Testing a Theory in Day-to-Day Life - Essay Example

Perhaps the last time I can remember actually evaluating something that I had theorized was when I was 12 years old and playing baseball. I was motivated and very much interested in maximizing my performance, and so I thought that keeping stats would help me track my performance and may even make me perform better. I did start to record these statistics (batting average, strikeouts, hits, etc.) after every game, and looking back I’d say they were somewhat impressive. I do feel that keeping the statistics added to my motivation and likely contributed to these numbers.

This methods used in my unofficial research were similar to those used by psychologists in situations where a control group is not included. Of course, not having a control group in the form of pre-recording stats (which sounds bizarre in itself) greatly hurts the testability of my theory. Also, I came up with the idea very late in the season, so the amount of data used in this study was not enough to be considered valid (Messick, S.). My conclusions regarding the influence of the experiment are solely based on a personal judgment regarding my statistics and how they would compare to the average baseball player of my age group.

Given the chance to improve upon this model, I would have started by recording from the beginning of the season. I would need to record one half but not the other, although this could produce ordering effects. To conclude, I can safely say that I would make many changes to the method and design of any study meant to resemble the original juvenile research.