AP Psychology · Free-response skill

Article analysis: reading a study

The move. Read a summarized study and answer short parts about its method, variables, results, limits and link to a psychology concept.

How to do it

  1. Read the summary once for the big picture. Then mark four things: the method, the participants, the variables and the results.
  2. Answer each part in one or two sentences, and point to a specific detail from the study, such as a number, a group or a step in the procedure.
  3. For a method question, name the method and give the clue. Random assignment and a manipulated variable mean an experiment.
  4. For an operational definition, say exactly how the variable was measured, with its unit or scale.
  5. For generalizability, name who was studied and who was left out. For ethics, name a specific safeguard, such as informed consent or debriefing.
  6. For the concept part, name the concept and say how the result shows it.

Practice prompt Try it

Study summary (fictional). Researchers tested whether sleep after learning helps memory. Participants were 64 volunteer college students, ages 18 to 22, from one university, who earned course credit. All gave informed consent and could quit at any time. Each participant studied a list of 40 word pairs at 9 p.m. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two groups. The sleep group slept for 8 hours in the lab. The awake group stayed awake all night under supervision. Both groups slept normally the next night, so no one was tested while sleep deprived. On the morning of the third day, each participant saw the first word of each pair and wrote the second. Memory was measured as the number of pairs recalled correctly, out of 40. The sleep group recalled an average of 27 pairs, and the awake group recalled an average of 20 pairs. The difference was statistically significant. All participants were debriefed at the end.

Using the study summary, respond to each part.

  1. Name the kind of study the researchers ran, and point to the detail in the summary that shows it.
  2. Say exactly how the researchers measured memory in this study.
  3. Describe the result of the study for the two groups.
  4. Evaluate whether the findings can be generalized to all adults, using a detail about the participants.
  5. Explain how the findings relate to the role of sleep in memory consolidation.

Write each part, then check yourself against the checklist. Nothing you type here is saved or graded.

Check yourself and see a model answer

Checklist

Our own checklist of what a full answer does, one line per point. Tick each one your response earns.

0 of 5 points

Model answer, annotated

(a) This study is an experiment. The researchers randomly assigned participants to a sleep group or an awake group and manipulated whether they slept after learning.

  • Point 1 Names the method and gives the clue from the study: random assignment and a manipulated variable.

(b) Memory was operationally defined as the number of word pairs, out of 40, that a participant recalled correctly when shown the first word of each pair.

  • Point 2 Gives the exact measure and its scale, out of 40, not just the idea of remembering.

(c) The sleep group recalled more word pairs than the awake group, an average of 27 pairs compared with 20, and the difference was statistically significant.

  • Point 3 Compares both groups, states the direction and backs it with the numbers from the summary.

(d) The findings may not generalize to all adults. Every participant was a college student aged 18 to 22 from one university, so older adults and people outside college were not studied.

  • Point 4 Makes a judgment and supports it with specific sample details: the age range and the single university.

(e) During sleep the brain consolidates new memories, strengthening and storing them. The awake group missed the night of sleep after learning, so less consolidation took place and they recalled fewer pairs.

  • Point 5 Names consolidation, explains it briefly and ties it to the lower recall of the awake group.