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Based on the standard goals of a pilot test, explain what procedural issues Dr. Smith has successfully identified during this session.
Case context: Dr. Smith is preparing to conduct a study on visual memory. Before launching the main study, she invites five individuals to run through the planned computerized procedure. During this preliminary session, Dr. Smith observes that three of the individuals continually ask the experimenter for clarification on the screen prompts. Additionally, they all appear noticeably irritated by the end of the session, which takes minutes to complete instead of the initially estimated minutes.
Question: Based on the standard goals of a pilot test, explain what procedural issues Dr. Smith has successfully identified during this session.
Sample answer: Dr. Smith has identified three distinct procedural issues that a pilot test is designed to catch. First, by observing participants asking for clarification, she recognized that they do not fully comprehend the instructions or that the screen prompts are causing confusion. Second, noticing their irritation indicates that the procedure is causing frustration. Finally, timing the session revealed that the exact duration of the process ( minutes) is much longer than she originally estimated.
Key points:
- Participants asking for clarification indicates a lack of instruction comprehension or points of confusion.
- Participant irritation highlights that the procedure causes unintended frustration.
- The -minute completion time successfully determines the true, longer-than-expected duration of the process.
Rubric: A strong answer will map the specific observations in the case context (asking for clarification, irritation, and the unexpected duration) directly to the primary procedural questions a pilot test answers (instruction comprehension/confusion, frustration, and procedural timing).
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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