Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Award Date
1970
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department / School
Printing and Journalism
Abstract
It is the purpose of this study to help in the resolution of some of these questions by determining if the type of response made to programed material has any effect on the retention of the material. If, as was mentioned earlier, learning is the result of stimuli transmitted through the senses to the brain, it seems logical that the more senses involved in transmitting the stimuli to the brain the more effective and efficient the learning process will be. It is the hypothesis of this study that a person responding to programed material by having to think what the correct response is and then having to write it down should learn more from the program, and remember it longer, than a person who only "thinks" the correct response. A search of the available literature revealed no previous study of this nature. Several studies were cited comparing retention of programed material and conventional instruction methods or retention of programed material immediately following learning and retention at a later time. Other studies compared performance scores of groups using overt and covert responses, but failed to check for retention at a later time. The results of most studies designed to measure retention show high amounts of retention over periods of weeks and months and " ••• report high degrees of correlation between achievement measured immediately following learning and after a longer retention interva1.”A study by Evans, Glaser and Homme in 19599 first raised the question of the necessity of an overt response to programed material. Their study showed that a covert response by participants required less time and resulted in higher mean performance scores. This report led to other studies comparing overt and covert modes of response and the results have been conflicting. However, in general the type of response seems to have little bearing on the level of learning achieved.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Programmed instruction
South Dakota State University Theses
Format
application/pdf
Number of Pages
47
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Merriam, Gary, "A Comparison of the Effect of Overt and Covert Responses on the Retention of Programed Material" (1970). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3810.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/3810