A cognitive psychologist conducted an investigation into the effect of leading questions on eyewitness recall. Participants watched a short video clip of a minor traffic accident and were then questionnaire-tested. One group was asked a question containing the verb 'smashed', while the other group was asked the same question with the verb 'contacted'. One week later, all participants were asked whether they remembered seeing any broken glass (even though there was none in the clip).
The results are shown in the table below:
| Recalled seeing broken glass (Yes) | Recalled seeing broken glass (No) | |
|---|---|---|
| Verb 'smashed' | 16 | 9 |
| Verb 'contacted' | 4 | 21 |
The researcher analysed the data using the Chi-Squared test.
Give two reasons for this choice of test with reference to this study.
163 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Memory, covering Loftus and Palmer (1974): Eyewitness testimony and Grant et al. (1998): Context-dependent memory. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.