Studying Handout

What is usually assumed about studying and about testing?
     Studying usually leads to better test scores. The tests are a measurement of how much material was learned.
What were the goals of the authors in designing this experiment?
     To examine the long-standing assumptions of the effectiveness of studying and to see if learning something      faster helps people remember it better. The students also predicted how well they thought they would do on the test.
What kinds of materials were used?
     The students were taught Swahili, which was considered to be something that would put all of the students on a level basis.
What were the independent variables?
     The independent variables included whether or not people studied or were tested.
* When one group of subjects are tested doing different things, studies are being done within subjects.
* When several groups are tested doing different things and compared, studies are done between subjects.
What are the drop-out conditions? Are they related to common education?
    Subjects were dropped from some groups for people who demonstrated proficient scores that proved they knew the material. It does relate to common education because education is added on and only slightly reviewed every year.
What was the dependent variable?
    The dependent variable, or what was being measured, was the amount of material that the students remembered, based on their test scores.
Did the different groups perform different in learning?
    There were no significant differences between their results.
Did the groups predictions differ?
    No, about every group predicted they would remember about half.
Did the groups differ on the test? Which variable mattered and how much?
    The two groups that did not test did not do as well as those that did. Studying was not as relevant in helping them learn the material.