Recommendations for Experimental Research Designs With Multiple Sessions

Author / Creator

Ayers, Bailey author

Available as

Online

Summary

In this case study we discuss a two-session online experiment, in which participants watched a video lecture and took immediate- and delayed-memory tests over the content. This study was conducted ...

In this case study we discuss a two-session online experiment, in which participants watched a video lecture and took immediate- and delayed-memory tests over the content. This study was conducted over the course of two days, which led us to experience high attrition rates, and our case study focuses on this issue of attrition. In our study we manipulated the learning strategies participants could use, because we wanted to know whether having access to a video of a lecture helps or hurts learning during the initial viewing of the lecture. Students could learn more by paying attention without worrying about taking notes or storing everything in memory. Students may learn less because they put less effort into learning-presuming they will learn it later when they review the video. We also wanted to know if any changes in initial learning would be offset or improved by later rewatching the video. Participants watched a video lecture under one of four conditions: taking notes with the ability to rewatch, taking notes without the ability to rewatch, not taking notes with the ability to rewatch, or not taking notes without the ability to rewatch. All participants took a memory test immediately after the initial viewing, then took another memory test two days later. Because participants were required to complete the study over the course of two days, we experienced difficulty collecting enough completed data to run our analysis due to high attrition rates. Because of this, our study took much longer than anticipated (2 years). First, we will discuss obstacles we encountered and how they led to attrition. Then, we will provide recommendations for how to design multiple-session experiments that require participants to complete sessions on more than one day. We hope this insight will help future researchers design multiple-session studies both in-person and online that minimize attrition rates.

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