The Science of Human Nature: A Psychology for BeginnersPyle, William Henry
Science
The Science of Human Nature: A Psychology for Beginners
Pyle, William Henry
Educational psychology; Psychology
Whether the result in such a performance as this varies from day to day,
and is accidental, or whether it is constant and fundamental, can be
determined by repeating the experiment from day to day. This repetition
will also show whether improvement comes from practice.
If it is decided to repeat the experiment in order to study these
factors, constancy and the effects of practice, some method of studying
and interpreting the results must be found. Elaborate methods of doing
this are known to psychologists, but the beginner must use a simpler
method. When the experiment is performed for the first time, the
students can be ranked with reference to their abilities, the fastest
one being called "first," the second highest, "second," and so on down
to the slowest performer. Then after the experiment has been performed
the second time, the students can be again ranked.
A rough comparison can then be made as follows: Determine how many who
were in the best half in the first experiment are among the best half in
the second experiment. If most who were among the best half the first
time are among the best half in the second experiment, constancy in this
performance is indicated. Or we might determine how many change their
ranks and how much they change. Suppose there are thirty in the class
and only four improve their ranks and these to the extent of only two
places each. This would indicate a high degree of constancy. Two
different performances can be compared as above described. The abilities
on successive days can be determined by taking the average rank of the
first day and comparing it with the average rank of the second day.
If the effects of practice are to be studied, the experiments must be
kept up for many days, and each student's work on the first day compared
with his work on succeeding days. Then a graph can be plotted to show
the improvement from day to day. The average daily speed of the class
can be taken and a graph made to show the improvement of the class as a
whole. This might be plotted in black ink, then each individual student
could put on his improvement in red ink, for comparison. A group of
thirty may be considered as furnishing a fair average or norm in this
kind of performance.
In connection with this simple performance, making marks as fast as
possible, it is evident that many problems arise. It would take several
months to solve anything like all of them. It might be interesting, for
example, to determine whether one's speed in writing is related to this
simple speed in marking. Each member of the class might submit a plan
for making such a study.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account