A cognitive psychologist conducted an experiment to investigate whether practicing 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation before a task reduces errors compared to 10 minutes of silent rest. An independent measures design was used, with 12 participants randomly allocated to one of two conditions. After completing their respective 10-minute pre-task activity, all participants completed a highly detailed proofreading test where the total number of errors made was recorded. The results are shown in the table below.
| Number of errors on a proofreading task under different pre-task conditions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness Meditation Condition | Silent Rest Condition | ||
| Participant | Errors | Participant | Errors |
| 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | 7 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 |
| 6 | 8 | 6 | 11 |
Outline how the data in this study would be ranked before using the inferential statistical test.
513 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Data recording, analysis and presentation. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.