Generalization and application Essays

Generalization and application Essays Generalization and application Essay Generalization and application Essay The table shows the correct answers gained from both groups of people on the Asian tsunami. It shows that the Asians have a lot more correct answers than the non-Asians. This shows that Asian people knew a lot more about the Asian tsunami than non-Asian people.  From the results there seems to a be a lot of similarity in the results that were gained for questions 1 and 3. This shows that these questions do not depend upon schema and so are most likely to be similar. Similarly its is noticeable that questions such as 2 and 4 have very different answers which shows that these questions depend upon schema and relate to knowledge. Graph (next page)  The graph shows the correct answers from Asians and non- Asians about the Asian tsunami. It shows a comparison between the answers both groups had. It shows the number of people who gave the correct answers in each group.  The graph shows that there is a lot of similarity between the results of question one. This question, as analysed before, can be concluded that it does not require the schema of being an Asian and may fall into the category of general knowledge. This pattern is also similar with question 3. Whereas, the graphs that shows the results of questions 2 and 4 show that there is a varied result between the two groups. From this it can be concluded that these were the questions that required a schema of the Asian culture and understanding as from the graphs we can see that the Asian produced with a lot more correct results.  Relationship of results to hypothesis  As can be seen on the graph Asians have provided with more correct answers than non-Asian on the topic of the Asian tsunami. This shows that they must have a better understanding of the Asian cultures and the geographic area therefore have better understanding and memory of the disaster. : The research hypothesis is therefore accepted that, Asian people will have a better understanding of the Asian tsunami as they have a schema of the Asian culture and framework.   Discussion  Validity  As this is a psychology experiment the chances for complete accuracy in measurements are hard to gain as it is quite hard to measure anything psychological. In the study, questionnaires have been used. This may have problems such as some people may lie in questionnaires. They may also have problems such as forced answers that may not necessarily relate to the answer that they want. Another problem that may arise by using questionnaires as a form of study apparatus is that they may have questions that are biased or asked in a provoking manner and some questions may not cover all aspects of a particular subject. Other problems that may arise are things such as some participants may try to guess the answers to the questions. The problems with the independent variable are that in the two conditions, the males and females may not be a representation of the group that is being studied. They may be a biased sample. A wrong type of person may have been put into the wrong category and so misleading the study and its results.  It may not be measuring the effectiveness of the schema because it depends on the amount that the participant knows about the tsunami disaster. Some of the questions are not valid measures of schema, as schema would not help with the answers. E.g.: scale on the Richter scale. Some Asians may have been born in this country and never even visited the Asian countries that are involved therefore the schema would not be any better than that of non- Asians.  As this is a very general test that involves a generalisation of Asians or non- Asians this could mean that it is not a valid measure for all people as not all Asians will know more about the Asian tsunami or not all non-Asians will know less.  The motivations behind Asian people and non-Asians may vary in that Asians people may have a drive that may push them further and they may feel that they should know more about the disaster. Improving validity  The validity can be improved by focusing on the problems and sorting them out. There are some points that just may not be able to be improved upon as they are uncontrollable variables. The questionnaires can be set out and given to the participants in such a way that they can be completely anonymous. This may help keep the validity of the answers that are gained to be good. To try and keep the participants from guessing the answers the questions should good enough so that they cannot be guessed. As some participants may feel that they want to impress the studier or have self esteem. This can be sorted out by using very anonymous methods of studying. E.g.: having a box to put in the filled in questionnaires rather than giving it back personally to the studier. The questions should be written carefully so that it may not bias the way the participant is going to think or put the answer down. This will enable them to give a good idea of how they are going to answer the question. An option for the participants to put down any alternative answers should be given as this will lower the participants being forced to choose an answer that may not relate to what they want. Although it is very difficult to measure and control the participants knowledge about the tsunami as it was very major news at the time and came to affect everyone on a level of impact. A solution for this can be that people who know a certain amount about the disaster should be tested on, but this is a very hard and impractical approach to solving this problem.  To make sure that the valid types of Asians and non- Asians are used, we could set certain rules to the type of participants chosen. i.e.: The Asians would have to be chosen so that the people chosen are from the areas affected and have lived there for at least one year or visited the place at least two times etc Reliability of results The reliability of the results depends on the trust of the people who have provided the answers. By looking at the method used for this study which is questionnaires there may be some problems such as the moods of people doing the questionnaires they maybe in a particular mood which formulates them to provide with certain answers.  The time of day that the questionnaire was done could have some effect, if they were busy while doing the questionnaire or they were distracted by some other external cause may affect the way the questionnaire was answered and the answers where provide. If they were very busy it could have affected their memory and could not answer something if otherwise they could have easily answered. Other things that may affect the participants directly maybe things such as the participant being tired, hungry or bored this may affect the way the participant will answer the questions. The participants may know the researchers so they may behave differently towards the researcher to fit the way the researcher might like the results to turn out to be. As there is only a small number of people that are being researched it may not give enough reliable results to give reliable averages.  As opportunistic sampling was used it may have some bias such as researchers going for certain types of people or going for people they may know. It has no real system of choosing the participants and so it cannot be replicated. On a different day there maybe different groups of people that may be selected and hence giving a different range of results. The controls of situation also affect the study, if there were two researchers carrying out the study this could affect the results as two researchers might trust the people differently. The way in which the researchers treat the participants may be different. The way in which the questions are asked or given to them could also affect the way the answers are gained. There may be a standard procedure that is set, but may be followed differently by different researchers.  There are also situational factors such as if the participants where with a group of friends which may affect the way the participant answers the questions as they want to impress their friends etc Improvement for reliability To improve the reliability of the study the participants chosen should be chosen fairly and unbiased. They should be chosen so that they can be reliable to give truthful answers. The groups chosen should have a mix of people that represent the group that is being studied and this should be kept constant throughout the different people in the group that are being studied.  The questionnaire should be done to all people around the same time settings i.e.: at lunch where there are lots of people around or in a free period when there are few people around. This should help keep the setting for the study constant. It should not be done when the participant is busy as it may affect the way they answer. If there are any external factors such as loud noises affecting the participant this should be avoided by making them do the questionnaire in another environment which may not affect the way they answer. The researcher should make sure that they choose participants that may not be tired or busy or any factors such as those that may cause them to answer unreliably. The participants should be chosen so that they do not know the researcher as this would avoid the percentage of error that may occur. If they do know the researcher they should be reliable and not biased. If there is enough time a larger sample should be used so that a more reliable average can be obtained as if small numbers are used it may be slightly biased in one way or the other.  A set method of sampling can be used so that there is a real system of sampling so that it can be repeated and the same kind of answers will be obtained. i.e.: using the same people to do the test again. The study could have been done by one researcher alone or with a set procedure which will allow the same type of research techniques to be done on each participant. If there are any major situational factors such as a large group of friends and situations where the participant may be distracted this should also be reduced as it may affect the answers.  Implications of the study  From the study, the results show that there is a difference in the understanding of the Asian tsunami, between Asians and non-Asians. The Asians tend to know more about the event than what the non-Asians knew. This could be due to many factors. The main one being that the Asians would know more about their culture and its surrounding and so will know more and understand more about where and how the Asian tsunami has happened. They might have a greater interest in the incident and may decide to want to find out more about the study. The places could be something that they could relate to more and so they know how to picture the incident better. This is similar to the studies that where investigated in the introduction. The War of the Ghost showed that people could not remember as much as they could in detail about some of the Native American details, but they could remember details that they could personally relate to and understand. So a canoe would become a boat. This relates to the Asian tsunami study in ways which show that people may understand more about the Asian tsunami because it occurred in an Asian surrounding and a place where there are things which Asians can relate to better than non-Asians could. The non-Asians are like the participants in the war of the ghosts. They can relate to the incident by adapting it to their own understanding. This does mean that they would not understand the scale of the incidents as if it had occurred in a non-Asian surrounding it would be different and that would be how they would be trying to relate it to. The scale of devastations would be different and because the infrastructure of the countries in the more developed countries would be different the way things are dealt with would be different and that would be how the non-Asians might presume to happen. Generalization and application  The finding from this experiment is applicable to everyone. As everyone belongs to some culture and everyone has been brought up with different schemas and ways of life. They will be prone to understanding better if something happens in their environment than if it happens in another cultures environment. So even objective news items from around the world will be understood and remembered better by some people than others.  This may not sometimes apply to people that come from mixed cultures or some that may have a good and widespread understanding of all cultures and how it works. This will help people to understand that sometimes it is easier for one person to understand about a subject better than what someone else could understand it.