instructions given below when we carried out the experiment that produced
the data provided in the Assignment Booklet, so it is important that you use
the same instructions when you conduct the experiment. These instructions
should be read verbatim to each participant:
In a moment I will place a sheet of A4 paper in front of you that contains
two columns of words. You will notice that the words are written in six
different colours of ink – red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple.
What I would like you to do is to say out loud the colour of the ink each
word is written in. Start with the word at the top of the left column and
work downwards. When you have finished all the words in the left
column, start on the right column. Remember, I do not want you to read
the word itself out to me, instead I want you to state what colour of ink it
has been written in. You should work through the list as quickly as you
can.
To help you, here are two examples:
CHAIR
*
For the item above you would respond ‘blue’.
HOUSE
{
For the item above you would respond ‘red’.
Do you understand what you will be required to do?
(If yes, then proceed to task.
If no, go through the examples again.)
4.7 Choosing your participants
You are now almost ready to collect data. So think about what type of person
you want to recruit as a participant. From your knowledge of cognitive
processes and experimental research, what factors do you think might be
important in deciding who might be a suitable participant? Well, first and
foremost the participants must be able to understand the instructions and be
able to complete the task. This means they will need to be able to understand
and read English well, have normal or corrected-to-normal eyesight and be
able to distinguish between different colours. If you think you might have
problems with getting access to fluent English speakers (e.g. if you are
studying outside the UK or Republic of Ireland), you may be able to find a
C H A P T E R
7
T H E
E X P E R I M E N T A L
P R O J E C T
*
This word would need to be written in blue ink.
{
This word would need to be written in red ink.
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