Samuel + Bryant (1984)

Samuel + Bryant (1984)

1. IV

   • Age of child
   • Conservation task (one judgement, standard, fixed array)
   • Material (number, mass, volume)

2. Aim

   • To investigate the effect of using only one question in Piaget's original conservation study

3. Sampling

   • Volunteer/ opportunity

4. Participants

   • 252M+F
     • Between 5 + 8 years
     • Devon
     • Divided into 4 groups of 63
       • 5yr 3m
       • 6yr 3m
       • 7yr 3m
       • 8yr 3m
     • Each group was divided into 3 subgroups closely matched in age

5. Tasks

   • each child was tested 4 times on each task
   • Number (using counters)
   • Mass (using modelling clay)
   • Volume (using liquid)
   • TRIALS
     • each child was given 4 trials with each kind of material. The order was systematically varied between children.

6. PROCEDURE

   • The groups were divided into 3 subgroups of 21 children of equal mean age and underwent a different condition
     • (1) Standard
       • Traditional 2 question conservation task
     • (2) One Judgement
       • the conservation task with only one question asked and that after the transformations
     • (3) Fixed array control
       • where the child saw no transformations being given; all that was seen was the post-trans display
         • The purpose of this condition was to check that children who answered the post-trans question correctly in the other 2 conditions did so by bringing over info. from the pre-trans display.

7. Strenghts

   • Usefulness
   • high control
   • Quan data

8. Weaknesses

   • low E.V
   • opp sampling = no rep

9. What was recorded? (measures)

   • The childs ability to conserve
     • measured by recording the number of errors the child made (operationalized)

10. RESULTS

    • Older children did constantly better than younger children.
    • Standard was easier than fixed array
    • Children did constantly better on the number task compared to the mass and volume
    • One judgement task was typically easier than the standard and fixed array tasks
    • no difference between unequal and equal quantity trials