering the words from the first time because no one will know that the other side of the experiment is taking place. There are, however, disadvantages, which are that one group, might include a group of brain-damaged people whose short-term memory is affected while the other group could include people that can remember things very easily. Another disadvantage is that more people need to be recruited to take part in the experiment.
Independent variable
The independent variable in this study is the way in which the words are given to the participants.
Dependant variable
The dependant variable is the number of words that are recalled by the participants.
Sampling method
The best sampling method would be random sampling because it gives everyone a chance to be chosen for the experiment this would also lead to unbiased results. To save time however I would use opportunity sampling because it is easier and faster to get a group of participants. The advantages of this sampling method are that the participants are quick and easy to get hold of, the disadvantages are that it is not always a representation of the population and results could be biased.
Extraneous variables
There are two main extraneous variables, which are the time of day the study takes place. This can be controlled by holding them at the same time of the day either on the same day or on two separate days. The second extraneous variable that jumps out is the instructions given to participants but this can be controlled also by having a set of standardised instructions, the only problem is that one of the instructions explaining how the words are given and how recall will take place will need to be different.
Standardised instructions
- You will be given a list of 25 words.
1a) You will hear a list of 25 words.
- You will then have a minute to rehearse them in your mind.
2a) You will then have a break of a minute before recall takes place.
- You will be asked to recall the 25 words within a minute in any order.
3a) You will be given a sheet of paper with 50 words on and asked to cross off the 25 you originally heard.
Ethical issues
One ethical issue that could arise is deception, participants could come up with different ways of memorising the words if they knew it was an experiment testing memory this takes away the advantage of using fully informed consent as a way of avoiding this ethical issue. There is however another form of consent that can be used, general consent. This means that the participants agree to do the study and all participants are told that in general terms volunteers are misinformed and any that do not find that it is acceptable will not be used for the study.
A second ethical issue is harm that could be inflicted upon participants, the timed situation, for example, could be found stressful by some participants. A full debriefing for the discussion of any worries or feelings of stress from the experiment is the way to address this ethical issue.