Inthefieldofpsychology,manyexperimentsareperformedinordertoaccesshumanbehavior.

The
experimentdescribedbelow,willevaluateshorttermmemoryinhumanparticipants.
Thenoviceexperimentwasacquiredfromthis
website:http://psychology.about.com/library/Psychology_Experiments/blmemoryexperiment.htm.

Step1:GatherSupplies

Thefirststepistogathertheneededsupplies.Youwillneed:
4volunteerstodotheexperiment2menand2women(notshown)
Apieceofpapertowritedownyourdata(thepaperwithatableandthelistofquestionsonitis
provided)
Apieceofpaperforthevolunteertowritedowntheirresponses(paperwithblanksonitisprovided)
Wordlists#1and#2thevolunteerwillbeshowntomemorize(provided)
2pencilsorpens(oneforyouandoneforthevolunteer)
Astopwatchorsmartphonealternative(notshown)
Calculator
Also,ifyouneedextracopiesoftheprovideddocuments(oryoudonothavethem),theycanbe
found/printedhere:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1mtyozZSvwxY3dSZGw3NEhOaFU/edit?
usp=sharing

Step2:FirstVolunteerandStudyExplanation

Haveyouandyourvolunteersitatatableonoppositesidesofeachother.Trytouseaconsistentarea
forallyourvolunteers.Anenvironmentthathasminimalnoise,moderatelighting,andminimaldistraction
isbest.
Brieflytellthevolunteerwhattheexperimentwillbeaboutandhowlongitwilltake.(Inthisstudy,we
willbeaccessingmemoryinhumanparticipants.Thestudyshouldlastlessthan10minutes.)

Step3:Preparationtobegin

Placethesheetofpaperwiththefirstsetofwordsonit,infrontofthevolunteerfacingdown(sothat
theycannotseethewords).Telltheparticipant,youwillhavetwominutestomemorizethesetofwords
onthebackofthispieceofpaper.Youwillbeaskedtorecallthemlater.Theyarenotallowedtowrite
onthispaper,asitwillbeusedagainforlaterparticipants.

Step4:FirstTrialofWordMemorization

Whenevertheparticipantisready,havethemturnthepaperover.Whentheyturnthepaperover,start
thetimerfortwominutes.

Step5:FirstTrialofWordRecall

Whenthetimergoesoff,takethepieceofpaperwiththewordsonitawayfromthevolunteer.Now,give
themthewordrecallsheetofpaperimmediatelyafter,andhavethemwritedownallthewordsthatthey
canremember.Theyonlyhavetwominutestodothisaswell,sotimethemwithatimer.
Collectthepaperfromthemwhenthetimerisup.

Step6:SecondWordListTrial

Now,thesameparticipantwillrepeatsteps35usingtheSECONDLISTofwords.

Step7:Debriefing

Thankthevolunteerfortheirtime,anddebriefthem.(Well,inthisstudyweaccessedshortterm
memoryinhumans.Thefirstwordlistwascomposedofunrelatedwords,whilethesecondlistwas
composedofgroupsofrelatedwordsinchunks.Itishypothesizedthatthesecondwordlistwouldbe
easierforyoutomemorizesincethewordsarerelated.Arethereanyquestions?).*Iftherearenone,
thentheyarefreetogo.*Iftherearequestions,answerthembriefly.Also,remindthemthatcrosstalking
(tellingotherpotentialparticipantsaboutthestudy)ishighlydiscouragedandshouldnotbedonebyany
means.

Step8:SecondVolunteer

Repeatsteps27withthesecondvolunteer.

Step9:ThirdVolunteer

Repeatsteps27withthethirdvolunteer.

Step10:FourthVolunteer

Repeatsteps27withthefourthvolunteer.

Step11:GeneralConclusions

Filloutthetableprovidedwiththeinformationyoureceivedfromthestudy
Countthenumberofcorrectwordsrecalledineachcategoryfromeachvolunteerandputitinthe
appropriatesectionofthetable.Countingoffforspellingisatthediscretionoftheexperimenter,but
strivetobeconsistent.Ifthewordisspelledwrong,butyouknowwhattheyweregoingfor,thenitmay
becountedcorrect.
Findthetotalandaveragenumberofwordsrecalledfromallparticipantstogetherfromwordlist#1and
fromwordlist#2

Step12:ImportantNote

Drawconclusionsfromtheexperimentbyansweringthequestionsbelowthetableandcraftingageneral
statementfromyourstudyusingthetemplateprovided.
However,youshouldalsounderstandthattheseconclusionsareformerenoviceeducationalbenefit.
Theseconclusionscannotandshouldnotbegeneralizedtobiggerpopulations.Duetotheextremely
smallsamplesizeandnottakingintoaccountordereffects,manyAPA(AmericanPsychological
Association)styleruleswerenotfollowedoverthecourseofthisexperiment.Additionally,agenuine
psychologicalanalysis(suchasSPSS)wasnotutilizedeither.Thereasonthiswasdonethewayitwas,
wassothattheexperimentwouldbealoteasiertofollowandunderstand.

Step13:Step15:

Congratulations,youhavejustcompletedabeginnerlevelpsychologicalexperiment!