Question

Does the use of examples improve memory for the concepts being taught? Joe Researcher tested this possibility by teaching 10 subjects 20 concepts each. For each subject, examples were provided to help explain 10 of the new concepts, no examples were provided for the other 10. Joe then tested his subjects memory for the concepts and recorded how many concepts, out of 10, that the subject could remember. Here are his data: Test the above hypothesis at ( alpha=0.05) level? Subject No. Without Example With Example 1 6 8 2 8 8 3 5 6 4 4 6 5 7 7 6 8 7 7 2 5 8 5 7 9 6 7

Answer 1

We use independent sample t test to test following hypothesis

Hypothesis:

Test statistic,

Where,

Here   

Using all these values in t statistic formula we get, t = -1.537

Degrees of freedom = n₁ + n₂ - 2 = 9+9-2 = 16

Critical value at 5% level of significance = 1.746

Since calculated | t | = 1.537 is less than 1.746, hence accept null hypothesis and conclude that  use of examples does not significantly improve memory for the concepts being taught.