How to do your own experiments in psychology and education
7.1 Prepare all materials and equipment
Start your countdown to data collection by completing and checking off these items one by one.
• Prepare one master copy of everything that you will distribute to the participants;
First, however, review all instructions and written materials that the participants will use. Salkind’s (2006) third Commandment of data collection is: “Make sure that the data collection form you are using is clear and easy to use.” Make sure to check that all instructions are very easy for the participants to understand:
These are all ways to simplify the instructions and to ensure that the participants will understand them correctly.
• Make sure that you have all the equipment that you need;
Be absolutely sure that it all works! Test it at least three times. Be sure to have extra batteries, if you’re using them. Check on the availability of backup equipment.
• Rehearse your procedure with your partner to make sure that everyone knows that to do when;
In past Research Methods classes, the students who rehearsed their procedures collected data without stress and without problems. The students who didn’t rehearse their procedures had many more problems and found data collection much more stressful.
• Consider seriously the possibility of doing Pilot Testing;
A “dry run” or “dress rehearsal” of your experiment with only two or three people in each condition takes extra time and effort but is an excellent way to detect and prevent problems in your problems and materials (See Mitchell & Jolley, 2007, p. 530).
Observe very closely how your pilot participants react to instructions and materials. Do they hesitate? Do they have questions? Do they end up doing the wrong things? These are signs that they didn’t understand what to do. Do they do things faster or slower than you expected? Maybe the task is easier or harder than you imagined.
These observations will allow you to revise the instructions and materials to make them more appropriate for your participants.
• Don’t count on being able to download materials from the internet when you run your experiment;
Leaving things to do for the last minute is an invitation for stress and mistakes to take over.
• Have your supervisor and/or an experienced experimenter double check your materials and procedure;
Word has it that frustrated student experimenters invented Murphy’s Law (“Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong – at the worst possible moment.”). Planning and preparation are the best antidotes.
• Make more copies than you actually need of your materials, just in case.
You might have more participants available than you expected. If you make extra copies of your materials, you may be able to collect extra data instead of missing the opportunity.
• Prepare one master copy of everything that you will distribute to the participants;
First, however, review all instructions and written materials that the participants will use. Salkind’s (2006) third Commandment of data collection is: “Make sure that the data collection form you are using is clear and easy to use.” Make sure to check that all instructions are very easy for the participants to understand:
| a) the instructions should be 9th grade reading level at most, if you’re using university students (check this with the grammar checker in MS Word); |
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| b) rephrase any pronouns except for “you”; |
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| c) make sure that no sentences are more than 15 words long; |
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| d) make sure that you are not using any technical terms at all; |
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| e) make sure that there are no passive sentences (ex: “The instructions will be read to you.” should be: “You will hear the instructions.” – “be read” is an example of a passive verb); |
These are all ways to simplify the instructions and to ensure that the participants will understand them correctly.
• Make sure that you have all the equipment that you need;
Be absolutely sure that it all works! Test it at least three times. Be sure to have extra batteries, if you’re using them. Check on the availability of backup equipment.
• Rehearse your procedure with your partner to make sure that everyone knows that to do when;
In past Research Methods classes, the students who rehearsed their procedures collected data without stress and without problems. The students who didn’t rehearse their procedures had many more problems and found data collection much more stressful.
• Consider seriously the possibility of doing Pilot Testing;
A “dry run” or “dress rehearsal” of your experiment with only two or three people in each condition takes extra time and effort but is an excellent way to detect and prevent problems in your problems and materials (See Mitchell & Jolley, 2007, p. 530).
Observe very closely how your pilot participants react to instructions and materials. Do they hesitate? Do they have questions? Do they end up doing the wrong things? These are signs that they didn’t understand what to do. Do they do things faster or slower than you expected? Maybe the task is easier or harder than you imagined.
These observations will allow you to revise the instructions and materials to make them more appropriate for your participants.
| Remember: Do NOT include your pilot data in your final data set! |
• Don’t count on being able to download materials from the internet when you run your experiment;
Leaving things to do for the last minute is an invitation for stress and mistakes to take over.
• Have your supervisor and/or an experienced experimenter double check your materials and procedure;
Word has it that frustrated student experimenters invented Murphy’s Law (“Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong – at the worst possible moment.”). Planning and preparation are the best antidotes.
• Make more copies than you actually need of your materials, just in case.
You might have more participants available than you expected. If you make extra copies of your materials, you may be able to collect extra data instead of missing the opportunity.
| Read this topic next: | 7.2 Recruit participants |
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