Yesterday (monday) I participated in the seminar where we were supposed to further reflect and discuss the different papers we had chosen for the seminar. We ended up talking more about (in my case) Jennys' paper. Her paper were a special case of a quantitative study since it main method was an observation based method. The research was to find possible correlations between students grades and how this could affect their grades. 263 people participated in the study and were recruited as an "observator", they did then in turn recruit 1-3 friends who was the subject of observation. Each student were then informed that they should study as the normally do, with the exception that they were observed by their friend, nothing more.
What the observer then did during this 15 minute observation was to check if they could keep their focus in their task (i.e. to study) during this time, or if he/she actually did something else. Examples where students didn't keep their concentration on their main task was when the changed window on their computer (where they studied) to check their Facebook and/or do something else which wasn't related to their main task. Other students could for example check their phone for messages etc.
When one of these "interruptions" took place, the observer took note of this and this was then collected as data for the research as a whole. In the end, they matched all the grades for that students to see if there was a correlation between the tendency of not studying (i.e. doing something else) and if this was reflected in a lower grade, compared to students who actually could focus the whole time.
I think this research was quite entertaining to hear about and the findings (not surprisingly) showed that students who weren't able to focus the whole 15 minutes actually had lower grades in general. The funny thing is, which also was reflected upon by us during the seminar, was that, even though the students who studied knew that they were observed during their "study session" still chose not to keep it together for that seemingly short period of time. One could think that you would want to make a better impression when someone's actually watching you study, but no.
Interesting study you got to discuss. I also agree that it's pretty weird that the participants weren't able to keep focus for 15 minutes. But don't you think that's why they used their friends as observers? To make it less formal and more like a regular study session? Because I think it's a huge difference if you're being observed by a total stranger, judging your every move, or just your friend sitting beside you as usual.
SvaraRaderaAlso, how old were the ones in this study and where was it performed?
Yes, we discussed that as well during the seminar. We came to the conclusion that there drawbacks choosing either option, that is: 1) Have someone you know observe you, 2) Have someone you don't know. The benefit of having someone you know to observe your behavior is good since you probably feel more at ease having that person behind you. This would also probably result in acting as you please, not feeling guilty of "not" studying during that 15 min session. So the results are accurate in that sense. The drawback is that you friend is actually an distraction because you maybe feel inclined to engage in some conversation with him/her during that period of time. On the other hand, the benefit of having some outsider to observe you might yield "better" result (i.e. you keep you concentration), but then again, what does this say about your results? They were better, but is this a valid result for "you"? If you would be alone, maybe you actually wouldn't be able to study for that long... It all depends.
Radera