it’s insanity
Perhaps this supposed “bug” that everyone has been getting has finally caught me, because I really feel under the weather. It’s only consistent with the constant Facebook statuses that cry out “I’m sick! My body has a larger store of germs than normal! Beware!”
I have done nothing ‘right’ all day as I completely misread an email to my TA to catch another section —- somehow I ended up on the other side of campus. I was fortunate to have a partner in crime who was as clueless as I was, and together, we saved the world got to section in time for the lab portion.
As extra credit, I have the option to participate in experiments in the psychology building and it’s usually 1-3% of the overall grade. Most of the time, these are so worth it because 1) if you show up early enough in the quarter, experiments may not work and you can receive credit for doing nothing if the experimenters take pity or are embarrassed 2) they don’t usually last a full hour —- you receive one credit per hour in an experiment but they usually last an average of 30 minutes 3) 3% of a final grade is enough to boost you from an A- to an A, or A to the highly coveted A+.
Since this is technically my first quarter at the university, I’m not sure whether there are no available experiment times because all the students are signing up for them, or they are taking their sweet time setting up the experimenters and finding research assistants to help run the experiments with undergraduates. Over the summer, I was able to finish my 10 hours or so of extra credit experimental hours by the second week. I guess it’ll be more difficult this quarter —- I like to finish them early so they don’t interfere with my schedule later on.
I was able to snatch up an appointment time today in between classes, and I just found it hilarious that all the open times should be a Friday. I came into the department early and they let me start about 15 minutes early and I was done in 25 minutes. They were basically testing about memorization and plurals.
What I found interesting is that they shut you up in a room in front of a computer to complete the task. Who’s to say that the subjects aren’t just guessing at random and not really paying attention? Or that they don’t really perform the experiment, but just do whatever it takes to finish it? Are these factored into results? Obviously, data that is completely off would be excluded, but how do researchers know that the person purposely sabotaged results, or that they are just that bad?
It was so hard paying attention today that in the middle of the experiment, while words were flashing on the screen, I took out my lunch from my backpack and started eating crackers while I waited for the feedback portion. I had this eerie idea that I was being videotaped or something, but I’m sure they can’t do that without your permission (????????). Also to kill time, I repeated some of the words like Anna Ferris does when her character memorizes names, in that freaky gutteral voice , haha. Oliver. That was fun for like 1.5 minutes, and there was still so many words left.
Halfway through the feedback portion, they ask you to go and grab the experimenter and they do a little bit of debriefing. Turns out my correct percentage was 67%, and the experimenter congratulated me on doing well. First reaction: WHAT? She said that that was the highest percentage correct that they have yet so far … that’s like a D average. What kind of results are they getting? It seems like sort of a waste of time to experiment something that will eventually be inconclusive because an average of about 50% would be at chance, right? Half of the questions, people would be guessing the correct answer?
I just find that really silly.
Anyhow, it’s the weekend. I’m done looking at my psychology books or thinking about it or talking about it (probably not) —- so I hope everyone has a good weekend. :)
