sabastian an hernandezzz

• What was the aim of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil 2012?

  To study phonological loop development in children
• What age range did the study focus on?

  Children ages 5 to 17
• How did the study compare digit span across different age groups?

  By comparing with previous research on adults
• What sampling technique was used in the study?

  Volunteer sampling technique
• How many participants were involved in the study?

  570 native Spanish children
• Where were the participants from?

  Madrid
• What controls were implemented for the participants?

  Hearing, reading, writing ability, and presentation rate
• What type of research method was used in the study?

  Laboratory experiment
• What design was used in the study?

  Independent groups design
• What were the independent variables in the study?

  Age groups of children
• What was measured in the study?

  Recall of digits in sequential order
• What was the digit span for 5 year olds?

  3.76 words recalled
• What was the digit span for 15 to 17 year olds?

  5.83 words recalled
• What conclusion was drawn about digit span between Spanish and English speakers?

  No differences in digit span were found
• How did the overall capacity of digit span compare between Spanish and English populations?

  Lower in Spanish population
• generalisability strengths

  • Males and females were used to this no gender bias
  • Sample of Spanish participants made a possible comparison with English speaking participants
• Generalisability weaknesses

  • Volunteer sample so participants may have an ulterior motive
  • Can't necessarily generalise findings to all cultures native Arabic or Chinese speakers
  • Participants with hearing reading and language impairments were excluded in making it impossible to generalise findings to the sub groups
• reliability, strengths

  Standardised procedure or participants in each group were subjected to the same procedure. This leads the good internal reliability so it's possible to replicate.
• Validity strengths

  • Possible confounding variables with controlled the rate of presentation of digits, hearing (reading impairments). This makes it easier to infer cause a relationship between age and digit span so it has good internal validity.
• Validity weaknesses

  • Lack of ecological validity reading sequences of digits is not an everyday task digit rehearsal plays they're relatively small part in memory
• applications

  Use of measures of digit span to detect dyslexia associated with poor digit span. Limited digit spans of younger children may be important for teachers of primary school and children learning
• Ethics

  Participants for children who are unable to gain informed consent

  parental permission was obtained

  children may be upset with their performance if it was below average