Effect of Old Age on SMS Texting Speed - Essay Example

Effect of Old Age on SMS Texting Speed The experiment studied the causal relationship between age and texting speed by statistically analyzing differences in the typing speed of three age groups. A multi-group between subjects experiment was conducted, with thirty participants divided into three age groups. Each participant was tasked to read and reply to a standardized SMS message that was sent to them. The time used by the participant in completing the task was then recorded and collected as data. Statistical analysis using the ANOVA test was conducted to test the omnibus null hypothesis that there would be no differences in the texting speed between all three groups. Statistical analysis using the one-tailed t-test was also performed to test for significant differences between paired groups. Effect of Old Age on SMS Texting Speed It has become a widely accepted belief that age affects an individual’s speed when it comes to the performance of particular tasks. This belief articulates the theory that age is causally related to speed when it comes to the performance of specific tasks. This is considered to be especially true when it comes to the use of more recent technology. The logic herein is that older people have a more difficult time learning new tasks or getting acquainted with newer technology. Because of this increasing difficulty to learn new tasks as one gets older, it is often posited that older people have a more difficult time with newer technology such as computers and mobile phones as compared to younger people. For this experiment, it is the intention of the researcher to test whether such a belief can be validly supported in a controlled experimental setting. We investigate the problem of whether or not old people would truly be slower in SMS texting than younger people. This experimental research has thus been designed to test for for a causal relationship between age as an independent variable and texting speed as the dependent variable. Many experimental studies that have so far been conducted in regards to the effect of age differences in the performance of cognitive tasks largely support the belief that age does cause a person to be slower in specific cognitive tasks. In the study conducted by Czaja and Sharit1, for example, it was shown that increased age was associated with longer response times in regards to the performance of computer-based work. In the above-mentioned study, it was shown that the older participants required longer time in performing computer-based work regardless of whether or not the assigned task was simple or complex. The results of that study is also similarly supported by a study on age and required reading time wherein older participants were also shown to take more time in reading a proposition as compared to their younger counterparts2. A more recent study conducted also similarly shows a disadvantage on the part of older adults as compared to younger adults in the recognition of words printed against a background with visual noise3. Given the results of these preceding studies, it is only rational then to predict that old people would have significantly slower texting speed as compared to young people. II. METHOD 2.1 Summary of Experimental Design A multi-group between subjects experimental design was employed to test whether old people are slower in SMS texting than young people. Age was set as the independent variable, with texting speed in seconds as the dependent variable for the experiment. The multi-group between subjects design was selected as most appropriate in testing for the causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables. A within subjects design was impossible due to the intrinsic nature of the independent variable. Although a two-group design was first considered, a multi-group design was selected for this experiment so as to be more precise in establishing the causal relationship of the two variables. For this experiment, the participants were prompted by an “instruction” message sent through texting and were tasked to reply to the said “instruction” message by copying or retyping a specific sentence contained in the “instruction” message. The amount of time consumed in seconds between the participants’ receipt of the instruction message and the receipt of his reply message was collected as a measurement of the dependent variable. 2.2 Participants A total of 30 subjects participated in the experiment. Apart from age and gender, no other characteristics were considered in selecting the 30 participants. The thirty participants were equally representative of three specified age groups: 15-25, 35-45, and 55-65. Each age group composed one experimental group, and was comprised of ten participants each, five of whom were male and the other five, female. 2.3 Materials Only three materials were employed for the experiment. These were: 2 mobile phones with SMS capability 1 stopwatch 2.4 Procedure Each participant was asked to enter a room with two experimenters. Upon entering the room the participant was briefly oriented as to the tasks that he may be required to perform in the experiment, and was given an opportunity to withdraw his participation should he/she be uncomfortable with any of the stated tasks. These specified tasks were as follows: 1. Read an SMS text message 2. Input/type an SMS text message 3. Send an SMS text message Upon confirmation of the participant’s willingness and consent to carry out the above specified tasks, one of the mobile phones was then handed to him and he was instructed as to how the experiment was to be conducted. To avoid the confounding effect of differences in experimenter’s instruction and explanation, the following standard oral instruction was given to all participants: “Please take hold of this mobile phone and follow the instructions that you will receive in an SMS text message that I shall be sending you. When you are ready to begin the experiment, please state the word, Ready.” Upon the participants’ indication that he was “ready”, the experimenter then sent out a prepared SMS message from the experimenters’ phone to the participant’s phone. The prepared SMS message that was received was uniform for all participants and simply instructed them to copy a standard sentence and to send it to the same number from which they received the message. The time it took for the participant to finish the task was measured by the second experimenter. Time was measured beginning at the point that a message tone indicating receipt of the message on the participant’s phone was heard, and stopped once the experimenter’s phone also gave out a message tone indicating receipt of the participant’s message. III. RESULTS 3.1 Choice of Statistical Criterion Level To reject the omnibus null hypothesis that there are no reliable differences in the texting speed between the three age groups, criterion or ‘alpha’ level was set at P = 0.05. The above criterion level was selected in order to provide standard reliability for the research results. The above criterion level also became the basis for determining the appropriate criterion level that was applied in testing the significance of differences between any two age groups. Applying the Bonferroni test, the criterion level for these pair-wise comparisons was computed by dividing the set criterion for the omnibus null hypothesis (P=0.05) by the number of possible pairs (3), thus resulting in P = 0.017. 3.2 Choice of Statistical Tests For the first part of the statistical analysis, the omnibus null hypothesis that all three age groups would have no reliable differences in texting speed was tested using One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). This statistical test was selected as most appropriate for the research because of the multi-group between-subject characteristic of the research design. Given the interval nature of the collected data (texting speed in seconds), it was also deemed appropriate to employ the parametric ANOVA test rather than non-parametric statistical tests which are also employed for multi-group between-subject testing. As a one-tailed test, ANOVA was also more applicable for the above research which from the start predicted not just the existence of reliable differences in texting speed between the three age groups, but also asserted that texting speed would be slower among the older adults than among younger adults. Pair-wise comparisons of all possible group pairs was also conducted after testing the omnibus null hypothesis in order to determine whether there was any reliable difference between any paired age group. In testing for statistically reliable differences between two specific age groups, the one-tailed t-test was employed. Since this second half of the statistical analysis involved comparisons between two specific age groups at a time, the multi-group characteristic of ANOVA was no longer necessary, and the standard one-tailed t-test was seen as appropriate and more efficient. IV. DISCUSSION V. REFERENCES Czaja, S.J., & Sharit, J. (1993). Age differences in the performance of computer-based work. Psychology and Aging, 8, 59-67. Green, J., & d’Oliveira, M. (1999). Learning to Use Statistical Tests in Psychology (2nd ed). Open University Press Hartley, J.T., Stojack, C., Mushaney, T. (1994). Reading speed and prose memory in older and younger adults. Psychology and Aging, 9, 216-223. Lehman, R.S. (1991). Statistics and Research Design in the Behavioral Sciences. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company. McGuigan, F.J. (1990). Experimental Psychology: Methods of Research. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Speranza, F., Daneman, M., Schneider, B. (2000). How aging affects the reading of words in noisy backgrounds. Psychology and Aging, 15, 225-231. Read More