Many students debate whether taking handwritten notes is more effective for learning than typing notes on a laptop. An educational psychologist investigated this by giving high school students a complex scientific article to study for 20 minutes.
Six participants studied the article while taking handwritten notes. A different group of six participants studied the same article while typing notes on a laptop. All participants then completed a conceptual understanding test graded out of 50. The data collected is presented in the table below:
| Score on comprehension test (max. 50) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handwritten notes group | Typed notes group | ||||
| Participant | Score | Rank | Participant | Score | Rank |
| A | 42 | 10 | G | 28 | 2 |
| B | 45 | 11 | H | 31 | 4 |
| C | 38 | 8 | I | 25 | 1 |
| D | 35 | 6.5 | J | 48 | 12 |
| E | 40 | 9 | K | 30 | 3 |
| F | 35 | 6.5 | L | 34 | 5 |
| n1=6n_1 = 6n1=6 | n2=6n_2 = 6n2=6 |
Identify one strength and one weakness of the experimental design used in this study.
201 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Planning and conducting research. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.