APA Project – Survey Research Plan (Assignment #1 )

 

Overview

This is the first assignment for your APA Research project. Each assignment builds on previous work so take care in completing this week’s work! By the time you finish the course, you will have first-hand experience constructing and administering a survey, as well as practice in analyzing your results and drawing conclusions. 

As you learned from the previous page, you will be conducting non-experimental research using self-report surveys. Because this is your research, you may choose a topic of interest to you. 

Before completing this assignment, please read the information on

‘Writing Survey Items’ in section 7.35 of your textbook Links to an external site.

. Understanding the information that can be gained from survey items will make this assignment much easier. You will be learning about survey research in more detail next week.

Instructions for APA Project – Assignment # 1 (Survey Topic)

Planning

Please read each bullet point carefully.

This week, you are to choose the topic you would like to research. Choose wisely! In next week’s assignment, you will create a survey using both open-ended and closed-ended items on your your selected topic.

Don’t forget: You can choose to conduct observational or correlational research.

Observational research – your research will describe one variable.
Correlational research – your research will examine the relationship between two variables. 

Here is a pdf with some single variable topic ideas to get you started: ObservationalSurveyTopics . Download ObservationalSurveyTopics .Don’t be limited to these research questions though. Be creative and try to think of new ideas.

Here are a few correlational topic ideas:

Study habits and GPA
Meditation/exercise/sleep habits and mood
Quarantine and eating/drinking/exercise habits
Living situation (e.g., alone, with friends, family, kids) and stress
Social media use and stress

Important: Your research is not being submitted to an IRB (from your Ethics chapter Links to an external site.: A committee that is responsible for reviewing research protocols for potential ethical problems) so please do not ask about private, sensitive, personal matters such as mental illness, sexuality and the like. Beyond that, have fun creating questions you really want answers to.

Assignment Guidelines

Your assignment should include the following information using a bulleted format and the labels you see here.

• Topic:

  Generally, what topic are you studying?

  For example, sleep quality during quarantine – this is a correlational example. (Please do not choose this topic.)

  Who is your population?

  For example, anyone impacted by Covid-19.

  Based on your topic and population, are there any specific characteristics that your participants need to have in order to be eligible for your study? These required characteristics are called inclusion criteria. Including inclusion criteria means that only people who meet those criteria can participate in your study. You will need to specify this during recruitment.

  We don’t need any inclusion criteria in the sleep quality and quarantine example because the population is anyone that has been impacted by covid – which is everyone. However, if I was interested in exploring this relationship in a specific population (e.g., women or people between the ages of 18 and 25), then I would need to specify the inclusion criteria.

• Conceptual definitions: Provide a conceptual definition for your two variables.

  For example:

  Quarantine – isolating at home for 10-14 days.
  Sleep quality – includes bedtime, wake time, sleep duration, difficulties falling/staying asleep.

• Questions: Without worrying about the format (closed or open-ended) or how you would pose the questions to respondents, what questions related to your topic would you like to find answers to?

  For example, Have people’s sleep habits changed during quarantine? Have the number of hours changed, when people go to bed and wake up, or both? Do people feel rested? Are people experiencing difficulties falling and/or staying asleep? What demographic or other factors might be related to sleep changes during quarantine?

• Variables: Using the questions above, identify at least 3 measurable aspects of your variables of interest.

  For example, 1) quarantine or not, 2) amount of sleep, 3) sleep quality, 4) sleep-wake cycle, 5) sleep difficulties.

• Operational definitions: How will you operationally define (i.e., measure) each of your variables of interest? 

  For example:

  Variable 1 – Quarantine

  Quarantine – response ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, currently quarantining due to Covid-19

  Variable 2 – Sleep Quality

  Amount of sleep – hours per night.
  Sleep quality – 5-point scale from ‘Very Poor’ to ‘Excellent’.
  Sleep-wake cycle – sleep bedtime and wake time for the day.
  Sleep difficulties – frequency of difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep, using a 5-point scale from ‘Never’ to ‘Always’.

  So we are interested in the relationship between quarantine and sleep. We have one variable to measure quarantine and several to measure sleep. 

• Hypothesis: What is your hypothesis?

  For example, I hypothesize that sleep habits change during quarantine. Specifically, respondents go to sleep later and wake later than before quarantine. Respondents sleep 1 extra hour a night, on average, during quarantine.

Another example is provided on the next page.

Your assignment will pass through Turn It In, so be sure your work is your own.

Running head: GUIDED IMAGERY AND PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION

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12

Title Here

First and Last Name Here

Department of XXX, College Here

Class number here (It is Psyc 005): Name of Class here (It is Research Methods in Psychology)

Instructor name here

Date

Title from Title Page Here

The title is formatted using an APA style level 1 heading. It is bold and centered. The four main sections of research articles are the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion and are also formatted as level 1 headings.

Using the bulleted questions below, summarize the key ideas of each section. Use compete sentences to create a paragraph/s. Delete the questions and text and enter your own content.

Introduction

By answers the questions below you will have effectively introduced the research topic.

· What was the researcher interested in (what was the research topic)?

· What were the variables? How were they 
conceptually defined? (See 

Chapter 4, Psychological Measurement (Links to an external site.)
; especially section 21. Practical Strategies for Psychological Measurement)

· What were the researcher’s research questions and/or hypothesis?

Methods

All information in the Methods section should pertain to who participated in the study and how the study was conducted. The Methods section is often (but not always) broken into sub-sections including Sample, Design, Measures, and Procedure. Sometimes sections are combined or different terms are used (e.g., Participants instead of Sample), so if you don’t find the specific term in the article just read to find the relevant content. For this paper, please separate information into the sub-headings noted below and format each using an APA level 2 heading – bold and left-justified.

Sample

· Describe the sample – sample size (how many), gender, age, ethnicity and race, any other important demographic information.

· How were they recruited?

Design

If the terms below are not mentioned in the article, apply your knowledge of the concepts to answer the questions.

· Was the research experimental or non-experimental?

· If non-experimental:

· Was it simply describing variable(s), or was it correlational?

· If experimental:

· What was the independent variable(s)? What was the dependent variable(s)?

· Was a between-subjects or within-subjects design used?

Measures

Think of this section as the ingredients list of a cooking recipe. What materials (e.g., questionnaires, parental observations, dental records, etc.) did the authors use to measure the variables of interest?

· How did the author/s operationally define the variables? 

· i.e., what measures where used? (What are they called and what do they measure?)

Procedures

Think of this section as the “how to” part of a cooking recipe – where the chef explains when and how the ingredients are incorporated to make the dish. In the same way, summarize the steps the researcher followed to conduct the research.

· What did the participants have to do?

Results

Read the Results section completely and then re-read it to find sentences that sum up, in everyday language, the findings. These “main takeaway” sentences are often (though not always) near the end of the Results section and can help you summarize the findings for your paper. Be sure to put the information in your own words.

· What did the researchers find/what were the results?

· Note: for this section, you do not need to include any statistical information. Using everyday language, explain what the main findings were.

Discussion

The purpose of the Discussion section is for the authors to critically examine what went well and what didn’t go as planned. They also discuss conclusions that can be drawn from the research and how future research on the topic might be conducted.

· What explanations (possible reasons) does the researcher give for the results? In other words, why do they think they found what they did?

· What were the limitations of the study?

· What do the researchers recommend future research should do?

References

The Reference section is always on a new page. To “lock in” your page break, hold the keyboard Command/Control and Enter keys simultaneously. This will create a new page that will not move if you edit your document.

Using APA style, reference the article. You can find an example here:

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

/journal-article-references#1

Notice the hanging indent (like a reverse paragraph) and double spacing. Notice that the article title is sentence case and that the journal title is italicized. Pay attention to detail when creating references.

If you used any other resources, reference them as well. Follow the appropriate example using the APA site:
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

Guide to Taking Notes on Empirical Articles

Taking notes on your articles will greatly facilitate your comprehension of the material and eventual writing of a paper. Having a system for taking notes will allow you to organize information in an easily accessible fashion (something that is very useful when you have several articles that are similar). Further, taking good notes will ensure that accidental plagiarism does not occur. If you write from your notes instead of the article, it’s hard to use the author’s words).

This may seem like it takes a lot of time (and/or a waste of time). However, taking quality notes will save you time in the long run by helping you understand your topic better, making you aware of key references, and making the writing of a research paper MUCH easier!

A few tips for taking notes:

· Plan on reading each article at least twice. As much as possible, have an idea of which topics/concepts you hope to have in your paper. That way you can pay extra attention to those areas as you read the article. 


· As you read your source for the first time, highlight key information. It is best to highlight pieces of information, not whole sentence. This will help avoid plagiarism as you write your paper. 


· Be sure to make notes for yourself in the margins (thoughts you have, how things may relate to your paper, etc.)

· Check the references! Look through, and highlight any key references so that you can track them down later when you need to find additional articles on your own. 


· After you have read the article, transfer your highlighting and notes to a note sheet. 


· PARAPHRASE! As you transfer things over, avoid copying things word for word. This is a great time to start putting things into your own words. This way you will not have to worry as much about plagiarizing accidentally.

· Keep your notes short and as succinct as possible. The idea is that you want to create a source for yourself that is easier to use than the original article (i.e. it’s much easier to read

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page of notes than 10 pages of an article).

· Remember your notes are a reference for you. If there is a lot of information you find useful (e.g. info about a scale) describe it briefly, then include a page number. Ultimately, you will be using these along with the article. 


· Save your work on a computer, and be consistent in your style & organization. You should include the following information:


Your notes on each empirical research article should include the following: 


·
Reference – Give the reference for the paper you are reading in APA Style. This way you can copy it into your reference list later. 


·
General Topic – What is the general area this source focuses on? Be specific. 


·
Sub-Topic(s) – Any key sub-topics? Be specific
. You can use these later to help you 
determine where this article will fit in your outline. 


·
Overall Research Question and Rationale – What research question is the article you are ready trying to answer? What was the rationale or purpose of the study(ies)? What did the research project set out to discover? 


·
Key Research Cited in Article – Do they mention any research in the Introduction that is relevant to the research project under investigation (i.e., your study)? Describe briefly & give the citation. Any article that is central to the one you are reading should be listed here. Please make a small note about why the article is a key article and give the proper APA reference for it so the article may be easily found. Keep in mind that you should NOT use this information as something your article found. Rather it should be used as a means of finding other useful sources later. 


·
Hypotheses – What is predicted about how the IV(s) will influence the DV(s)? If there are multiple studies, list them by study. Use these to organize your notes for the results section. 


·
Independent Variables (IV) – What variable(s) are being compared for changes in the DV. If there are multiple studies, list them by study. 


·
Dependent Variables (DV) – What is being measured? If there are multiple studies, list them by study. If there are multiple studies, list them by study.

·
Participants – Please give the number and a description of the participants. If there are multiple studies, list them by study. If there are multiple studies, list them by study.

·
Type of Design – Note the design used to collect data. Was it correlational or experimental? What type of experimental design was used? If there are multiple studies, list them by study. 


·
Brief Description of Procedure – How was the study conducted. What did participants do in the study? What were they told? What materials/surveys were involved? What happened in the study between consent and debriefing? You may note with bullet points. If there are multiple studies, list them by study.

·
Key Results Specifically Related to Each Hypothesis – You should have at least 1 key finding for each hypothesis. If there are multiple studies, list them by study. What were their key findings? How do they relate to the hypotheses? This is the most important, because you will use this the most when writing your Introduction.

·
Other Key Findings Related to your Topic – Include any additional findings that researchers may not have been originally predicted or that were not central to the purpose of the article, but may be useful to the study you are developing.

·
Overall Thoughts – What is this article’s main contribution to the rationale for asking your research question? How is it relevant to the study you are developing? What can you use from your Introduction from it? What background does it give the reader on the topic of the research study you are developing?

This may seem like it takes a lot of time (and/or a waste of time). However, taking quality notes will save you time in the long run by helping you understand your topic better, making you aware of key references, and making the writing of the paper MUCH easier!!!

Note Taking Template

An Example

Reference: Sanders, M. A., Shirk, S. D., Burgin, C. J., & Martin, L. L. (2012). The gargle effect: Rinsing and mouth with glucose enhances self-control.
Psychological Science, 23, 1470-1472. doi: 10.1177/095679761240034

General Topic:

The impact of glucose on self-control

Sub Topics:

N/A for this article

Overall Research Question and Rationale:

Does glucose prevent the depletion of self-control?

To determine if glucose can prevent self-control failure

Key Research Findings/Studies Relevant to The Research Question.
You should make a small note about the findings along with the proper APA reference for the findings/studies being cited so that you can easily find and read that study yourself.

· Baumesiter, Bratsavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998


· Gailliot, Barumesiter, DeWall, Maner, Plant, Tice & Schmeichel, 2007

· Molden, Hui, Noreen, Meier, Scholer, D’Agostine & Martin, 2012

IV(s):
What variable(s) are being compared for changed in the DV?) (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Glucose exposure (exposed or not)

DV(s):
What is being measured? (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Self-control

Primary Hypotheses: (number them)
What is predicted about how the IV(s) will influence the DV(s)? (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

1. That glucose will enhance self-control (prevent the impact of depletion)

a. Participants that rinsed with the glucose will have better self-control (and therefore preform faster on the Stroop task) compared to those that rinsed with a non-glucose

Number and Description of Participants:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

51 students

Type of Design Used:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Experimental; two-group design

Brief Description of Procedure:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

· Did a self-control task

· crossed out Es in a stats textbook with a complex set of rules to deplete self-control

· Rinsed with lemonade made with either glucose or non-glucose (Splenda) solution while doing another self-control task

· Stroop task; reaction times in incongruent trials

· Rated sweetness & pleasantness (favorability) of the lemonade solution

Key Results Specifically Related to Each Hypothesis (number them):
You should have at least 1 key finding for each hypothesis (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

1. Glucose rinse group was faster on the incongruent trials of the Stroop task (had more self- control)

Other Key Findings Related to Your Topic:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Glucose group rated the lemonade as more favorable (pleasant and sweet) than the non-glucose group

Overall Thoughts:
What is this article’s main contribution to the rationale for asking your research question? How is it relevant? What can be used for your intro from it?

Glucose prevents the depletion of self-control.

· Glucose can replenish or decrease the impact of self-control depletion

Note Taking Template

Directions: Delete information in
italics. Enter your answers in with the red font color.

Reference:
Provide the proper APA reference.

General Topic:

Sub Topics:

Overall Research Question and Rationale

Key Research Findings/Studies Relevant to the Research Question.
You should make a small note about the findings along with the proper APA reference for the findings/studies being cited so that you can easily find and read that study yourself.

IV(s):
What variable(s) are being compared for changed in the DV?) (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

DV(s):
What is being measured? (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Primary Hypotheses: (number them)
What is predicted about how the IV(s) will influence the DV(s)? (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Number and Description of Participants:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Type of Design Used:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Brief Description of Procedure:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Key Results Specifically Related to Each Hypothesis (number them):
You should have at least 1 key finding for each hypothesis (NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Other Key Findings Related to Your Topic:
(NOTE: If there are multiple studies, list them by study)

Overall Thoughts:
What is this article’s main contribution to the rationale for asking your research question?

Adapted from article at teachpsychscience.org.

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image1

TIPS ON READING RESEARCH REPORTS<p>

You have probably already recognized that reading a professional article in psychology is somewhat different from other reading that you do. Here is some advice for those who are new at reading research reports in psychology.

Format of Journal Articles

There is no single “right” way to read a journal article, however, the following strategy may work well for you. A typical article has five main sections: abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion. Below are a few pointers to consider about each section.

Abstract. The abstract provides a quick overview of the research problem, the methods used, the main findings, and the conclusions to be drawn from the study. The abstract is probably the single most important paragraph in the article, and deserves special attention. If you read the abstract carefully (and perhaps more than once), it will be easier to follow the rest of the article.

· Abstract read at least once.

Introduction. The introduction sets the stage for the study by describing the central issue of interest, and briefly reviewing previous research on the topic. The introduction also presents the rationale for the research, that is, the reasons for undertaking this particular study. The introduction specifies the goals of the research, and the research strategy to be used. In some articles, the research problem will be stated in the form of specific hypotheses. After reading the introduction, you should be able to answer the following questions about the study:

· Why is this study important?




· What questions will this study answer (hint: look for the hypotheses)? 


· How does this study build on previous research?




Method. The method section describes in detail how the study was conducted. This section usually begins with a description of the participants who took part in the research. Next, the materials used in the study such as questionnaires or standardized laboratory tasks are described. The method section also includes a step-by- step description of the specific procedures used in the research. 


· In reading the method section, try to imagine what it was like to be a participant in the study. 


· After reading the method section you should be able to describe from start to finish what the 
researcher did and how he or she did it. 


Results. The results section describes the data that were collected and the ways in which the data were analyzed. Statistical analyses are presented here. Because space in professional journals is limited, authors must juggle the need to be clear and detailed against the need to be concise. Tables and figures are often used to summarize information efficiently, and you should be sure to look at them carefully. After reading the results section, you should be able to answer these questions:

· What were the main findings?

· Did the results support the original hypotheses?

· Were there any important but unexpected results?

Discussion. The discussion section evaluates and interprets the results. This is where the research can consider the implications of the study, and compare its findings to results from previous research. Authors sometimes also comment on limitations or special features of their research that may have affected the results, or propose directions for future studies. After reading the discussion section, you should be able to answer these questions: 


· What have I learned from this research? 


· How have these findings helped me to understand the original research problem identified in the 
introduction? 


By the way, A Few Words about Statistics:

For many people, the most intimidating aspect of reading professional articles in psychology is confronting the statistical analyses of data in the results section. Such terms as “log-linear analysis” or “analysis of covariance” may seem mysterious and perplexing. Whereas you cannot be expected to understand the specifics of sophisticated data analyses that go beyond you level of training, even articles with the fanciest of statistics should also state the key findings in plain English–which you should understand. Try to read the results section carefully, and understand what each particular analysis is designed to accomplish and how specific results are interpreted. Some of the basic abbreviations and statistical terms you will encounter are explained below.

Analysis of Variance: A statistical procedure that uses an F-test to assess the degree of difference between the mean scores of two or more groups.

ANOVA: Abbreviation for analysis of variance.

Chi Square: A measure of the degree of association between two categorical variables, abbreviated as X2. [A categorical variable has named categories, not numerical values; religious is a categorical variable with such categories as Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.]

Correlation: A measure of the degree of relationship between two variables (e.g., intelligence and income), sometimes abbreviated as r. A correlation can range between –

1

(perfect negative relationship) and +2 (perfect positive relationship); r = 0 means there is no relationship between the variables.

Factor analysis: A statistical procedure for uncovering common dimensions or factors that link variables together; a researcher might use this statistical procedure to see if a 20-item questionnaire has distinct subscales.

F or F-test: The F statistic is obtained from an F- test used to assess the degree of difference between the mean scores of two or more groups.

Log-linear analysis: A statistical procedure for determining the degree of association between categorical (named) variables.

M: Abbreviation for the mean or average score.

N or
n: Abbreviation for the number of participants in a study or subgroup.

ns: Abbreviation for not statistically significant.

p: Abbreviation for probability or significance level. This refers to the likelihood that a pattern of results could have occurred by chance; p =01 means that there is only a 1% probability that the observed result occurred by chance.

r: Abbreviation for correlation (see above). Regression analysis A statistical procedure that allows the researcher to predict the value of one variable given the value of one or more other variables.

Reliability: Refers to the degree to which test scores are reproducible and consistent over time.

SD: Standard deviation. This term refers to how much scores vary around the mean score; a large SD means that there is much variation in scores.

Statistical significance: A result, such as a difference in scores between two groups, is said to be statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. For example, if a group difference is significant at the “.05 level,” the probability is only 5% that a difference of this size occurred by chance.

t or t-test: The t statistic is obtained in a t-test used to assess the degree of difference in mean scores between two groups.


Validity: Refers to the degree to which a test or instrument measures what it is intended to measure.

Adapted from: Peplau, L. A. (1988). Introduction: Reading research reports in social psychology. In L. A. Peplau, D. O. Sears, S. E. Taylor, & J. L. Freedman (Eds.),
Readings in social psychology: Classic and contemporary contributions (2nd ed., pp.
1-5). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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JOURNAL OF VERBAL LEARNING AND VERBAL BEHAVIOR 13, 585-589 (1974)

Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction :
An Example of the Interaction Between Language and Memory’

ELIZABETH F. LOFTUS AND JOHN C. PALMER

University of Washington

Two experiments are reported in which subjects viewed films of automobile accidents
and then answered questions about events occurring in the films. The question, “About
how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” elicited higher estimates
of speed than questions which used the verbs collided, bumped, contucted, or hit in place of
smashed. On a retest one week later, those subjects who received the verb smashed were
more likely to say “yes” to the question, “Did you see any broken glass?”, even though
broken glass was not present in the film. These results are consistent with the view that the
questions asked subsequent to an event can cause a reconstruction in one’s memory of that
event.

How accurately do we remember the
details of a complex event, like a traffic
accident, that has happened in our presence?
More specifically, how well do we do when
asked to estimate some numerical quantity
such as how long the accident took, how fast
the cars were traveling, or how much time
elapsed between the sounding of a horn and
the moment of collision?

It is well documented that most people are
markedly inaccurate in reporting such numeri-
cal details as time, speed, and distance (Bird,
1927; Whipple, 1909). For example, most
people have difficulty estimating the duration
of an event, with some research indicating that
the tendency is to overestimate the duration of
events which are complex (Block, 1974;
Marshall, 1969; Ornstein, 1969). The judg-
ment of speed is especially difficult, and
practically every automobile accident results
in huge variations from one witness to another

This research was supported by the Urban Mass
Transportation Administration, Department of Trans-

1 portation, Grant No. WA-11-0004. Thanks go to

as to how fast a vehicle was actually traveling
(Gardner, 1933). In one test administered to
Air Force personnel who knew in advance
that they would be questioned about the speed
of a moving automobile, estimates ranged
from 10 to 50 mph. The car they watched was
actually going only 12 mph (Marshall, 1969,
p. 23).

Given the inaccuracies in estimates of
speed, it seems likely that there are variables
which are potentially powerful in terms of
influencing these estimates. The present
research was conducted to investigate one
such variable, namely, the phrasing of the
question used to elicit the speed judgment.
Some questions are clearly more suggestive
than others. This fact of life has resulted in
the legal concept of a leading question and in
legal rules indicating when leading questions
are allowed (Supreme Court Reporter, 1973).
A leading question is simply one that, either
by its form or content, suggests to the witness
what answer is desired or leads him to the
desired answer.

Geoffrey Loftus, Edward E. Smith, and Stephen
Woods for many important and helpful comments,
Reprint requests should be sent to Elizabeth F. Loftus.
Department of Psychology, University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington 981 95.
Copyright 0 1974 by Academic Press, Inc.

In the present study, subjects were shown

answered questions about the accident. The
films of traffic accidents and then they

subjects were interrogated about the speed of
585

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
Printed in Great Britain

586 LOFTUS AND PALMER

the vehicles in one of several ways. For
example, some subjects were asked, “About
how fast were the cars going when they hit
each other?” while others were asked, “About
how fast were the cars going when they
smashed into each other?” As Fillmore (1971)
and Bransford and McCarrell (in press) have
noted, hit and si.r.lasl?ed may involve speci-
fication of differential rates of movement.
Furthermore, the two verbs may also involve
differential specification of the likely con-
sequences of the events to which they are
referring. The impact of the accident is
apparently gentler for hit than for .n~ia.dtctI.

EXPERIMENT 1
Metliod

Forty-five students participated in groups of
various sizes. Seven films were shown, each
depicting a traffic accident. These films were
segments from longer driver’s education
f i l m borrowed from the Evergreen Safety
Council and the Seattle Police Department.
The length of the film segments ranged from
5 to 30 sec. Following each film, the subjects
received a questionnaire asking then1 first to,
“give an account of the accident you have just
seen,“ and then to answer a series of specific
questions about the accident. The critical
question was the one that interrogated the
subject about the speed of the vehicles involved
in the collision. Nine subjects were asked,
“About how fast were the cars going when they
hit each other?” Equal numbers of the
remaining subjects were interrogated with
the verbs smashed, collided, buiiiped, and
contacted in place of hit. The entire experiment
lasted about an hour and a half. A different
ordering of the films was presented to each
group of subjects.

R esiilt s

Table 1 presents the mean speed estimates
for the various verbs. Following the pro-
cedures outlined by Clark (1973), an analysis
of variance was performed with verbs as a
fixed effect, and subjects and films as random

TABLE 1 I
I

1
SPEED ESTIMATES FOR THE VERBS

USED IN EXPERIMENT 1
1

Verb Mean speed estimate

Sin as hed 40.5
Collided 39.

3

Bumpcd 38.1
Hit 34.0
Contacted 31.8

efTects, yielding a significant quasi F ratio,

Some information about the accuracy of
subjects’ estimates can be obtained from our
data. Four of the seven films were staged
crashes; the original purpose of these films
was to illustrate what can happen to human
beings when cars collide at various speeds.
One collision took place at 20 mph, one at 30,
and two at 40. The mean estimates of speed
for these four films were: 37.7, 36.2, 39.7, and
36.1 mph, respectively. In agreement with
previous work, people are not very good at
judging how fast a vehicle was actually
traveling.

!“ (5 ,55) = 4.65, p < .005.

Discussioii
The results of this experiment indicate that

the form of a question (in this case, changes in
a single word) can markedly and systematically
affect a witness’s answer to that question.
The actual speed of the vehicles controlled
little variance in subject reporting, while the
phrasing of the question controlled con-
siderable variance.

Two interpretations of this finding are
possible. First, it is possible that the differen-
tial speed estimates result merely from
response-bias factors. A subject is uncertain
whether to say 30 mph or 40 mph, for example,
and the verb siiiaslied biases his response
towards the higher estimate. A second inter- Ps
pretation is that the question form causes a
change in the subject’s memory representa-
tion of the accident. The verb siiiashed may
change a subject’s memory such that he

LANGUAGE A N D MEMORY CHANGES 587

“sees” the accident as being more severe than
it actually was. If this is the case, we might
expect subjects to “remember” other details
that did not actually occur, but are com-
mensurate with an accident occurring at
higher speeds. The second experiment was
designed to provide additional insights into
the origin of the differential speed estimates.

with hit the estimate was 8.00 mph. These
means are significantly different, t (98) = 2.00,
p < -05.

TABLE 2

DISTRIBUTION OF “YES” AND “NO” RES-
PONSES TO THE QUESTION, “DID YOU S E E

ANY BROKEN GLASS?’

EXPERIMENT I1
Method

One hundred and fifty students participated
in this experiment, in groups of various sizes.
A film depicting a multiple car accident was
shown, followed by a questionnaire. The film
lasted less than 1 min; the accident in the film
lasted 4 sec. At the end of the film, the subjects
received a questionnaire asking them first to
describe the accident in their own words, and
then to answer a series of questions about the
accident. The critical question was the one
that interrogated the subject about the speed
of the vehicles. Fifty subjects were asked,
“About how fast were the cars going when
they smashed into each other?” Fifty subjects
were asked, “About how fast were the cars
going when they hit each other?” Fifty
subjects were not interrogated about vehicular
speed.

One week later, the subjects returned and
without viewing the film again they answered
a series of questions about the accident, The
critical question here was, “Did you see any
broken glass?” which the subjects answered
by checking “yes” or “no.” This question was
embedded in a list totalling 10 questions, and
it appeared in a random position in the list.
There was no broken glass in the accident,
but, since broken glass is commensurate with
accidents occurring at high speed, we expected
that the subjects who had been asked the
smashed question might more often say “yes”

k to this critical question.

Results
The mean estimate of speed for subjects

interrogated with smaslted was 10.46 mph;

Verb condition

Response Smashed Hit Control
~-

Yes 16 7 6
No 34 43 44

Table 2 presents the distribution of ‘.yes”
and “no” responses for the smashed, Itit, and
control subjects. An independence chi-square
test on these responses was significant beyond
the .025 level, ~ ~ ( 2 ) = 7.76. The important
result in Table 2 i s that the probability of
saying “yes,” P(Y), to the question about
broken glass is .32 when the verb sn?a.died is
used, and .14 with hit. Thus smashed leads
both to more “yes” responses and to higher
speed estimates. It appears to be the case that
the effect of the verb is mediated at least in
part by the speed estimate. The question now
arises : Is sniushed doing anything else besides
increasing the estimate of speed? To answer
this, the function relating P(Y) to speed
estimate was calculated separately for stiiashed
and hit. If the speed estimate is the only way
in which effect of verb is mediated, then for a
given speed estimate, P(Y) should be in-
dependent of verb. Table 3 shows that this is

TABLE

3

PROBABILITY OF SAYING “YES” TO, “DID Y O U SEE

ANY B R O K ~ N GLASS?’ CONDIT~ONALIZED ON SPEED

ESTIMATES

Speed estimate (mph)
Verb —

condition 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20

Smashed .09 .27 .41 .62
Hit .06 .09 .25 .50

588 LOFTUS AP

not the case. P(Y) is lower for hit than for
smashed; the difference between the two verbs
ranges from .03 for estimates of 1-5 mph to
.I8 for estimates of 6-10 mph. The average
difference between the two curves is about .12.
Whereas the unconditional difference of . I8
between the smashed and hit conditions is
attenuated, it is by no means eliminated when
estimate of speed is controlled for. It thus
appears that the verb smashed has other effects
besides that of simply increasing the estimate
of speed. One possibility will be discussed in
the next section.

DISCUSSION

To reiterate, we have first of all provided an
additional demonstration of something that
has been known for some time, namely, that
the way a question is asked can enormously
influence the answer that is given. In this
instance, the question, “About how fast were
the cars going when they smashed into each
other?” led to higher estimates of speed than
the same question asked with the verb
smashed replaced by hit. Furthermore, this
seemingly small change had consequences for
how questions are answered a week after the
original event occurred.

As a framework for discussing these results,
we would like to propose that two kinds of
information go into one’s memory for some
complex occurrence. The first is information
gleaned during the perception of the original
event; the second is external information
supplied after the fact. Over time, information
from these two sources may be integrated in
such a way that we are unable to tell from
which source some specific detail is recalled.
All we have is one “memory.”

Discussing the present experiments in these
terms, we propose that the subject first forms
some representation of the accident he has
witnessed. The experimenter then, while
asking, “About how fast were the cars going
when they smashed into each other?” supplies
a piece of external information, namely, that
the cars did indeed smash into each other.

4D PALMER

When these two pieces of information are
integrated, the subject has a memory of an
accident that was more severe than in fact it
was. Since broken glass is commensurate
with a severe accident, the subject is more
likely to think that broken glass was present.

There is some connection between the
present work and earlier work on the influence
of verbal labels on memory for visually
presented form stimuli. A classic study in
psychology showed that when subjects are
asked to reproduce a visually presented form,
their drawings tend to err in the direction of a
more familiar object suggested by a verbal
label initially associated with the to-be-
remembered form (Carmichael, Hogan, &
Walter, 1932). More recently, Daniel (1972)
showed that recognition memory, as well as
reproductive memory, was similarly affected
by verbal labels, and he concluded that the
verbal label causes a shift in the memory
strength of forms which are better representa-
tives of the label.

When the experimenter asks the subject,
“About how fast were the cars going when
they smashed into each other?”, he is effect-
ively labeling the accident a smash. Extra-
polating the conclusions of Daniel to this
situation, it is natural to conclude that the
label, smash, causes a shift in the memory
representation of the accident in the direction
of being more similar to a representation sug-
gested by the verbal label.

REFERENCES

BIRD, C. The influence of the press upon the accuracy
of report. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psy-

BLOCK, R . A. Memory and the experience of duration
in retrospect. Memory & Cogtiition, 1974, 2,

BRANSFORD, J. D., & MCCARRELL, N. S. A sketch of a
cognitive approach to comprehension : Some
thoughts about understanding what it means to
comprehend. In D. Palerrno & W. Weimer (Eds.),
Cognition arid the synibolic processes. Washington,
D.C.: V . H. Winston & Co., in press.

chology, 1927,22, 123-1 29.

I 53-1 60.

3

CAHMICHAI I-, L . , HO(iAN, I I. l’., & WAI I I I(, A . A .
experimental study of the etl’ect ol’ language 011

the reproduction of visually perceived form.
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1932, 15,

CLARK, H. H. The language-as-fixed-effect fallacy: A
critique of language statistics in psychological
research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal
Behavior, 1973,12,335-359.

DANIEL, T. C. Nature of the effect of verbal labels on
recognition memory for form. Journal of Experi-
mental Psychology, 1972,96, 152-1 57.

FILLMORE, C. J. Types of lexical information. In
D. D. Steinberg and L. A. Jakobovits (Eds.),
Semantics: An interdisciplinary reader in philo-

73-86.

3

sopl~y, t i i l ~ i i i . ~ / i c ~ v , tiircl p.v.i,c.liolcJ,~J.i.. C’iitiil~i.iclgc :
Cambritlgc University Press, 1971.

GARDNER, D. S. The perception and memory of
witnesses. Cornell Law Quarterly, 1933, 8,
391 -409.

MARSHALL, J. Law and psychology in conflict. New
York: Anchor Books, 1969.

ORNSTEIN, R. E. On the experience of time. Harmonds-
worth. Middlesex. England: Penguin, 1969.

WHIPPLE, G. M. The observer as reporter: A survey of
the psychology of testimony. Psychological
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Supreme Court Reporter, 1973, 3 : Rules of Evidence
for United State Courts and Magistrates.

(Received April 17, 1974)

Texting while Driving
Do people text while driving? If yes, why? If no, why not? Do people think their
texting interferes with their driving? Do people think other people text while
driving?
If you choose this topic, you will need to have clear operational definitions of
texting, driving, and what it means to “interfere with driving.”

Survey Topics Ideas

Job Satisfaction
Are people satisfied with their jobs? If yes, why? If no, why not? Do people think
that other people are satisfied with their jobs? If yes, why? If no, why not? What
factors do people think are associated with job satisfaction?
If you choose this topic, you will need to have clear operational definitions of jobs
and job satisfaction.

Dream Vacations
Where are persons’ dream vacations? Why are these vacations their dreams? What
characteristics (e.g., climate, geography, activities, etc) contribute to the vacations
being persons’ dream vacations?
If you choose this topic, you will need to have clear operational definitions of
vacations and dream vacations.

Online Reviews
Do people use online reviews? If yes, why? If no, why not? Do people think online
reviews contribute to their purchasing decisions? If yes, why? If not, why not? Do
people think other consumers use online reviews?
If you choose this topic, you will need to have clear operational definitions of online
reviews; you might also want to collect frequency data (how frequently do people
use online reviews).

Apple versus Windows (or iPhone vs Android)
Do people prefer Apple (computers) or Windows (computers)? If people prefer

Apple, why do they prefer Apple? If people prefer Windows, why do they prefer
Windows? What demographic or other variables (characteristics) might account for

people’s preferences for Apple versus Windows?
You can instead conduct this survey to measure iPhone versus Android preferences,

but you cannot do both topics (both Apple vs Windows AND iPhone vs Android) for
your two surveys – just one of the topics.

Food Speed versus Food Quality
Do people prefer food speed (quick to cook or quick to purchase) or food quality? If

people prefer food speed, why? If they prefer food quality, why? What demographic
or other variables (characteristics) might account for people’s preferences for food

speed versus food quality?
If you choose this topic, you will need to have clear operational definitions of food

that’s quick to cook or obtain and food that’s high quality.

Diet Soda versus Water?
Do people prefer diet soda or water? If people prefer diet soda, why? If people prefer
water, why ? What demographic or other variables (characteristics) might account

for people’s preferences for diet soda versus water?
If you choose this topic, you might want to ensure that you also collect frequency

data (how frequently do people drink diet soda vs water) as well as preference data.

Dogs versus Cats?
Do people prefer dogs as pets or cats as pets? If people prefer dogs, why do they

prefer dogs? If people prefer cats, why do they prefer cats? What demographic or
other variables (characteristics) might account for people’s preferences for dogs

versus cats?
If you choose this topic, you will need to have clear operational definitions of what it

means to have a pet.