| Date | May 2019 | Marks available | 3 | Reference code | 19M.Paper 3.HL.TZ0.1 |
| Level | HL only | Paper | Paper 3 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Describe | Question number | 1 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
The stimulus material below is based on a study on the influence of multitasking on student learning.
Multitasking (doing more than one task at a time) and its consequences on learning has become a growing concern in education because students are increasingly engaged with their laptops or smartphones. In classrooms, students tend to switch between academic and non-academic tasks. Research indicates that this multitasking results in cognitive overload and weaker encoding of primary information into long-term memory.
The aim of the study was to investigate if multitasking on a laptop would impair learning as measured by the number of correct scores on a comprehension test. The participants were forty undergraduate students from a university in North America (N=40). There were even numbers of males and females and the mean age was 18.9 years. A convenience sample of students enrolled in an introductory psychology course received course credit for participating. They were recruited from a psychology research website. It was only explained that the study involved listening to a class lecture and filling out a multiple‑choice quiz.
All participants attended a 45-minute lecture on meteorology in a traditional college classroom. Their primary task was to take notes using their laptops. The 20 participants in the multitasking condition were also asked to complete 12 online tasks during the lecture. The participants were randomly allocated a seat number as they entered the classroom. The researchers told participants that their individual instruction sheet and consent form were placed on their seat. After the lecture, all participants completed a 40-question multiple-choice quiz on the lecture content in order to check their comprehension. Finally, they were debriefed.
The results showed that participants who multitasked during the lecture scored 11 % lower than participants who did not multitask. The result was significant and consistent with previous studies showing that multitasking during learning negatively affects encoding and transfer of information to long‑term memory.
[Source 1: Faria Sana, Melody Wiseheart and Tina Weston (2014). ‘The direct and indirect effects of
laptop multitasking in higher education.’ Pédagogie Collégiale, vol. 27, no. 2, Winter 2014;
http://aqpc.qc.ca/sites/default/files/revue/Weston-Vol_27-2%2520%28A%29%2520.pdf
Source 2: adapted from Computers & Education, Vol. 62, March 2013, Faria Sana, Tina Weston
and Nicholas J. Cepeda, ‘Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both
users and nearby peers’, pp. 24–31, copyright 2012, with permission from Elsevier;
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512002254?via%3Dihub]
Identify the research method used and outline two characteristics of the method.
Describe the sampling method used in the study.
Suggest an alternative or additional research method giving one reason for your choice.
Markscheme
Award [1] for stating experiment (acceptable terms: lab experiment, controlled experiment, true experiment). Stating ‘experiment’ without specification is acceptable.
Award [0] for field experiment, natural experiment, quasi experiment, field study.
Answers related to characteristics of the experiment may include two of the following characteristics: Award [1] per relevant point, up to a maximum of [2].
Answers that outline characteristics such as controls, cause-effect relationship, IV and DV, may be awarded marks for this even if they have not identified the research method as a lab experiment.
- The lab experiment is designed to test a hypothesis (and null hypothesis).
- The lab experiment involves at least two conditions, the IV (in this paper a multitasking (listening to a lecture and complete 12 online tasks) or a non-multitasking condition) and DV (score on the test).
- Controls, for example for participant variables: the participants were randomly allocated into the two conditions by assigning them to a random seat number.
- The lab experiment can establish a cause-effect relationship between manipulation of the IV and its effect on the DV. The results of this experiment showed that participants in the multitasking condition scored significantly lower on the comprehension test than participants in the non-multitasking condition.
- Any other relevant point.
Award [1] for stating convenience (or opportunity) sampling. Self-selected sampling (or volunteer sample) is acceptable if linked to convenience (as this is specifically mentioned in the stimulus paper).
Description of the sampling method may include two of the following characteristics: [1] per relevant point. Maximum of [2].
- Convenience (or opportunity) sampling is a non-probability sampling method, which means that participants are not chosen randomly.
- A convenience/opportunity sample consists of participants who represent the population of interest. In the case of the study in the stimulus material, the population is university students but the topic is of general interest.
- A convenience/opportunity sample consists of participants based on availability and willingness to participate.
- Convenience sampling is an easy and quick way to get a sample and often used in research at universities as in this study.
- A convenience/opportunity sample suffers from selection bias and is therefore not necessarily representative of the population being studied or to other populations.
- Any other relevant point.
Award [1] for naming an alternative or additional research method and [2] for rationale.
Alternative/additional research methods that could be used to study the same topic as the experiment in the stimulus (that is, if multitasking on a laptop while listening to a lecture impairs learning) include, but are not limited to:
A survey
Rationales for using surveys as an additional or alternative method could include, but are not limited to:
- Using a survey as alternative method with random sampling of participants would be more representative of the population and easier to generalize results.
- A survey could ask students more specific questions related to multitasking, for example, how often they multitasked, or to what extent they experienced that multitasking impaired their learning, and/or the effectiveness of note taking when they multitask, eg texting or visiting Facebook during lectures.
- Data from a survey as an additional research method could be used to compare if the results of the experiment corresponded with students' own perception of a possible influence of multitasking on their learning. Students might respond that they can multitask and that their performance in class is not affected negatively.This could be compared with the result of the experiment.
- The survey as an additional method would add further data into a complex problem that researchers could then decide to explore using qualitative methods
- The survey enables a relatively rapid and inexpensive collection of a large amount of data.
Focus group interviews
Rationales for using focus group interviews as an additional or alternative method could include, but are not limited to:
- Exploring the student’s own perception of the issue of multitasking in class as an additional method. The facilitator would encourage the participants to share their views and experiences on multitasking during lectures. A qualitative approach such as this would give a more subjective view on multitasking and the effects students perceive on concentration and remembering. Such data could be compared to the findings of the experiment and thus give a more holistic view of the problem of multitasking during lectures.
- Data from focus groups on participants’ experiences of quality of learning during lectures with and without multitasking could give the researchers insight into aspects of the problem that they had not thought of themselves.
- Data from a focus group as an alternative method could give researchers an idea of how students perceive multitasking and then use these data for further research, perhaps using an experiment.
Examiners report
Many candidates answered this question well and scored the maximum of 3 marks. Those candidates identified the research method as a laboratory or true experiment and could refer to characteristics such as manipulation of the IV to measure its effect on the DV, control, or random allocation of participants to conditions. It was obvious that those candidates had knowledge and understanding of what constitutes a laboratory experiment and used knowledge from their work in the IA to identify the necessary clues in the stimulus material.
Weaker answers suggested a number of research methods such as quasi-experiment, correlational study, field study, field experiment, qualitative experiment, case study, naturalistic, and covert observation – demonstrating very limited knowledge of research methods in general, and in this case, the lab experiment used despite the information in the stimulus paper that clearly indicated this (for example, random allocation to conditions and controls).
Most candidates identified the sampling method correctly as it was stated in the stimulus material. However, not all candidates were able to describe characteristics of convenience sampling but just wrote how researchers recruited participants in the study.
In spite of the fact that the sampling method was made explicit in the stimulus paper a few candidates suggested a number of other sampling methods such as snowball, quota sampling, and purposive sampling.
Candidates who had identified the original research method as a lab experiment did well on this question, suggesting mostly survey or various forms of interview and gave relevant reasons, for example having the possibility to collect qualitative data that could give an insight into the participants’ subjective experience of the effects of multitasking on their academic work. It should be noted that it is important to suggest a research method in question 1c that can be used to investigate the same aim as that the original study.
Many of the weaker candidates who had not correctly identified the research method in question 1a suggested as an alternative or additional method a laboratory experiment.
