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Explain why Dr. Aris's decision not to inspect the saved data files shows an incomplete understanding of how a pilot test evaluates experimental record keeping. What potential risks does she face?
Case context: Dr. Aris is conducting a study on memory recall under stress. She runs a pilot session with two participants. The presentation software finishes without crashing, and the program displays a message saying 'Session Complete.' Confident that everything works, Dr. Aris plans to start the full experiment the next day without inspecting the actual files generated by the software.
Question: Explain why Dr. Aris's decision not to inspect the saved data files shows an incomplete understanding of how a pilot test evaluates experimental record keeping. What potential risks does she face?
Sample answer: Dr. Aris's decision shows an incomplete understanding because a program running to completion does not guarantee that the data were recorded correctly. By not inspecting the actual data output files, she cannot verify if the record-keeping system is capturing participant responses accurately and without errors. The risk is that she might run the full experiment only to discover later that the data files are corrupted, formatted incorrectly, or missing response values entirely.
Key points:
- A program running to completion does not guarantee that data are recorded correctly.
- Evaluating record-keeping requires inspecting the actual data output from the pilot session.
- Failing to check the output risks losing or corrupting data during the full experiment.
Rubric: The student must explain that program completion or lack of crashes does not prove correct data recording. They must identify that evaluating the system requires checking the actual data output. They should mention the risk of collecting unusable, inaccurate, or missing data during the main experiment.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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If a researcher discovers that their data output from a pilot session contains all participant responses but has failed to label which experimental condition each response belongs to, they have successfully evaluated their record-keeping system to identify a structural error before the full study begins.
A researcher evaluates the data output from a pilot session specifically to verify that which of the following is functioning correctly?
During a pilot test, a researcher can sufficiently evaluate their experimental record-keeping system simply by confirming that the presentation software runs to completion without crashing.
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A researcher is conducting a pilot test evaluation of their record-keeping system. Match each specific action the researcher takes when inspecting the data output to the record-keeping concern that action directly addresses.
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According to the principles of pilot testing, what specific action must a researcher take to evaluate their experimental record-keeping system, and what does this action accomplish before the full experiment begins?
Explain why Dr. Aris's decision not to inspect the saved data files shows an incomplete understanding of how a pilot test evaluates experimental record keeping. What potential risks does she face?
You are setting up an online reaction-time experiment where participant responses must be logged in milliseconds. Apply the principles of pilot test evaluation to describe how you would verify your record-keeping system before launching the study.