AP Psychology · Free-response skill

Article analysis: a study of learning by watching

The move. From one summarized study, name its design, state its variables as measured, give a limit on who the results apply to, and judge whether the findings support a stated idea.

How to do it

  1. Read the summary once for the story. Then mark the design clues, the groups, the exact measure and the results with their numbers.
  2. For the design, name it and give the clue. If the researchers made the groups by chance and changed something between them, it is an experiment.
  3. For the variables, say what was changed between groups in the study's own terms, and say exactly what was counted or scored, with its scale.
  4. For a limit, name who took part and say who was left out, such as other ages, places or backgrounds.
  5. To judge an idea, say yes or no first. Then use the numbers from the summary, and tie them to the exact wording of the idea.

Practice prompt Try it

Study summary (fictional). Researchers tested whether young children learn to share by watching an adult share. Participants were 72 five-year-olds from two preschools in one city. A parent of each child gave written consent, and any child could stop at any time. Children were randomly assigned to watch one of three 2-minute videos. In the sharing video, an adult won 10 stickers and gave 5 of them to a child who had none. In the keeping video, the same adult won 10 stickers and kept them all. In the control video, the adult sorted blocks and no stickers appeared. No child was praised or rewarded for anything they did after the video. Each child then won 10 stickers in a short game and was told they could put any number of them in an envelope for a child who could not come that day. Sharing was measured as the number of stickers, from 0 to 10, that the child put in the envelope. Children who saw the sharing video gave an average of 4.2 stickers, children who saw the keeping video gave 1.4, and children who saw the control video gave 1.6. The sharing group differed significantly from each of the other two groups. Afterward, the researchers explained the study to the parents.

Using the study summary, respond to each part.

  1. Say what kind of study this is, and give the detail from the summary that tells you.
  2. Say what the researchers changed from one group of children to another.
  3. Say exactly how the researchers measured sharing.
  4. Give one reason the results might not hold for all children, using a detail about who took part.
  5. A teacher says children learn to share by watching others, even when no one rewards them. Say whether the results back up this idea. Use numbers from the summary, and say whether any child in the study was rewarded.

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 6 points

Model answer, annotated

(a) This is an experiment. The researchers randomly assigned the children to one of three groups and changed which video each group watched.

  • Point 1 Names the design and gives the clue straight from the summary: random assignment to groups.

(b) The researchers changed which video the children saw: an adult sharing stickers, the same adult keeping all the stickers, or the adult sorting blocks.

  • Point 2 States what differed between groups in the study's own terms, listing all three video conditions.

(c) Sharing was measured as the number of stickers, from 0 to 10, that each child put in the envelope for the child who could not come.

  • Point 3 Gives the exact count and its range, not a vague idea like being kind or generous.

(d) All the children were five years old and came from two preschools in one city, so the results might not hold for older children or for children in other places.

  • Point 4 Uses specific sample details, the single age and the two preschools in one city, and says who was left out.

(e) Yes, the results back up the idea. Children who watched the adult share gave an average of 4.2 stickers, compared with 1.4 after the keeping video and 1.6 after the control video. No child was praised or rewarded, so the extra sharing came from watching the model, not from a reward.

  • Point 5 Opens with a clear judgment that the findings support the teacher's idea.
  • Point 6 Backs the judgment with the group averages and ties it to the idea's key condition: no rewards.