Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,
My question is "How does a slow motion video affect how well someone remembers and connects to information? "
I want to measure how people connect to information given in slow motion videos. I also want to measure what they remember from what is shown to them. My question is what's the ideal/best way to test my subjects. There are many different ways on how to test this and I'm confused on what my procedure should be like.

Should I use one video the first time in regular speed and the second in slow motion and then show both videos to each of my subjects. Or should I use two different videos for each of the motions? And I'm wondering if I should survey them after having them watch the videos? Or is there a better way to testify their information intake/memory?

Having that said, does age matter? I'm thinking of testing my ninth grade class (13-15), basically young teens. What do you think or does this not matter as much? Then lastly, how do I avoid having opinions as results?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Alicia110,

This is an interesting experiment! In order to test your subjects’ memory of the video they just watched, you could give them a quiz with details about what occurred. My suggestion is that you create 2 different groups and randomly assign individuals to each group. Then show one group the video in slow motion and show the other group the video at normal speed. Then, you could give them the same quiz about the video and compare the scores between the 2 groups. From there, you could conclude whether or not there’s a correlation between watching slow motion videos and better absorption of information. Make sure that your sample size is large enough! I think that using those from your ninth grade class is acceptable however in professional statistical studies, the aim is to take a random sample of the population. This allows the study to apply their conclusions to the general population. In your case, you will still avoid bias if you take a random sample of 9th graders: your conclusions about your experiment can thus apply to young teenagers. For more information on how to take a random sample, you can simply search on Google “types of random samples”.

My proposed experimental design is what Statisticians label as a randomized comparative experiment; these allow you to make conclusions about cause and effect.

Hope this helped!
~Catherine M.