Students waiting for the sub! (for more pictures, follow the link at the end of the entry).
Last week's Cognitive Group meeting had three headliners--Maria Kennihan, Rachel Learned, and a sub from The Whole Darn Thing Sub Shop.
Maria presented the design of her senior comp for which she will begin testing soon. The group helped her refine some of the stimuli she will be using for her study. Maria's study occurs across two sessions, and the group discussed the challenges of such a design and brainstormed ways to encourage participants to return for a second session.
Rachel also presented her senior comp for which she has just finished testing. Specifically, Rachel testing approximately 70 first year students about the first year experience. As part of that interview, Rachel asked her participants to tell her "something, anything you wish..." about approaching professors during office hours and about what they do with their friends on campus and in the Meadville community. Rachel was particularly interested in how her interviewees would respond to the use of two interviewing techniques. For some participants, Rachel first engaged in small talk, for others she began the interview as soon as the informed consent was signed. Also, for some participants, Rachel took notes during the interview; for others she did not. Rachel hopes to determine whether notetaking during interviews has a negative effect on the interviewee's experience of the interview and of her as the interviewer. This question became of interest to her during her work with the admissions office on campus where the common practice is to make sure not to take notes when meeting with visitors to campus. Furthermore, Rachel hopes to examine the interaction that might occur between the use of small talk and notetaking. Specifically, she expects to find that interviewees will rate the interview experience most positively when small talk is used and no notes are taken. She also expects that the experience will be rated most negatively when small talk is not used and notes are taken. Finally, she expects that the negative impact of notetaking will be mitigated by the positive effect of the use of small talk. The group asked Rachel about what her testing experience was like and Rachel shared some of the challenges she faced trying to keep her interview as similar as possible across each participant without having her behavior seem too unnatural.
Finally, the idea of a 'Cognitive Group Presents' Night was discussed. Professor Knupsky and Professor Wiseman are hoping to have the Group sponsor an evening during which senior psychology students can present posters of their work. The Group thought this would be a great way to showcase the hard work of the seniors and would provide an opportunity for other students to see how the projects turned out and to perhaps get ideas for future projects.
For more pictures from our meeting, please continue reading...
