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A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Teaching Methods Of Study To Selected High School Freshmen

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A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Teaching Methods Of Study To Selected High School Freshmen

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Content This dissertation has been
microfilmed exactly as received 6 7 -1 0 ,7 7 7
TURNER, William Joe, 1927-
A STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING
METHODS OF STUDY TO SELECTED HIGH SCHOOL
FRESHMEN.
University of Southern California, Ph.D., 1967
Education, psychology
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
A STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING METHODS
OF STUDY TO SELECTED HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN
by
William Joe Turner
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Education)
June 1967
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
........ WIMiIM_£OE_Tj^ER.........
under the direction of hfLa...Dissertation C o m
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
C5.
Dean
Date ..« T m e . . . l 9 . 6 Z
: r t MITTEE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ..........................
Chapter
I. THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITION OF TERMS . . .
Introduction
The Problem
Assumptions
Hypotheses
The Scope and Limitations of the Study
The SQ3R Method
Definitions of Terms
Organization of the Study
II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................
Background of the Problem
Literature Pertaining to the Cooperative
English Tests
Literature Pertaining to the Webb-Harris
Word Meaning Test
III. RESEARCH DESIGN ..........................
Selection of the Sample Population
Procedures of the Experiment Related to
Academic Achievement
Procedures of the Experiment Related to
the Placebo Group
Procedures of the Experiment Related to
Attitude Change
Procedures of the Experiment Related to
Analysis of the Data
IV. DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ...............
Findings Related to Achievement
Findings Related to Attitudes
Chapter Page
Some Impressions of the Study
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 78
Summary
Findings
Conclusions Relating to the Hypotheses
Recommendations for Further Study
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................... 89
APPENDIX A. Six SQ3R Student Study Guides Used
in San Diego County Public Schools 97
APPENDIX B. Sample of Mark Sense Response Card
Used in the Webb-Harris Word
Meaning T e s t ..................... 123
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Classifications of Concepts and Factor
Groupings of Polar Adjective Pairs Used
in the Webb-Harris Test................. 22
2. Pre-Test Comparison of Means of Experi
mental, Placebo, and Control Groups on
the Cooperative English Tests, by t
Ratios........ * ....................... 50
3. Post-Test Comparison of Means of Experi
mental, Placebo, and Control Groups on
the Cooperative English Tests, by t
Ratios.................................. 52
4. Pre-Test Comparison of Mean Scores for Sex
Groups Within the Experimental, Placebo,
and Control Groups on the Cooperative
English Tests, by t Ra t i o s............. 55
5. Post-Test Comparison of Mean Scores for Sex
Groups Within the Experimental, Placebo, !
and Control Groups on the Cooperative
English Tests, by t Ra t i o s.... 56
6. Pre-Test Post-Test Comparison of Means of
Experimental, Placebo, and Control Groups
on the Cooperative English Tests, by t
Ratios.......................... 58
7. Pre-Test to Post-Test Comparison of Means
of the Experimental Group, by Sex, on the
Cooperative English Tests, by t Ratios . 60
8. Pre-Test versus Post-Test Comparison of
Means of the Placebo Group, by Sex, on
the Cooperative English Tests, by t
Ratios.......................... 62
v
Table Page
9. Pre-Post Test Comparison, by Sex, of Means
of the Control Group on the Cooperative
English Tests, by t Ratios............. 64
10. Covariance Analysis of the Cooperative
English Test Scores..................... 65
11. Pre-Post Test Comparison of Subject Matter
Grades of Experimental, Placebo, and
Control Groups, by t Ratios............ 67
12. Pre-Test, Post-Test Comparison of the
Experimental Group on the Webb-Harris
Word Meaning Test, by t Ratios........ 69
13. Pre-Test, Post-Test Comparison of the
Placebo Group on the Webb-Harris Word
Meaning Test, by t Ratios.............. 71
14. Pre-Test, Post-Test Comparison of the
Control Group on the Webb-Harris Word
Meaning Test, by t Ratios.............. 74
vi
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITION OF TERMS
Introduction
Beyond the primary grades one of the desired out
comes of nearly every course a student takes in school is
an increased proficiency in how to study. It is probable
that few teachers would be willling to admit that they have
not done at least something to improve their students1
habits of study. From the primary grades through high
school, one of the concomitant outcomes of nearly every
course should be a continued improvement in the study
habits of students. As teachers at all levels can attest,
this, unhappily, is not universally the case.
It is probable that most teachers feel that by
virtue of having learned the subject matter of the course
the student must either know how to study sufficiently
well or else must have learned it in the course. How else
could he attain a passing grade? For a passing grade is
evidence that the student has learned the subject matter
of the course. Admittedly, this is circular reasoning.
At the same time, it is comforting logic to the educator
who cannot find the time or money for inclusion of a
2
course in how-to-study in the curriculum nor the services
of a teacher qualified to teach such a course. When a
unit on how-to-study is included, it receives only token
attention in the over-all curriculum, as is indicated in
the discussion in Chapter II. And whether the ,lsomething, ,
the teacher tries to do in such a unit is merely an exhor
tation to study more or a planned unit on f l How to Study,*1
there is seldom an evaluation of whether or not the student
has actually learned to study more effectively. The pass
ing grade in subject matter is the criterion for evaluat
ing study methods. How much time the student spends in
studying and how effectively he uses the study time seem
not to be matters of concern.
All too often educators exhort the student to study
’’ more"; rarely does the teacher attempt to evaluate how
effective were the study methods employed.
The Problem
This study sought to investigate certain questions
concerning the outcomes of teaching selected ninth-grade
students how to study effectively. It was felt that stu
dents who were placed in a course in which the primary
purpose was to teach students how to study more effectively
would experience measurable changes in attitudes and
achievement. Furthermore, it was felt that use of a method
of study which had been employed successfully over a number
of years would furnish the most probable chance of success.
The method selected was known as the "SQ3R method" devel
oped by Francis P. Robinson at Ohio State University.
Although Robinson's method is used primarily with college
freshmen at Ohio State University, it was believed that
the same method might also be effectively used with fresh
men high school students, i.e., those in the ninth grade.
Assumptions
Certain assumptions were basic to the design of the
present investigation:
1. Since an entire ninth grade was to be invited
to participate in the study, it was assumed that among
those who did volunteer there would be a similarity of
minimum motivation. Admittedly, the total amount of moti
vation might vary greatly from student to student, but all
would be expected to have a certain minimum degree of
motivation by virtue of having volunteered for the study.
A random selection of experimental subjects, then, should
provide a sample which had essentially the same degree of
motivation as the original population from which they were
selected.
2. The study was to take place during an eighteen-
week period— one school semester. This involved the assump
tion that measurable change would take place during this
interval. Because school grades and promotions are based
on the same time period, the assumption appeared to be
reasonable.
3. The method of study selected was based on an
application designed for college students in Ohio. This
assumption could be restated as follows: What has been
demonstrated to have worked out at Ohio State University
should also work out in a high school in Southern Califor
nia. If this seems to be too large (or unwarranted) an
assumption, it should be noted that the materials actually
presented in the classroom were relatively simple (as is
displayed in Appendix A). Reports of the use of these
materials have not appeared as yet in the literature, but
studies have described the used of the SQ3R method, a
method which has been in use for several years in the
public schools in San Diego County, California.
4. A fourth assumption was basic to the design of
the study. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate
the effectiveness of the SQ3R method when used with high
school students. This implies the assumption that the
SQ3R method does have some effectiveness. Researchers,
being human, would have little incentive in pursuing a
research problem if at the outset they assumed that the
basic tool was ineffective. It must be noted then that,
while the purpose of the study was to demonstrate the
relative effectiveness of the method selected, it did
involve the assumption that some degree of effectiveness
could be demonstrated.
5. A placebo group was included in the study as
one way of minimizing the Hawthorne effect.
Hypotheses
Based on the questions and assumptions adopted for
study, the following research hypotheses were tested:
1. The subject-matter achievement of the selected
students, as measured by standardized achieve
ment tests, will be significantly improved.
2. The grade point averages of the selected stu
dents, as measured by teachers' grades at
quarter and semester, will be significantly
improved.
3. The feelings of the selected students toward
school, teachers, and reading, as measured by
the Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test, will be
significantly improved.
4. The feelings of the selected students toward
themselves, as measured by the concept "me"
on the Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test, will be
significantly improved.
These research hypotheses were tested in terms of
the null hypothesis. The level of significance acceptable
to cause rejection of the null hypothesis was arbitrarily
determined to be the ,05 level.
The Scope and Limitations of the Study
The study was conducted in the Huntington Beach
Union High School District. The population of the study
consisted of 900 students attending the ninth grade at
Westminster High School.
The entire ninth grade was invited through their
English classes to participate in an experiment on “How
to Study More Effectively.11 Of the more than 900 students
in the ninth grade, 167 volunteered to participate in the
study. It was assumed that all of those who volunteered
would possess a similar minimum motivation. Thirty-three
of the original 167 volunteers later declined to partici
pate. The 134 who remained were divided into three groups
by means of a table of random numbers. An impartial
observer selected a number from a hat to determine which
group would be the experimental group. The placebo and
control groups were determined by the toss of a coin.
Only ninth grade students from one four-year public
school were included. All were volunteers. The study
method selected was the SQ3R Method of Study developed by
Francis P. Robinson at Ohio State University, as described
by him in Effective Study.
The study was started at the beginning of the
second quarter, and was concluded at the end of the fourth
quarter of the 1964-65 school year. During the period
of study the experimental and placebo groups each met
weekly on seventeen occasions. Members of the control
group attended regular classes and were given no special
instructions in how to study effectively. The placebo
group met weekly, and also received no special instruc
tions on how to study effectively. Instead, the placebo-
group students were allowed to discuss any topic they chose
and were given the same amount of time and attention as
those in the experimental group. The experimentals were
given instruction in how to study effectively, using the
SQ3R method. The method was applied using the students1
own textbooks as the learning vehicle.
The SQ3R Method
An explanation of the SQ3R method can best be given
in Robinson's^- own words:
The title for this new higher-level study skill
is abbreviated in the current fashion to make it
easier to remember and to make reference to it more
simple. The symbols Survey Q3R stand for the steps
which the student follows in using the method; a
^Francis P. Robinson, Effective Study (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1961).
8
description of each of these steps is given below:
SURVEY
1. Glance over the headings in the chapter
to see the few big points which will be
developed. Also read the final summary
paragraph if the chapter has one. This
survey should not take more than a minute
and will show the three to six core ideas
around which the discussion will cluster.
This orientation will help you organize
the ideas as you read them later.
QUESTION
2. Now begin to work. Turn the first heading
j.nto a question. This will arouse your
curiosity and so increase comprehension.
It will bring to mind information already
known, thus helping you to understand
that section more quickly. And the ques
tion will make important points stand out
while explanatory detail is recognized
as such. Turning a heading into a ques
tion can be done on the instant of reading
the heading, but it demands a conscious
effort on the part of the reader to make
this a query for which he must read to
find the answer.
READ
3. Read to answer that question, i.e., to
the end of the first headed section.
This is not a passive plodding along
each line, but an active search for the
answer.
RECITE
4. Having read the first section, look away
from the book and try briefly to recite
the answer to your question. Use your
own words and name an example. If you
can do this you know what is in the book;
if you can't, glance over the section
again. An excellent way to do this
reciting from memory is to jot down cue
phrases in outline form on a sheet of
paper. Make these notes very brief!
Now repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 on each
succeeding beaded section. That isT
9
turn the next heading into a question,
read to answer that question, and recite
the answer by jotting down cue phrases
in your outline" Read in this way until
the entire lesson is completed.
REVIEW
5. When the lesson has thus been read through,
look over your notes to get a bird's-eye
view of the points and of their relation
ship and check your memory as to the
content by reciting on the major sub-
points under each heading. This checking
of memory can be done by covering up the
notes and trying to recall the main points.
Then expose each major point and try to
recall the sub-points listed under it.
These five steps of the Survey Q3R Method— Survey,
Question, Read, Recite and Review— -when polished
into a smooth and efficient method should result in
the student reading faster, picking out the important
points, and fixing them in memory.2
Definitions of Terms
Effective. In this report, the term effective
refers to producing a definite or desired result; it may
be equated with the term "efficient."
Study. Study is the act or process of applying
the mind in order to acquire knowledge, as by reading or
investigating.
Placebo. In medical terminology, placebo refers
2Ibid., p. 30.
10
to a medicine given merely to humor the patient; especially,
to a preparation containing no medicine but given for its
psychological effect. In this study the term is borrowed
to refer to the respondent group to which an amount of time
equal to that given to the experimental group was given.
SQ3R. The method of study developed by Francis P.
Robinson is labeled the SQ3R method, taken from the initials
of its five steps: S=»Survey, Q=*Question, R=Read, R=Recite,
and R=Review.
Freshman. The term freshman refers here to a
student in the first year of a four-year high school— the
ninth grade.
Organization of the Study
The dissertation is divided into five chapters.
The first three describe the background of the study, some
related findings, and an explanation of the research
design. The last two chapters compare the groups statisti
cally, discuss the findings in terns of the hypotheses, and
offer some conclusions and recommendations for further
study.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The educational literature is replete with refer
ences on , f How to Study*1 in spite of the fact that there is
a dearth of information about how high school students can
study with greater effectiveness. References that were
reviewed frequently turned out to be harangues from learned
professors, both lay and sectarian. The harangue type of
citation is illustrated by a small pamphlet written more
than forty years ago by Professor Touton of the University
of Southern California, in which he offered helpful hints
to college students on how to study, but cited no research
to support his advice.
Two decades later, Tibbetts published a short vol
ume containing essentially the same good advice--generali-
zations and helpful hints, but drawing upon no research
findings. Tibbetts did include a bibliography of some
eighteen titles dating from 1910 to 1939. After another
two decades, Johnson of Cornell, writing in the NASSP
Bulletin, exhorted junior high school teachers to teach
12
study skills to their students. He cited specific tools
1
as note taking. The previous year, Pry, of Westminster
College, wrote in the same bulletin, "Skill to memorize
must be developed" in history classes, and, "Outlining is
2
a must in science courses." "They [teachers] should
3
encourage them [students] to take careful notes in class."
On the surface, Pry's thesis might seem to be a
reasonable bit of advice. However, in a study at Upsala
College in 1942, Arnold compared four techniques of study
in fields of history. These techniques were: (1) repeti
tive reading, (2) underlining and marginal note taking,
(3) outlining, and (4) precis writing. His subjects were
242 freshmen and sophomores in college. His statement
of findings was unequivocal:
No consistent, significant superiority of one
technique over another was found for the students,
either unsegregated or divided into high and low
Hi. Johnson, Jr., "Study Skills," Bulletin of the
National Association of Secondary School Principals, 47:
30, October 1963.
2
H. C. Pry, "Teaching Effective Study Habits in the
Senior High School," Bulletin of the National Association
of Secondary School Principals, 46:119, March 1962.
~*Ibid., p . 152.
13
scoring groups on the basis of intelligence, social
studies ability, and reading comprehension tests.
On the whole, students do approximately as well
by using one of these techniques as the others
under the conditions of the experiment, regardless
of their standing on general intelligence, social
studies, or reading comprehension tests. Distinc
tions between sophomore students in the application
of these techniques do not exist on the basis of
statistically significant differences
Here was clear indication that, while the advice of the
college professors was not necessarily bad, the literature
of research offered conflicting evidence concerning just
what constitutes an effective study skill.
To determine the best placement of questions in
social science review and test material, Washburne, in a
1929 study, concluded:
The best placement is the grouping of all ques
tions at the beginning of the story. The worst
placement is the grouping of all questions at the
end of the story.- >
The subjects in Washburne's study were students in the
seventh and eighth grades at the Lincoln School, Teachers
College, Columbia University. In a similar study two years
H.F. Arnold, “The Comparative Efficiency of Certain
Study Techniques in Fields of History,1 1 Journal of Educa
tional Psychology, 33:456, September 1942.
■\john H. Washburne, "The Use of Questions in Social
Science Material," Journal of Educational Psychology. . 20:
358, May 1929.
14
later, Holmes used college students at State Teachers
College, Minnesota. She compared reading guided by ques
tions with careful reading and re-reading without questions.
Her conclusion was,
Reading guided by questions significantly sur
passes careful reading and re-reading without ques
tions in the immediate and delayed recall of the
answers to the questions used in the study.6
Robinson's SQ3R method makes use of Washburne's
conclusions by putting the questions at the beginning of
the story. The Holmes study also tended to confirm the
efficacy of this practice, even though Washburne's sub
jects were junior high school students and Holmes' sub
jects were college students.
A study conducted in New York City parochial schools
by Sister Mary Laurentia Golden, R.S.M., did not corrobo
rate the findings of Washburne, Holmes and Robinson.
Sister Mary Laurentia selected 238 students in grades five
and six. One group was given questions and told to read
to find the answers. The other group was told to read,
and was then asked questions about the material read.
Although she did find some differences, she concluded:
£
Eleanor Holmes, "Reading Guided by Questions
Versus Careful Reading and Re-Reading without Questions,"
The School Review. 39:370, May 1931.
15
These differences are not significant enough,
however, to show that reading followed by questions
has a much greater effect on the learning process
than reading guided by questions. The critical
ratio points out that the difference in the two
reading performance [sic], although not satistically
[sic] significant, was consistent throughout the
entire investigation, each time favoring reading
followed by questions.^
Washburne's students were in grades seven and eight and
Sister Laurentia's in grades five and six; yet her con
clusions in no way bore out those of Washburne.
In a 1962 study, Noall investigated the effective
ness of different methods of study using a sample of 72
tenth graders. The methods compared were reading, listen
ing with reading, and reading with note taking. He found
that on immediate recall all methods appeared to be about
equally successful for both sexes. For the boys, reading
and reading with note taking gave the best learning and
highest delayed recall. For the girls, reading with note
Q
taking gave the best results. (It will be recalled that
Sister Mary Laurentia Golden, R.S.M., "Reading
Guided by Questions Versus Careful Reading Followed by
Questions," Journal of Educational Psychology. 33:468,
September 1942.
g
M.S. Noall, "Effectiveness of Different Methods of
Study to Scholarshipj" Journal of Educational Psychology.
26:687, December 1935.
16
the first and third R's of Robinson's SQ3R method stand
for "Read" and "Review.")
The literature is conflicting as to what consti
tutes a good study method; furthermore, there is little
agreement regarding the optimum amount of study time.
By 1935, Williamson was able to report data on the rela
tionship of hours of study to grades, based on his years
of teaching experience. He concluded:
Experience in counseling students leads one to
conclude that a minimum of 18 to 20 hours and a
maximum of 30 to 35 hours of study a week should
permit students to get the grades that their academic
aptitude makes possible.^
This statement was issued more than three and a half
decades ago, and Williamson was talking about college
students. At the same time he remarked:
Beyond a minimum number, varying with the level
of academic intelligence, the hours of study a
student gives to his scholastic work have less
significance than academic intelligence. A student
of low ability will need to study more hours in
order to do passing work. But an increase in the
number of hours of study by this student of low
ability will not necessarily result in much higher
Q
E. G. Williamson, "The Relationship of Number of
Hours of Study to Scholarship," Journal of Educational
Psychology. 26:687, December 1935.
17
scholarship.^
To Williamson, three decades ago, acceptable scholarship
was apparently a matter of quantity. It was the quantity
of academic intelligence and the quantity of hours of
study that counted. Robinson, on the other hand, saw the
problem in quite different perspective. Still speaking
of college students, he wrote:
. . . studies made of Phi Beta Kappa or other honor
roll candidates showed that their rate of reading was
typically little above that of other students and
that they had quite inefficient study skills. 1
One might wonder how bright students who are so
very inefficient in studying are able to get into college
in the first place. In a rather devastating commentary
on both students and teachers, Robinson wrote:
In World War II, soldiers assigned to the Army
Specialized Training Program were a highly select
group in terms of intelligence, previous scholastic
record, and present knowledge, but their study
skills were no better on the average than those of
other college students. Inquiry brought out that,
being brighter than their classmates, they had been
able to get by in high school with their wits and
personality.
10Ibid.
Francis P. Robinson, Effective Study (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1961), p. 11.
12Ibid., p. 12.
18
The present investigator, having served in the program
Robinson describes, can testify to the astuteness of
Robinson's observation.
The quality or effectiveness of the hours of study
became a matter of concern in the development of Robinson's
SQ3R method. Change in education is sometimes agonizingly
slow. Robinson's 270-page book, Effective Study, was first
published in 1941; by 1962, educational authorities had
become so well informed about the SQ3R method of study that
in their writings they were exhorting teachers to use this
method in teaching children to use more effective ways of
studying.
In the secular literature, Brother Adelbert James
in the Catholic School Journal advised his fellow clerics
to teach students how to study. In the same journal that
year, Sister Andrea described how good study skills can be
taught:
The study skills are taught in a study period
following the lesson. If that is not possible, then
the lesson is shortened and about five or seven min
utes are taken to initiate the skill the children
are to u s e . 13
13
Sister Andrea, O.S.B., "Teaching Good Study
Habits," Catholic School Journal, 62:51, September 1962.
19
Three years later, Sister Mary Donald in the same journal
urged her fellow clerics to teach their children how to
study using the SQ3R method, claiming that by shortening
a lesson by ". . . about five or seven minutes," one can
14
". . . initiate the skill the children are to use."
Literature directed at the public schools, too,
stressed the need for instruction in good study habits.
Perorations to teachers to teach effective study habits,
using unrealistic time schedules are not uncommon in the
non-sectarian journals. In 1963, a junior high school vice
principal in Ohio discussed a local plan to improve stu
dents' study habits, stating:
The total time involved for discussion was three
45-minute periods. The homeroom was utilized for
this purpose for the three days. The projects for
discussion were a film on study habits, a filmstrip
on how to study, and a discussion guide for both
teacher and pupil.15
In the more recent educational literature one finds
some research on effective study at the junior high school
level. In 1963 Hurt described a seventh grade summer
^Sister Mary Donald, S.S.N.D., "Teach Your Stu
dents to Study," Catholic School Journal, 65:52, September
1965.
^E. Shultz, "Better Study Habits, Better Results,"
Clearing House. 38:95, October 1963.
20
school program in study skills at a junior high school in
Missouri. The teacher felt that it had been worthwhile
for his 31 students, but the method of evaluation was circu
lation of a mimeographed letter to the parents. Of the
sixteen who replied, all thought the class had been help-
* i 16
ful.
A more scholarly study by Knight and Chansky at
tempted to determine the correlation between anxiety,
study problems, and achievement. Anxiety and achievement
were compared, by sex, using the California Achievement
Test, the California Test of Mental Maturity, the Brown
Holtzman Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes, and the
Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale. The investigators,
predictably, found that seventh grade girls were better
achievers than boys at the same grade level, but that there
was no significant relationship between achievement test
scores and the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale results
17
for either sex.
16
I. D. Hurt, "Study Skills: Pabacea?" School and
Community, 49:14, March 1963.
^James Knight and Norman M. Chansky, "Anxiety,
Study Problems and Achievement," Personnel and Guidance
Journal, 43:47, September 1964.
21
The amounts of time devoted to methods of study
have varied widely among studies, from the "five to seven
minutes at the end of the lesson" advocated by Sister
18
Andrea to the one hour cited in Stordahl’s research
witi.i Air Force trainees. Stordahl applied the study tech
niques of underlining, summarizing and reading, and reading
and re-reading to a sample of Air Force basic trainees.
His instructions to the trainees were to "study the mate
rial for one hour, following closely the printed instruc-
19
tion." His conclusions were as follows:
It appears that without training in how to use
the techniques investigated in this study that the
techniques will be no more effective for a general
Air Force population than simply reading and re
reading . 20
This is essentially the same conclusion reached by
Bird at the University of Minnesota thirty-four years
earlier. Describing the study skills program he insti
tuted, Bird stated, "Some people happily possess the abil-
Sister Andrea, loc. cit.
19
K. E. Stordahl and C. M. Christenson, "The Effect
of Study Techniques on Comprehension and Retention,"
Journal of Educational Research, 46:562, April 1956.
20
Ibid., p. 569.
22
ity to practice skills described in writing, but others
21
can do so only through a teacher's direction.”
The number of citations in the literature on study
skills programs at the college level far exceeds those at
the high school level. The reasons for this are not within
the scope of this study. A decade ago, Blake, discussing
the proliferation of study skills programs and some of
their characteristics, said,
Twenty-four institutions were planning to begin
such programs during the last academic year. From
7 to 1400 students are enrolled in institutional
programs in this country, and all programs in which
evaluations have been undertaken report favorable
results.22
In a 1955 nationwide survey of the programs being
offered, Blake gave these quantitative measures:
Forty-two per cent admit students who voluntarily
come and those who are referred to the program by
some teacher or officer, 40 per cent admit only
voluntary students, and 11 per cent require all
Freshmen to enroll.^3
^Charles Bird, Effective Study Habits (New York:
The Century Company, 1931), p. vi.
22
W. S. Blake, Jr., "Study-Skills Programs,” Journal
of Higher Education, 26:97, February 1955.
23
Ibid.
23
Blake apparently thought that if teaching good study
habits was desirable for the poor student, it was also
desirable for all students. Deploring study programs aimed
only at the probable failure in college, he remarked:
The remedial aura still surrounds and plagues
study-skills programs, in general. The remedial
phasis of most programs take precedence over the
preventive phases, with the result that very few
schools make provisions for helping any students
other than those who must be helped.24
Blake did not name the colleges or states in which
the more favorable results were found.' The following year,
however, Cristantiello and Cribbin sent an eleven-item
questionnaire to thirty-nine colleges in New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the District of
Columbia to ascertain their current practices in helping
students to develop good study techniques. Replies were
received from 77 per cent of the institutions contacted,
revealing that, of the thirty institutions participating,
[eleven] offered a formal course in the improvement
of study skills. Nine of these [eleven] included
such instruction as part of another course. In
fact, in only one college were study techniques
taught in a separate c o u r s e .25
24Ibid. , p 7 ~ 9 8 .
25
Philip Cristantiello and James J. Cribbin, "The
Study Skills Problems," Journal of Higher Education, 27:
38, January 1956.
24
Interestingly enough, one respondent volunteered
the information that his college had conducted two con
trolled studies of the how-to-study course and had found
it to be "ineffective as a means of helping students with
this problem." Like Blake, these investigators deplored
the fact that colleges and universities were devoting too
little effort toward the solution of the problem. They
commented:
It would seem that, although these institutions
believed in the importance of improving their stu
dents' study skills, they have failed to develop
practices which adequately meet this need.26
"How-to-study" courses were as diversified as the
institutions which offered them. The University of
Missouri course was primarily a reading improvement course.
The average amount of time spent in the class was two or
three hours per week, and the number of weeks varied from
five to eighteen weeks, depending upon the needs of the
individual students. All participants were volunteers,
according to Ranson.^
26 ...
Ibid.
^M. Kathleen Ranson, "An Evaluation of Certain
Aspects of the Reading and Study Program at the University
of Missouri," Journal of Educational Research, 48:444,
February 1955.
25
28
Smith described a University of Michigan program
as covering "two one-hour sessions for ten weeks.'1
Robinson stated that the Ohio State University program
was taken for college credit, and that it met daily for a
29
full quarter. Ordinarily the study skills courses were
voluntary, but at the University of Maryland they were
compulsory.
Blake said that probationary students who were
required to participate in the program
. . . were benefitted academically. Also, the
great majority recognized and stated the benefits
they felt they received despite the opportunity
to be abusive which was open to every student in
an anonymous evaluation of this sort.30
At the City College of New York six years later,
entering freshmen were assigned to a mandatory study
course. Changes in achievement were measured by the Co
operative English Test and the Verbal sub-test of the
Stanford Achievement Test. Feinberg described the results
28
D.E.P. Smith and R.L. Wood, "Reading Improvement
and College Grades: A Follow-up," Journal of Educational
Psychology, 46:153, March 1955.
29
Robinson, o|>. cit., p. ix.
30
W.S. Blake, Jr., "Do Probationary College Fresh
men Benefit from Compulsory Study Skills and Reading
Training?" Journal of Experimental Education, 25:93,
September 1956.
26
as follows:
On the basis of these data it would, therefore,
seem appropriate to conclude that the Study Course
did not significantly change the students1 per
formance on these tests. On the basis of the sta
tistical analysis of data relating to test scores
and college grades, it can be concluded that the
Study Course did not produce any statistically
significant changes.31
This was a departure from the findings reported
from other institutions, even where the course was compul
sory— as it was at the University of Maryland. Neverthe
less, when Feinberg checked again at the end of the semes
ter, he found "... the data available at the end of the
first semester indicates a clear lack of effectiveness."^
33
MacDonald at Cornell and Willey at New Mexico
34
A & M both assigned students who did poorly on the
entrance examinations to compulsory study courses and
found significant gains in both reading and grade point
M.R. Feinberg, et al., "Do Probationary College
Freshmen Benefit from Compulsory Study Skills and Reading
Training?" Journal of Experimental Education, 25:93,
September 1956.
^Ibid., p. 99.
33
A.S. MacDonald, "Influence of a College Reading
Improvement Program on Academic Performance," Journal of
Educational Psychology, 48:171, March 1957.
34
D.C. Willey and C.W. Thomson, "Effective Reading
27
average. The New Mexico freshmen who were assigned to
these courses were the poorest readers in the entering
class; they made gains significant at the .01 level in
both reading and grade point average when compared with
the control group. Shaw obtained essentially the same
35
results at the University of Wyoming.
In summary, then, little uniformity is evident in
the method of initiating study skills courses or in the
amount of time spent by students in these courses.
Amounts of time varied from a few minutes each period to
a full semester course for which college credit was grant
ed. The results of study skills courses varied as widely
as did the amounts of study time provided. Pressey found
some four decades earlier that students in study skills
courses improved over the control groups in the ratio of
36
three-to-one. In the present decade, Feinberg could find
no significant differences between experimental and control
and Grade Point Improvement with College Freshmen,1 1 School
and Society, 83:134, March 1956.
35
James G. Shaw, "An Evaluation of a Study Skills
Course," Personnel and Guidance Journal, 33:465, April
1955.
L.C. Pressey, "The Permanent Effects of Training
in Methods of Study on College Success," School and Society,
28
37
groups. The literature would indicate that the matter
still requires further study.
Literature Pertaining to the Cooperative
English Tests
The Cooperative English Tests of the Educational
Testing Service are well-nigh the ’’ grandfathers*' of achieve
ment tests. They are now in their third decade. Like the
other tests of the Cooperative Test Division, the English
tests were developed with the cooperation of teachers of
38
English throughout the nation. They are commonly re
viewed for users in the field by persons knowledgeable in
the field of testing. Sometimes a reviewer will seem to
wax poetic in his praises of the test. Describing the
1960 revision, Siegel writes:
Every once in awhile a reviewer is privileged
to consider a test that is truly outstanding. The
new battery of Cooperative English Tests afforded
such an opportunity. The techniques utilized for
test development and standardization set a high
standard for test constructors; the Technical Report
is written with unusual care and lucidity; the
28:404, September 1928.
37
Feinberg, 0£. cit., p. 99.
38
Cooperative English Tests— Technical Report
(Princeton: Educational Testing Service, 1960), p. 13.
29
testing materials themselves are highly attractive;
and the ancillary materials provided for teachers,
counselors, and pupils are well designed.39
While Siegel's prose may be a bit colorful to this point,
he verged almost on the lyrical as he continued:
The student of test construction procedures will
find that a careful reading of the Technical Report
proves to be enlightening and, at times, almost
inspiring.40
Lorimer, in a less glowing review, did concede that
"This battery of tests had undoubted merit and is probably
41
among the best on the market." She then commented on
the shortcoming of all such tests, saying,
. . . all of us know but wish we did not have to
admit— that the measurement, if not the formal
teaching, of language skills is so complex and
so evasive as to be almost i m p o s s i b l e . 4 2
The publisher of the tests discusses their validity
in these words: "Content validity is best insured by
39
Laurence Siegel, "Cooperative English Tests,"
Journal of Counseling Psychology, 7:225, February 1960.
40
Ibid., p. 226.
41
Margaret F. Lorimer, "The Cooperative English
Tests," The Sixth Mental Measurements Yearbook, ed. Oscar
Buros (Highland Park, New Jersey: The Gryphon Press,
1965), p. 556.
42
Ibid.
30
relying on well-qualified people to construct the tests.
43
This was done for the Cooperative English Tests.1 1 Feldt
affirmed the publisher’s claim of content validity in the
following review:
The content is based on at least one authoritative
study of student errors and was checked by a competent
panel of Composition teachers. The specific error
situations covered by the exercises are itemized in
detail, permitting the potential user to make an
informal judgment concerning the adequacy of test
coverage.44
The technical report of the publisher mentioned
no studies of predictive validity at the high school level.
One study made at the University of Florida using the
English Expression Test (Form 1C) with entering freshmen
was reported:
The correlation between Cooperative English
Expression scores and scores on a composite of all
regular English tests given in the first semester
was .67 for 2449 freshmen. Correlations between
scores and final examinations of the oral, essay,
and objective types were, respectively, .32, .54,
and .55.45
/ Q
Cooperative English Tests— Technical Report, op.
cit., p. 13.
44
Leonard S. Feldt, ’ ’ The Cooperative English Tests,”
The Sixth Mental Measurements Yearbook, ed. Oscar Buros
(Highland Park, N.J.: The Gryphon Press, 1965), p. 553.
45
Cooperative English Tests— Technical Report, op.
cit., p. 18.
31
The tests used in the present study were administered to
ninth grade students. Feldt remarked, in connection with
grade level: "Reliability data are reported for grades
46
10 and 12 only, a deficiency to be lamented." The pub
lisher reports the average reliability of Total English
scores for both the tenth and twelfth grades to be .94.
On the English Expression sub-test, reliability correla
tions for the alternate forms were .85, 186, and .86 for
47
forms 2A, 2B, and 2C, respectively.
Literature Pertaining to the Webb-Harris
Word Meaning Test
The Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test was devised by
Allen P. Webb and John T. Harris. Both are school psychol
ogists in the Pasadena City Schools, Pasadena, California.
The test was basic to Webb's study of counselors in an
48
NDEA Institute in 1963. The test still remains an
46
Feldt, 0£. cit., p. 553.
47
Cooperative English Tests— Technical Report, op.
cit., p. 19.
48
Allen P. Webb, ‘‘ A Semantic Differential Study of
Counselors in an NDEA Institute" (Unpublished Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, 1966).
32
experimental instrument. One of the co-authors stated
that there were only three controlled studies of the test
49
extant. The Webb-Harris Test is based on Osgood's seman
tic differential technique but differs in that Osgood's
test had a seven-point continuum and the Webb-Harris Test
utilizes a continuum containing only six positions. The
fourth position on the seven-point scale was a neutral
position. The Webb-Harris Test omits the neutral position
and is, therefore, a forced-choice test.
The test itself consists of twenty-two mark-sense
cards. Each card represents a concept which is printed
in capital letters at the top of the card (e.g., "SCHOOL").
The twenty-two concepts are shown in Table 1. Each card
contains a standard twelve pairs of polar adjectives (e.g.,
"good-bad"). The subject marks a point on the six-step
scale separating each pair of adjectives. This point rep
resents the degree of meaning the subject assigns to the
concept. "The selected adjective pairs represent the
three major connotative factors of meaning (activity,
potency, and evaluative) which were isolated in factor
49
Interview with Allen P. Webb, May 17, 1966.
33
TABLE 1
CLASSIFICATIONS OF CONCEPTS AND FACTOR GROUPINGS OF POLAR
ADJECTIVE PAIRS USED IN THE WEBB-HARRIS TEST
CONCEPTS AND CLASSIFICATIONS
Ego-Identifications Socialization Needs & Drives
Me Family Love
Me in the Future Adults Fear
How I Would Most Like to Be School Guilt
Mo ther Teachers Hate
Father Reading Fighting
Sister Being Successful
Brother Obeying the Rules
Boy People Who Make Me Behave
Girl
POLAR ADJECTIVE PAIRS WITH FACTOR GROUPINGS
Evaluative Activity Potency
Kind-Cruel Passive-Active Hard-Soft
True-False Calm-Excitable Strong-Weak
Wise-Foolish Moving-Still Light-Heavy
Ugly-Beautiful Fast-Slow Small-Large
34
50
analytic studies by Osgood.” The polar adjectives and
their factor groupings are shown in Table 1.
In order to interpret the subject's score in rela
tion to the three factors, the authors assigned special
diagnostic meanings. Webb explained:
The evaluative factor has been interpreted as a
value oriented dimension yielding information about
value judgments or attitudes of a subject or group
of subjects. Motility or the style and speed with
which a person moves as well as degree of a sub
ject's passivity has been suggested by ratings of
the activity factor. The potency factor has been
found to discriminate significantly between the
sexes and as such is a measure of masculinity-
femininity.51
The test has been used too little for the development of
extensive norms and validity and reliability studies.
The diagnostic meanings assigned to the factors are really
hypotheses, as Webb noted in this comment:
These interpretive clues have been established
largely through the empirical observations of the
authors of the test. Further research to validate
these hypotheses is necessary.52
In a study using this instrument to measure atti-
tudinal changes in counselor trainees, Webb found that
"^"A Preliminary Manual for the Webb-Harris Word
Meaning Test," unpublished manuscript in preparation, p. 1.
51Ibid., p. 3.
35
significant differences on the test occurred only after
the subjects were separated by sex. For the total sample
as a unit, there were no significant differences over the
six-week period. However,
. . . when the evaluative scales were treated sep
arately, significant differences at the 0.01 level
were noted for the males1 "Ideal Self" and "Actual
Self" ratings before and after the Institute.53
Webb's subjects were graduate students.
Powell used the test to measure attitudinal
changes in high school dropouts who attended a six-week
simmer session. The subjects were given rather intensive
counseling, especially vocational counseling, and were
assigned to counselors in the ratio of twenty students to
one counselor. Every student met with his counselor,
individually or in a group, at least one period per day
during the six-week period. The test-retest showed no
significant attitudinal changes in the group. Separating
54
the group by sex revealed no significant changes.
53
Allen P. Webb and John T. Harris, "A Semantic
Differential Study of Counselors in an NDEA Institute,"
Personnel and Guidance Journal, November 1963, p. 261.
54
C.F.A. Powell, "The Rehabilitation of School Drop
outs through an Intensive Summer School Program" (Unpub
lished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Southern
California, 1966).
Another study using this instrument was performed
by Perez. Perez gave the test to high school students who
had been placed on academic probation. At the end of the
probationary period, if no academic improvement was
achieved, the students were to be expelled from school.
The Perez study covered one quarter grading period, about
nine weeks in length. At the end of this time, it was
found that, while the students had improved academically
(not one of the students had to be expelled), there was
no significant change in attitude as measured by the Webb-
55
Harris Test. Perez felt that the time period was too
short for a measurable change in attitude to have occurred
56 57
Powell made the same comment.
The researches cited in this section might seem to
suggest a limited usefulness of the Webb-Harris instrument
Nevertheless, the theoretical foundation of the test would
appear to be sound. The use of a six-point scale which
eliminates the neutral position employed in the Osgood
■^Patricia A. Perez, "Semantic Differential Measure
ment of Attitudinal Changes for Students on Scholastic
Probation" (Unpublished Masters Thesis, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, 1966).
56
Interview with Patricia A. Perez,, June 2, 1966.
"^Interview with C.F.A. Powell, May 13, 1966.
37
scale appears to be an improvement rather than a limiting
factor. The investigator can attest to the ease and
simplicity of test administration. Perhaps, as the co
authors of the test have indicated, “further research to
, 58
validate these hypotheses is necessary."
Allen P. Webb, "A Preliminary Manual for the
Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test" (Manuscript in preparation)
p . 3.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH DESIGN
Selection of the Sample Population
Robinson described the astonishing effectiveness of
the SQ3R method of study when used with first-year college
1
freshmen who were about to be expelled for poor grades.
It seemed to the observer that such a method might be
equally effective with a random sample of high school
freshmen. With the approval of the school board and the
local school administration, the entire freshman class
(ninth grade) of a large suburban high school was invited
to participate in the study. Approximately 18.5 per cent
of the ninth grade population (900 students) initially
volunteered for the study. Of this group, approximately
4 per cent later declined to participate. The group which
remained (14.7 per cent of the class) was divided randomly
into Experimental, Control, and Placebo groups containing,
respectively, 48, 38, and 48 students.
■^Francis P. Robinson, Effective Study (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1961), p. 3.
....... 38.........................
39
It was suggested to the investigator that if the
sample population were divded into three groups, rather
than the usual two (Experimental and Control), the Haw
thorne Effect might be minimized. Accordingly, a third
group was established and referred to arbitrarily as the
Placebo group. This group met with the investigator for
the same amount of time in the same room as the Experi
mental group, but its members were not taught how to study.
Instead, they were allowed to ventilate their feelings to
the investigator (a trained counselor) on teachers,
parents, dating, or whatever issue they felt most strongly
about at the moment. This group knew, as did the Experi
mental group, that they had been especially selected to
participate in an "experiment" which would earn the inves
tigator his doctorate. Both groups were cautioned not to
discuss what went on in the room with their teachers or
classmates. They were encouraged to discuss the "experi
ment" with their parents and they were asked to encourage ;
their parents to call the investigator with any questions
they might have. One student refused to tell even his
parents what he was doing during this period, and this
precipitated the only contact the investigator had with
the parents.
40
Procedures of the Experiment Related
to Academic Achievement
Each of the three groups was administered the Co
operative Achievement Test in American History. At this
time no student was aware of his group assignment. A suf
ficient number of students from each group declined to
take the test to reduce the Experimental to 35, the
Controls to 26, and the Placebos to thirty-three. At the
post-test administration, the numbers were reduced to
26, 17, and 25, respectively. At the administration of
the Cooperative English Achievement Test the group was
reduced to 25, 15, and 25 students.
The Experimental and Placebo groups met with the
investigator for one 55-minute period each week during
the second and third quarters of the 1964-1965 school
year. This covered the period from November 1964 to
April 1965— an eighteen-week period, or one semester.
Experimental and Placebo groups were each divided into
two sections, making a total of four sections. Each sec
tion contained approximately fifteen students. The weekly
meeting with each section was rotated during the periods
of the school day so that a student missed any given class
41
only once every six weeks. During the Experimental class
period, the SQ3R method of study was explained and demon
strated. The printed materials displayed in Appendix A
were used. Copies of these materials were given to each
Experimental student. All ninth grade students in this
high school were required to take a course in World
Geography and one in English as part of the regular curric
ulum. All had completed a course in United States History
the previous year. The vehicle for teaching the SQ3R
method to the Experimentals consisted of the textbooks that
all ninth grade students used in courses in World Geography
and English. The investigator explained the SQ3R method
in terms of its use in studying the current week's assign
ment in World Geography and English. The following week's
class would begin with a discussion with the students on
how the method had worked for them. The criterion for
workability was whether or not they had improved their
scores on the Friday examination in Geography and English ,
compared to the previous Friday. Then the current week's
assignment and the SQ3R method of attacking it was ex
plained and discussed. The first two meetings of the
Experimental group were devoted to an explanation of the
SQ3R method. The method was then applied to the week's
42
assignment, one paragraph at a time, until it appeared
that the students understood the method. Initially, the
investigator stated aloud what he was looking for in the
S (for "Survey") step. He also told the group what Q (for
"Question") to make of the bold face print paragraph head
ings. The class then read (the first "R") the paragraph.
Since the group was relatively small, the second R (for
"Recite") was aloud and in unison when the class had found
the answer to the Q. The third R (for "Review") was begun
after three paragraphs had been read. By the end of the
second meeting, the above drill had been repeated practi
cally ad nauseum, and it was felt that the class had
mastered the mechanics of applying the SQ3R method.
Subsequent meetings were devoted to applying the SQ3R
method to longer portions of the current week's assignment
and to a continued discussion of how individual students
were applying the method and how well it worked for them.
Procedures of the Experiment Related
to the Placebo Group
The Placebo group met on the same days as the Ex
perimental group, but at a different hour. The meeting
time of the Placebos was also rotated during the periods
of the school day so that a student would miss a given
class only once in six weeks. At each session the Placebos
sat at a round table with the investigator, who was not
their assigned counselor. The investigator arbitrarily
established two "ground rules"; no damage to persons or
property would be permitted, and what was discussed within
the room was not to be discussed outside the room. One
exception to the discussion rule was made for parents.
To the investigator’s knowledge, none of the Placebos men
tioned their discussions to their parents or to their
classmates. Considerable hostility toward individual
teachers, school regulations, and some student groups was
evident in these discussions.
Initially, the investigator brought a tape recorder
to the classroom and placed it in full view of the group.
This seemed to generate so much anxiety among the Placebos,
who felt that their parents or teachers might hear the
tapes, that its use was discontinued. By the end of the
study, the discussions came to be focused on problems
brought up by individuals within the group rather than on
generalized discussions of the shortcomings of teachers
and school regulations. Commonly, the later problems
were concerned with parental rules regarding dress and
44
dating. At no time did the members of the group express
an interest in learning how to study— although they had
been told that this was the subject of the investigator's
dissertation. The few times when the investigator sug
gested inquiry into some better study methods, he was
politely ignored or the subject was rapidly changed.
The interests of the Placebos was in other matters of
primary concern to them, "How to study" was not in this
category. Some interest was evidenced in the procedure
for earning a doctoral degree. After the matter was
explained by the investigator, his present and his study
were largely ignored except for some good wishes for
success at the end of the study.
Procedures of the Experiment
Related to Attitude Change
. The Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test was the instru
ment selected to measure changes in attitude. The test
was administered to each of the three groups before and
after the experiment. The subjects were advised only that
it was a word meaning test and the outcome of the test
would have no bearing on their academic grades. Indeed,
because of the concern of some of the subjects, the
45
investigator promised not to reveal the results to their
teachers. It should be noted that some of the concepts
to which the subjects were asked to react were "school,1 1
"teachers," and "obeying the rules."
At the beginning of the study it was anticipated
that when students were given instruction on "how to study
more effectively," their academic achievement would be
measurably improved. It was also expected, as a next
reasonable step, that a change in attitude toward such
concepts as teachers, school, etc., would subsequently
occur. "Change," here, is presumed to mean a positive
change— one in favor of the concepts noted. If such
changes did occur as a result of teaching students how to
study, one would expect that this instruction would also
improve students' grades. And, if students' grades did
improve, students would be expected to develop more posi
tive attitudes toward such school-oriented concepts as
"teachers," "obeying the rules," and "people who make me
behave." This, in essence, was the central focus of the
study.
It was suggested that a third group (a Placebo
group whose members were allowed to ventilate their feel
ings about the same concepts over a period of time) might
46
also show a measurable change in attitude without having
been able to improve their study habits or their academic
grades. Such a group was incorporated into the design
of the study. Placebos were administered the same tests
as were the Experimentals and Controls.
significant differences in the means on the test-retest,
using the formula to derive a t ratio:
Significance was determined to be at the five per cent
level, or greater.
The data pertaining to attitude change were tested
for significant differences by means of the standard pro
gram developed by Webb-Harris, utilizing an electronic
computer of a commercial service bureau. Only differences
at the five per cent level or greater were considered
significant.
Procedures of the Experiment Related
to Analysis of the Data
The data pertaining to achievement were tested for
t =
Because the t ratio indicated that in some instances
there were significant initial differences among the three
groups, an analysis of covariance was undertaken to deter
mine whether any initial differences may have accounted
for any end-of-the-experiment differences among the three
groups. Regression lines were fitted separately to the
data from the experimental, control, and placebo groups.
An F test was made on the scatter of the data around the
regression lines. Only two regression lines were com
pared in any one operation. If the scatter (variance) was
similar, as judged by this test, the variances for the two
lines were pooled and analysis proceeded. The slopes
of the two regression lines were compared using a t-ratio.
Where slopes were similar, they were pooled, and the
analysis continued. Thus, if the variances of each set
of data around its regression line were similar, and the
slopes of the regression lines were similar, a test of
the null hypothesis that the lines were coincident could
then be made. The hypothesis was tested using the t-ratio.
Rejection of the null hypothesis at the five per cent level
or greater was made using the t-ratio. The instances in
which there was a significant difference are shown in
48
Chapter IV, Table 10. The Expression sub-test indicates
a significant difference favoring the Control group at
the beginning of the study. This is also borne out by
the t-ratio analysis shown in Chapter IV, Table 3.
CHAPTER IV
DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
Findings Related to Achievement
One of the questions investigated in this study was
whether the achievement of ninth grade students would be
improved by instruction in "How to Study More Effectively."
Before the research began, Cooperative English
Tests were administered to the three groups. Table 2 shows
a comparison of the means of the three groups on each of
the subtests of the Cooperative English Tests with stan
dard deviations, t ratios, and levels of significance.
Twelve comparisons are shown in which the mean of each
group was compared with the means of every other group.
In three instances the means of groups two and three were
the same. In three instances, on two subtests there was
a significant difference at the .05 level of confidence.
The comparison of means of Group I (Experimental) and
Group III (Control) on the Vocabulary subtest indicated
a significant difference between these two groups at the
49
TABLE 2
PRE-TEST COMPARISON OF MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL, PLACEBO,
AND CONTROL GROUPS ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS,
BY t RATIOS
Subtest
GROUP I
(Experimental)
(N = 25)
GROUP II
(Placebo)
(N = 25)
GROUP III
(Control)
(N = 15) Ratio
Signif
icance
VOCABULARY I-II
—
- .06 NS
Mean 31 32 35 II-III = -1.14 NS
Standard Deviation 6.3 9.3 4.9 I-III = -2.07 -.05
LEVEL OF COMPREHENSION I-II
=
-1.11 NS
Mean 16 18 18 II-III = No Diff.
- -
Standard Deviation 8.5 3.7 2.9 I-III = - .86 NS
SPEED I-II
=
- .48 NS
Mean 31 32 32 II-III
= No Diff.
- -
Standard Deviation 7.2 7.1 7.1 I-III - .37 NS
TOTAL READING I-II
=
- .53 NS
Mean 148 149 153 II-III
=
-2.07 .05
Standard Deviation 5.9 7.2 5.1 l-III
—
-2.59 .05
COR. OF EXPRESSION I-II
-
-1.08 NS
Mean 42 46 46 II-III
=
No Diff.
- -
Standard Deviation 11.9 9.1 13.8 I-III - .95 NS
U j
o
51
beginning of the study. The comparison of means of these
same two groups on the Total Reading scores indicated a
difference significant at the .05 level. On the same
Total Reading scores, a difference significant at the .05
level was indicated between the differences of the means
of Group II (Placebo) and Group III (Control). No differ
ence was indicated between the means of the groups on the
other subtests.
At the beginning of the study, then, there seemed
to have been a significant difference between the achieve
ment of the Experimentals and Controls as measured by the
Vocabulary subtest of the Cooperative English Tests. The
difference favored the Control group. Table 2 also indi
cates a significant difference in reading achievement
between the Placebo and Control groups and between the
Experimental and Control groups as measured by the Total
Reading scores. The differences in both instances were
in favor of the Control group.
Ideally, a measure of the effectiveness of the
study method taught to the Experimental group would have
been the reduction or elimination of the differences be
tween Experimentals and the other two groups. Table 3
summarizes this relationship. There was no significant
TABLE 3
POST-TEST COMPARISON OF MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL, PLACEBO,
AND CONTROL GROUPS ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS,
BY t RATIOS
Subtest
GROUP I
(Experimental)
(N = 25)
GROUP II
(Placebo)
(N = 25)
GROUP III
(Control)
(N = 15) Ratio
Signif
icance
VOCABULARY I-II = -1.04 NS
Mean 33 35 37 II-III = - .99 NS
Standard Deviation 6.9 6.4 5.4 I-III = -1.88 NS
LEVEL OF COMPREHENSION I-II .67 NS
Mean 16 17 19 II-III = -1.13 NS
Standard Deviation 4.8 5.6 4.7 I-III = -1.89 NS
SPEED I-II = - .36 NS
Mean 31 32 37 II-III = -1.68 NS
Standard Deviation 9.5 10.9 8.7 I-III = -1.95 NS
TOTAL READING I-II = - .94 NS
Mean 149 151 153 II-III = - .86 NS
Standard Deviation 7.1 7.7 5.5 I-III = -1.83 NS
COR. OF EXPRESSION I-II = - .60 NS
Mean 38 40 50 II-III = -2.27 .05
Standard Deviation 9.9 12.9 13.7 I-III = -3.13 .01
Ln
N>
53
difference between means of the Experimentals and Controls
on the Vocabulary subtest. It was hypothesized that on
the post-test there would be a significant difference and
that the difference would favor Group I (Experimentals).
Table 3 indicates that this was not the case. While the
post-test difference between Experimentals and Controls
was no longer significant, the difference still favored
the Controls. Not only did the Experimentals fail to
surpass the Controls, but they had not caught up with
them by the end of the study. Similarly, the significant
pre-test differences between Placebos and Controls and
between Experimentals and Controls on the Total Reading
subtest was no longer significant on the post-test com
parison among groups. The differences remaining still
favored the Control group.
The pre-test comparisons on the Correctness of
Expression subtest indicated no significant differences
among the three groups at the end of the study; however,
the post-test difference between the Placebo and Control
groups was significant at the .05 level and between Experi
mental and Control groups it was significant at the .01
level. The differences in both instances favored the
Controls. This finding was contrary to the hypothesized
54
results.
Table 4 summarizes the intragroup comparisons based
on the differences between the means for both sexes. The
table indicates that the only significant differences
occurred between Experimental-group boys and girls. In
each instance the difference was in favor of the girls,
and the difference was significant for all subtests. There
were no significant differences between boys and girls in
the Placebo and Control groups. Six differences were noted
in these two groups, half of which favored the boys and
half of which favored the girls. The table indicates that
at the beginning of the study there was a marked differ
ence between the boys and girls in the Experimental group.
Table 5 exhibits the post-test comparisons of the
three groups, by sex. Again, the girls in the Experi
mental group surpassed the boys on four of the five sub
tests, and in all instances the differences were signifi
cant. A difference between boys and girls on the Level
of Comprehension subtest favored the girls, but the diff
erence had lost its statistical significance. The post
test comparison between boys and girls in the Placebo
group indicated a significant difference in favor of the
girls on the Correctness of Expression subtest. The pre-
TABLE 4
PRE-TEST COMPARISON OF MEAN SCORES FOR SEX GROUPS WITHIN THE
EXPERIMENTAL, PLACEBO, AND CONTROL GROUPS ON THE
COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
Subtest
BOYS GIRLS
Ratio
Signif
icance Mean S.D. Mean SoD.
GROUP I (Experimental) (N = 9) (N = 16)
Vocabulary 27 3.8 33 6.2 -3.85 .001
Level of Comprehension 13 2.5 16 3.9 -2.39 .05
Speed 27 3.1 31 7.6 -2.22 .05
Total Reading 144 3.1 148 5.9 -2.77 .01
Cor. of Expression 34 6.8 42 12.3 -2.65 .05
GROUP II (Placebo) (N
00
I I
(N
= 17)
Vocabulary
31 12.2 33 7.5 - .48 NS
Level of Comprehension 18 3.2 18 3.9 No Diff NS
Speed 32 6.4 32 7.5 No Diff NS
Total Reading 149 8.2 149 6.7 No Diff NS
Cor. of Expression 44 3.8 46 10.6 - .50 NS
GROUP III (Control)
(N = 5) (N = 10)
Vocabulary 36 4.9 35 4.8 .35 NS
Level of Comprehension 18 1.0 18 3.5 No Diff NS
Speed 38 3.2 35 8.3 .73 NS
Total Reading 154 2.0 152 5.9 .69 NS
Cor. of Expression 42 10.3 49 14.9 - .88 NS
Ln
Ui
TABLE 5
POST-TEST COMPARISON OF MEAN SCORES FOR SEX GROUPS WITHIN THE
EXPERIMENTAL, PLACEBO, AND CONTROL GROUPS ON THE
COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
Subtest
BOYS GIRLS
Ratio
Signif
icance Mean S .D a Mean S.D.
GROUP I (Experimental) (N =
9)
(N = 16)
Vocabulary 29 4.5 35 7.0 -3.40 .01
Level of Comprehension 15 4.4 17 4.6 -1.55 NS
Speed 27 8.3 34 9.2 -2.78 .01
Total Reading 145 4.9 151 7.1 -3.32 .01
Cor. of Expression 33 7.7 40 10.2 -2.64 .05
GROUP II (Placebo) (N =
8)
(N = 17)
Vocabulary 35 4.9 35 7.0 No Diff NS
Level of Comprehension 18 5.6 17 5.6 .64 NS
Speed 34 10.3 32 11.2 .66 NS
Total Reading 152 6.3 150 8.3 .93 NS
Cor. of Expression 34 10.0 42 13.2 -2.34 .05
GROUP III (Control) (N =
5)
(N = 10)
Vocabulary 40 3.3 35 5.6 1.73 NS
Level of Comprehension 19 4.1 18 4.9 .36 NS
Speed 39 6.6 36 9.4 .59 NS
Total Reading 156 3.7 152 5.8 1.30 NS
Cor. of Expression 45 13.5 53 13.0 -1.02 NS
U i
O'
57
test comparison favored the girls somewhat, but the
difference did not approach significance. No significant
differences were indicated on the post-test comparisons
of the means of boys and girls in the Control group.
Table 6 shows the results of the comparison of pre
test and post-test means for the three groups on the
Cooperative English Tests. In no instance was there a
significant difference in achievement between pre-test
and post-test means for any of the three groups. It was
hypothesized that there would be a significant difference
between pre-test and post-test achievement of the Experi
mentals as a result of having been taught how to study
more effectively. The finding is contrary to the hypothe
sized result.
Table 7 presents the pre-test, post-test comparison
between boys and girls in the Experimental group on the
Cooperative English Tests. It is seen that there was no
significant difference in achievement between boys and
girls when compared with their own sex. Not only did the
Experimentals show no significant change in achievement
as a group; but the table indicates that there was no
significant change for either sex. Again, the finding is
58
TABLE 6
PRE-TEST POST-TEST COMPARISON OF MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL, PLACEBO, AND
CONTROL GROUPS ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
Subtest
Pre-
Test
Post-
Test
t Ratio
Signifi
cance
GROUP I (N = 25)
Vocabulary
Mean
Standard Deviation
31
6.3
33
6.9
1.05 NS
Level of Comprehension
Mean
Standard Deviation
16
8.5
16
4.8
No Diff
Speed
Mean
Standard Deviation
31
7.2
31
9.5
No Diff
Total Reading
Mean 148 149
Standard Deviation 5.9 7.1
.54 NS
Correctness of Expression
Mean 42 38
Standard Deviation 11.9 9.9
1.27 NS
GROUP II (N = 25)
Vocabulary
Mean
Standard Deviation
32
9.3
35
6.4
1.30 NS
Level of Comprehension
Mean
Standard Deviation
18
3.7
17
5.6
.73 NS
Speed
Mean
Standard Deviation
32
7.1
32
10.9
No Diff
59
TABLE 6 (continued)
PRE-TEST POST-TEST COMPARISON OF MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL, PLACEBO, AND
CONTROL GROUPS ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
Subtest
Pre-
Test
Post-
Test t Ratio
Signifi
cance
Total Reading
Mean 149 151
Standard Deviation 7.2 7.7
93 NS
Correctness of Expression
Mean 46 40
Standard Deviation 9.1 12.9
1.86 NS
GROUP III (N = 15)
Vocabulary-
Mean
Standard Deviation
35
4.9
37
5.4
1.03 NS
Level of Comprehension
Mean
Standard Deviation
18
2.9
19
4.7
.68 NS
Speed
Mean
Standard Deviation
32
7.1
37
8.7
1.68 NS
Total Reading
Mean 153 153
Standard Deviation 5.1 5.5
No Diff
Correctness of Expression
Mean 46 50
Standard Deviation 13.8 13.7
78 NS
TABLE 7
PRE-TEST TO POST-TEST COMPARISON OF MEANS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP,
BY SEX, ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
PRE-TEST POST-TEST
Signif
Subtest Mean S.D. Mean S.D. Ratio icance
GROUP I BOYS (N = 9)
Vocabulary 27 3.8 29 4.5 - .96 NS
Level of Comprehension 13 2.5 15 4.4 -1.11 NS
Speed 27 3.1 27 8.3 No Diff
Total Reading 144 3.1 145 4.9 - .32 NS
Correctness of Expression 34 3.1 33 7.7 .34 NS
GROUP I GIRLS (N = 16)
Vocabulary 33 6.2 35 7.0 - .82 NS
Level of Comprehension 16 3.9 17 4.6 - .64 NS
Speed 31 7.6 . 34 9.2 -1.91 NS
Total Reading 148 5.9 151 7.1 -1.25 NS
Correctness of Expression 42 12.3 40 10.2 .48 NS
ON
o
61
contrary to that hypothesized at the beginning of the
study.
It was hypothesized that there would be no signifi
cant improvement in subject-matter achievement for the
Placebo group. In the pre-test, post-test comparison of
the Placebo group on the basis of sex of student, Table 8
reveals, there was one significant difference among the
boys. This occurred on the Correctness of Expression
subtest. The positive t ratio indicates that the mean of
the boys on the pre-test was higher than that on the post
test. During the period of the study the mean achieve
ment of boys as measured by this subtest declined signifi
cantly. While the mean achievement of the girls also
declined, the loss was not sufficient to approach signifi
cance. While the finding in this instance was contrary
to the result hypothesized, the meaning of the finding
is not clear. One might speculate that it was the result
of the boys having missed an English assignment whose
subject matter was specifically measured by this subtest,
or that it might have reflected resentment at having to
take an examination not required of the peer groups who
were not participating in the study.
TABLE 8
PRE-TEST VERSUS POST-TEST COMPARISON OF MEANS OF THE PLACEBO GROUP,
BY SEX, ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
Subtest
PRE-
Mean
-TEST
S.D.
POST-
Mean
-TEST
S.D. Ratio Signif
icance
GROUP II BOYS (N = 8)
Vocabulary 31 12.2 35 4.9 - .81 NS
Level of Comprehension 18 3.2 18 5.6 No Diff --
Speed 32 6.4 34 10.3 - .44 NS
Total Reading 149 8.2 152 6.3 - .77 NS
Correctness of Expression 44 3.8 34 10.0 +2.43 .05
GROUP II GIRLS (N = 17)
Vocabulary 33 7.5 35 7.0 - .78 NS
Level of Comprehension 18 3.9 17 5.6 + .58 NS
Speed 32 7.5 32 11.2 No Diff —
Total Reading 149 6.7 150 8.3 - .38 NS
Correctness of Expression 46 10.6 42 13.2 + .95 NS
c r >
N3
63
Table 9 portrays the result of the pre-test, post
test comparison of boys and girls in the Control group.
In no instance was there a significant change in achieve
ment for either sex. This outcome was as hypothesized.
Since the t ratio indicated that in some instances
there were significant initial differences among the three
groups, an analysis of covariance was undertaken to deter
mine whether initial differences could have accounted for
any end-of-the-experiment differences among the three
groups. Table 10 summarizes the results of a covariance
analysis of group scores on each of the five subtests of
the Cooperative English Test. As was explained in the
preceding chapter (cf. supra, pages 47-48), regression
lines were fitted separately to the data from the experi
mental, control, and placebo groups. An F test was made
on the scatter of the data around the regression lines.
Only two regression lines were compared in any one opera
tion. If the scatter (variance) was similar, as judged
by this test, the variances for the two lines were pooled
and analysis proceeded. The slopes of the two regression
lines were compared by means of a t ratio. Where slopes
were similar, they were pooled, and the analysis continued
TABLE 9
PRE-POST TEST COMPARISON, BY SEX, OF MEANS OF THE CONTROL GROUP
ON THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TESTS, BY t RATIOS
PRE-TEST POST-TEST
Signifi
cance Subtest Mean S.D. Mean S.D. Ratio
GROUP III BOYS (N = 5)
Vocabulary 36 4.9 40 3.3 -1.35 NS
Level of Comprehension 18 1.0 19 4.1 - .47 NS
Speed 38 3.2 39 6.6 - .27 NS
Total Reading 154 2.0 156 3.7 - .94 NS
Correctness of Expression 42 10.3 45 13.5 - .04 NS
GROUP III GIRLS (N = 10)
Vocabulary 35 4.8 35 5.6 No Diff
--
Level of Comprehension 18 3.5 18 4.9 No Diff --
Speed 35 8.3 36 9.4 - .24 NS
Total Reading 152 5.9 152 5.8 No Diff
--
Correctness of Expression 49 14.9 53 13.0 - .61 NS
ON
-P >
TABLE 10
COVARIANCE ANALYSIS OF THE COOPERATIVE ENGLISH TEST SCORES
Subtest
Groups
SCATTER SLOPE LACK OF DIFFERENCE
F-Test
Sig.
T-Test df Sig. F-Test df Sig.
VOCABULARY
Groups 1-2 .553 NS 3.013 46 .05 -1.159 47 NS
Groups 1-3 .930 NS .440 36 NS .444 37 NS
Groups 2-3 1.681 NS -1.554 36 NS .241 37 NS
CORRECTNESS OF EXPRESSION
Groups 1-2 .560 NS .085 46 NS - .559 47 NS
Groups 1-3 .453 NS .347 36 NS -3.181 37 .05
Groups 2-3 .810 NS .260 36 NS -2.501
37 .05
LEVEL OF COMPREHENSION
Groups 1-2 .802 NS - .800 46 NS .279 47 NS
Groups 1-3 1.197 NS - .984 36 NS - .323 37 NS
Groups 2-3 1.493 NS - .317 36 NS - .453 37 NS
SPEED
Groups 1-2 .630 NS .174 46 NS - .412 47 NS
Groups 1-3 1.743 NS - .410 36 NS - .837 37 NS
Groups 2-3 2.766 .05 - .495 36 NS - .414 37 NS
TOTAL READING
Groups 1-2 .557 NS 1.101 46 NS - .663 47 NS
Groups 1-3 1.882 NS .162 36 NS - .206 37 NS
Groups 2-3 3.377 .05 - .713 36 NS - .064 37 NS
66
Thus, when the variances of each set of data around its
regression line were similar, and the slopes of the
regression lines were similar, a test of the null hypothe
sis that the lines were coincident could then be made.
The hypothesis was tested using the t ratio. Rejection
of the null hypothesis at the five per cent level or
greater was made on the basis of the t ratio.
Results of this analysis displayed in Table 10
reveal the instances in which there was a significant
difference. The Expression subtest indicates a signifi
cant difference that favored the Control group at the
beginning of the study. This was also evident in the
results of the t ratio analysis exhibited earlier in
Table 3.
Table 11 compares the mean grades of the three
groups. In the three subject fields compared, the hypoth
esized changes did not occur. The one instance of sig
nificance indicates that the Experimental group's Geography
grades deteriorated during the period of the study. The
hypothesis was that their grades would improve. It is
possible that the period of one semester is too short a
time in which to accomplish demonstrable changes in
grades. Nevertheless, the hypothesized change was central
TABLE 11
PRE-POST TEST COMPARISON OF SUBJECT MATTER GRADES OF EXPERIMENTAL,
PLACEBO, AND CONTROL GROUPS, BY t RATIOS
Subject
SECOND QUARTER FOURTH QUARTER
Group Mean S.D. N Mean S.D. t Ratio Sig.
GEOGRAPHY
Group I 2.21 .63 24 1.96 .88 -1.813 .05*
Group II 2.04 1.05 24 1.81 .98 - .839 NS
Group III 2.84 .86 13 2.77 .83 - .562 NS
ENGLISH
Group I 2.46 .69 24 2.38 1.11 - .439 NS
Group II 2.21 .81 24 2.33 .68 .680 NS
Group III 2.38 .86 13 2.54 .79 1.000 NS
ARITHMETIC
Group I 1.96 .71 24 1.75 .84 -1.310 NS
Group II 2.13 .97 24 1.83 1.17 -1.617 NS
Group III 2.31 1.13 13 2.15 1.00 - .805 NS
*The direction of the change is contrary to that predicted for a one-tailed test.
ON
68
to the design of the study. The finding is contrary to
the hypothesis.
Findings Related to Attitudes
One of the hypotheses made at the beginning of the
study was that, when students had been taught how to
study, their attitudes toward school-related concepts
would be changed in a positive direction. Table 12 lists
the twenty-two concepts measured by the Webb-Harris Word
Meaning Test, with t ratios and degrees of significance
obtained for each. The table indicates that six signifi
cant changes occurred during the course of the study.
In every instance in which the t ratio is significant,
the ratio is a positive one. This indicates that the
mean was higher at the beginning of the study than it was
at the end. Thus, the feeling or attitude of the group
toward the particular concept became more negative as
the study proceeded. It was hypothesized that the re
verse would be true. Interestingly, three of the ratios
were significant at the .001 level. These three concepts
were the following: "Mother," "Obeying the Rules," and
"Adults." Whether this change was associated with the
fact that subjects were six months older, had become less
69
TABLE 12
PRE-TEST, POST-TEST COMPARISON OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP ON
THE WEBB-HARRIS WORD MEANING TEST, BY t RATIOS
(N = 20)
Signif-
Concept t Ratio icance
Me .86 No
Me in the Future .18 No
Mother 3.00 .001
Father 1.27 No
Sister .78 No
Brother .14 No
Boy .32 No
Girl .98 No
Family .95 No
People Who Make Me Behave 1.78 .05
Teachers 1.47 No
School 1.99 .05
Reading 1.74 .05
Obeying the Rules 2.89 .001
Being Successful 1.44 No
Love 1.08 No
How I Would Most Like to Be .95 No
Adults 2.03 .001
Fear .65 No
Guilt .62 No
Hate .45 No
Fighting 1.21 No
70
reticent about expressing themselves, or had become
disenchanted with high school, or whether it was an
artifact of the study is not known. In each instance,
however, the three concepts easily relate to the general
ized concept of school.
The other three significant concepts were very
definitely related to school: “Reading," "School," and
"People Who Make Me Behave." Each was significant at
the .05 level. In each instance, the t ratio was a posi
tive one, indicating that the mean at the beginning of
the test was higher than it was at the end of the test.
The positiveness of the concept had deteriorated in the
eyes of the subjects during the period of the study.
Significance related to these concepts was hypothesized
at the beginning of the study. The results indicate,
however, that the significance is opposite to the direc
tion hypothesized.
In this study it was hypothesized that favor
able change toward the criterion concepts would occur as
a result of being taught how to study more effectively
Table 13 indicates that the most significant change
actually occurred in response to the concept "School."
71
TABLE 13
PRE-TEST, POST-TEST COMPARISON OF THE PLACEBO GROUP ON
THE WEBB-HARRIS WORD MEANING TEST, BY t RATIOS
(N = 17)
Signif-
Concept t Ratio ican.ce
Me
.19 No
Me in the Future
.21 No
Mother
1.61 No
Father
.32 No
Sister
.54 No
Brother
.65 No
Boy
1.75 .05
Girl
1.45 No
Family 1.39 No
People Who Make Me Behave 1.04 No
Teachers 2.79 .01
School 3.05 .001
Reading 1.99 .05
Obeying the Rules 1.19 No
Being Successful .68 No
Love 1.41 No
How I Would Most Like to Be .42 No
Adults
.25 No
Fear .29 No
Guilt 1.12 No
Hate
.51 No
Fighting .26 No
72
The difference was significant at the .001 level.
However, the sign of the t ratio indicated that the atti
tude of the group toward the concept “School" deteriorated
rather than improved during the course of the study. It
was hypothesized that a change would occur, but that it
would be in the opposite direction.
The next most significant finding pertained to
the concept “Teachers." There was decided significance--
at the .01 level— but here again the significant change
was in the direction opposite to that which was hypothe
sized. The other two significant findings pertained to
the concepts "Reading" and "Boy." Both were significant
at the .05 level and both were in the direction contrary
to the hypothesis. Again one might conjecture that the
findings were the natural result of the maturation of
the subjects and their achievement of a more realistic--
or disenchanted— view of school and school-related con
cepts. It will be recalled in interpreting the signifi
cance of the change toward the concept "Boy," that girls
comprised two-thirds of the Placebo group.
Because subjects in the Control group had no
active part in the study, it seemed reasonable to expect
....................... '.... ~... 73
that whatever attitudinal changes occurred in this group
would have had no association with the experimental
design of the study. Only one significant change occurred
on the pre-test, post-test comparisons made for the Con
trol group. This pertained to the concept "People Who
Make Me Behave,1 1 and the finding was significant at the
.05 level. This finding might lend credence to the specu
lation that this attitudinal change may have resulted from
any one of a number of factors extraneous to the study.
A similar finding was observed for the Experimental
group. The Placebo group, however, demonstrated no
significance in regard to this particular concept. The
meaning of the finding is unclear, but its very presence
is contrary to the hypothesis.
Some Impressions of the Study
It is probable that in most researches there are
impressions and feelings about the research which may be
important but cannot be substantiated. The following
discussion represents some of the investigator's impres
sions about the study.
It has been noted that the subjects were all volun-
74
TABLE 14
PRE-TEST, POST-TEST COMPARISON OF THE CONTROL GROUP ON
THE WEBB-HARRIS WORD MEANING TEST, BY t RATIOS
(N = 11)
Concept t Ratio
Signif
icance
Me .76 No
Me in the Future
.94 No
Mother
.51 No
Father
1.19 No
Sister
.29 No
Brother
.58 No
Boy
.45 No
Girl
1.12 No
Family
1.77 No
People Who Make Me Behave
1.98 .05
Teachers
.00 No
School
.79 No
Reading
.38 No
Obeying the Rules
178 No
Being Successful
.46 No
Love
.72 No
How I Would Most Like to Be
.44 No
Adults
.47 No
Fear
.49 No
Guilt
.42 No
Hate
.29 No
Fighting
.75 No
teers. It is curious that the ratio of girls to boys
was two to one. In the ninth grade most of the students
are about fourteen years of age. At this age girls,
generally, seem to be socially more mature than boys.
Being more mature may have caused them to be less reluc
tant to volunteer for the study. If so, this might
account for their increased numbers in the sample popula
tion.
In the Experimental group at the beginning of the
study, the achievement of the girls was superior to that
of the boys. This was not the case in the other two
groups. At the ninth grade level, one would reasonably
expect girls to achieve better than boys, especially in
the language arts. The fact that the phenomenon occurred
only in the Experimental group may have been an artifact
of the sampling. By the end of the experimental period,
the data indicate, the achievement of all three groups
had deteriorated. The expectation was that after eighteen
additional weeks of schooling the achievement would have
improved measurably. It seemed to the investigator that
one reason why there was no measurable improvement was
inherent in the study itself. Classmates of the subjects
who took part in the study did not have to take tests in
76
the spring. Those who participated in the study may
well have resented the post-test as an undue imposition.
In the course of the study each student missed any given
class at least three times. Possibly this number of
absences from class may have retarded achievement. A
third possibility is that the study itself inhibited
achievement in that the subjects may have expended their
energies on the mechanics of following the SQ3R method
to the detriment of the actual learning of the subject
matter of their classes. The period of time devoted to
the study may have been insufficient to allow the sub
jects to learn the mechanics of the study method well
enough to apply them sufficiently in advance of the
assessment to make a measurable difference.
Perhaps the most curious finding was the deteriora
tion of attitudes during the period of the study. The
subjects in the study were all new to the high school,
which was a large suburban school of more than three
thousand students. The subjects had come from several
intermediate schools in the surrounding area, in which
student populations seldom totaled one thousand. In the
schools from which they came, the subjects had been per
sons of note in the student body. At the high school,
77
they suddenly found themselves at the bottom of the ladder
socially, physically, and hierarchically. The subjects
took the pre-test on attitudinal change at the end of
their first quarter in high school. At that time their
attitudes toward school-related concepts— i.e., "School,"
"Teachers," etc.--may have been rather optimistic and
possibly unrealistic. By the time of the post-test the
accommodation of these same students to the realities of
high school may indeed have resulted in some disenchant
ment and some realism. Either state might then be
measured as a deterioration from an attitude held eighteen
weeks previously. No value judgment can be attached to
the finding, however.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The present study sought to ascertain the relative
effectiveness of the actual study methods of high school
students in a large suburban high school in California
and the study methods recommended by acknowledged educa
tional specialists.
Even among teachers there has been a wide diversity
of viewpoint regarding what constitutes a good study
method. This investigation made use of one specific
study method, the SQ3R method developed by Francis P.
Robinson. The efficacy of this particular method of study
was examined under controlled conditions.
Summary
Part of the task of teaching is to teach students
how to study. This may be incorporated into the subject
matter of the course of study or it may be done by spe
cifically teaching students how to study. The "teaching1*
79
of better study methods may consist of motivational
lectures on the importance of study or a planned unit
which attempts to inculcate a specific study method. The
subject-matter grade is commonly accepted as the measure
of the effectiveness of the method used. It was decided
to attempt in this study to determine the effectiveness
of a given study method by teaching it to one group and
then comparing the performance of that group with the
performance of a second group that had not been instructed
in any method of studying. Additionally, in order to
minimize the Hawthorne Effect on the Experimental group,
a third group, referred to as the Placebo group, was
included. The third group received no instruction in
how to study; instead, group sessions were spent in free
discussion and counseling regarding topics of greatest
interest or concern to the group.
The three groups were selected randomly from a
volunteer group of ninth grade students in a large sub
urban high school. For students in the Experimental group
instruction in the study method continued for an eighteen-
week period. The test-retest method was utilized to
determine changes in achievement and attitude, utilizing
the Cooperative English Tests and the Webb-Harris Word
80
Meaning Test as the measuring instruments. Subject matter
grades were also examined before and after the study.
Findings
At the end of the study, the Experimental group
(those who had received instruction and practice in the
SQ3R method of study for one period per week for eighteen
weeks) showed no significant change in achievement on
group achievement tests. When the Experimentals were
compared with the Controls, no significant differences
were noted. When compared with the Experimental and the
Control groups, the Placebo group which, like the con
trols, had received no instruction in the study method,
also demonstrated no significant change in achievement
on the test-retest comparisons.
When the subject-matter grades of the three groups
were compared, there were no significant differences
either between or among the three groups. No gross dif
ferences in attitudes toward the criterion concepts were
evident among the three groups. By the end of the study
the data indicated that, while there were still no sig
nificant differences in attitudes among the groups, the
81
attitudes of each of the groups toward the criterion
concepts had actually appeared to deteriorate during the
period of the study.
Conclusions Relating to the Hypotheses
Four research hypotheses were tested in the cur-
rent study. All four were based on the assumption that
the study methods of ninth grade students could be effec
tively improved by being taught a specific method of study
for a period of eighteen weeks. It was hypothesized:
1. The subject matter achievement of the
selected students as measured by standardized
achievement tests, will be significantly
improved.
The evidence presented in Tables 3 through 10 indi
cated that the students in the Experimental group made no
more gains in subject matter achievement than did their
classmates in the Control and Placebo groups who received
no formal instruction on how to study. The null hypothe
sis is tenable with respect to the first hypothesis. The
school in which the study took place assesses achievement
by means of group tests administered only during the fall
82
semester. It is possible that the finding may be a
phenomenon of the ninth grade population in general in
the spring semester and that it may not be peculiar to
the study.
The second hypothesis was based on the same as
sumption as the first. It was assumed that if students
are taught how to study effectively, it will follow that
this effectiveness will be reflected in their subject
matter grades. It is a common assumption that one of the
chief reasons for failure in subject matter areas is
lack of knowledge about how to study. The second research
hypothesis was:
2. The grade point averages of the selected
students, as measured by teachers' marks at
quarter and semester, will be significantly
improved.
The data displayed in Table 11 indicate that none
of the three groups made any significant improvement by
the end of the study. Therefore, one must conclude that
the null hypothesis is tenable with respect to the second
hypothesis. The school system used in the present study
made use of a grading system that allowed for marks of
A, B, C, D, and F. Plus and minus gradations were not
permitted. Thus, grades were issued on a five-point
scale of zero through four. Because neither the Placebos
nor the Controls demonstrated any significant change in
teachers1 marks at the end of the eighteen week period of j
the study, it is possible that a grading system of five
discrete numbers provides too gross a measure to reflect
group changes in subject matter achievement in so short
a time as one semester.
I
i
The third hypothesis was concerned with student i
i
attitudinal changes. This hypothesis was a corollary of
the first two hypotheses. It was expected that when stu-
j
dents were taught more effective method of study, (1)
they would begin to gain a better understanding of the
( !
subject matter, (2) their grades would improve, and, as a
!
concomitant outcome, (3) their teachers would perceive |
them as persons of worth. With all these positive edu- |
!
j
cational reinforcements, the logical expectation would j
be as follows: |
i
3. The feelings of the selected students toward |
school, teachers, and reading, as measured
by the Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test, will
be significantly improved.
The data exhibited in Tables 12, 13, and 14 do not
support this expectation. On the contrary, they indicate ;
that the subjects not only did not improve in attitude
toward the criterion concepts, but that student attitudes
actually deteriorated.
With respect to the members of the Placebo group,
|
it will be recalled that they were allowed to ventilate I
f
their hostile feelings about the criterion concepts in a i
i
i
i
series of non-directive group counseling sessions. The |
positive educational reinforcements hypothesized above 1
for the Experimental group were not applicable to the
i
members of the Placebo group. But the data reveal that !
group counseling was not effective in fostering positive
I
i
attitudinal changes in the Placebo students under the !
conditions provided in the study. j
The attitudes of the Control group also deterior- !
ated during the period of study. Since the Controls took
j
no active part in the study, the deterioration in atti-
i
tudes toward the criterion concepts may be a phenomenon
i
of the age and grade placement of the subjects in the j
study. For many students, age fourteen may be a period
of adolescent growth spurt. The period of the study
85
occurred at a time when the subjects were having to make
adjustments to a new academic and social environment.
It is likely that a marked deterioration in attitude is
a normal--possibly even a desirable--attribute of this
period in school life. Perhaps the deterioration could
not and should not be reversed. Nevertheless, in relation
to hypothesis number three, the null hypothesis is
tenable.
The fourth hypothesis pertained to the self con
cept of the subjects in the study. Self concept is
epitomized by the criterion concept "Me" on the Webb-
Harris Word Meaning Test. The hypothesis was stated as
follows:
4. The feelings of the selected students toward
themselves, as measured by the concept "Me"
on the Webb-Harris Word Meaning Test, will be
significantly improved.
By the end of the study none of the three groups
exhibited changes in self concept which approached sig
nificance. The null hypothesis is accepted in relation
to the fourth hypothesis. Neither group counseling with
the Placebos nor instruction in effective study methods
86
with the Experimental^ resulted in observable improvement
in self concept. Neither was there evidence of any
significant change in self concept on the part of the
members of the Control group.
In every instance, the findings failed to support
the research hypotheses. One can only conclude that under
the conditions of the study, teaching "How to Study" tech
niques did not result in improved grades, improved
achievement, or improved attitudes.
Recommendations for Further Study
The dictum that hindsight is as good as twenty/
twenty vision would appear to apply in the case of the
present study. In retrospect, it would seem more appro
priate to make such research as this an officially-
adopted part of high school curricula. Undoubtedly, the
subjects in the study should be scheduled in the study
methods course for the same period of time as other
courses; moreover, they should receive an equivalent
amount of credit. This procedure would tend to remove
any uniqueness from the course, and would remove the onus
of volunteering to participate, as was the case in this
study. It is felt that a one-semester course of ninety
hours may be adequate. This would be a five-fold increase
over the time period allotted for the present study. If
one half of the incoming high school class were placed ;
in a study methods course for one semester, the other
half could serve as a control group. In the second semes-;
ter the controls might take the class and the same period j
|
1
could be used to measure the forgetting curve of the j
j
first-semester group. |
I
In the present study, teachers' marks were one !
criterion used to measure change in subject-matter achieve-j
l
ment. It is recommended that any future replications !
i
utilize some other instrument for measuring such change. !
Teachers' marks, which are based on a four- or five-point i
j
scale, seem to be too gross a measure to be of value. j
t
A rating scale of zero to one hundred would be more
appropriate.
One of the more curious findings in the study was
!
the progressive disaffection of freshman students toward j
i
school and school-related matters during the period of j
study. Since this finding also characterized the students
in the Control group, it would be interesting to ascertain
from a larger sample whether this reaction is peculiar to
88
first-year high school students or whether it is a
generalized attribute of high school freshmen that becomes
manifest as the school year progresses. The administra
tion of the Word Meaning Test to a grade level above and
below that of the subjects in the study would undoubtedly
provide some clues.
It is possible that the first year of high school
is not the most appropriate time for initiating a formal
course in study methods. With the myriad social and
academic adjustments the incoming student must make to
the high school scene, it may be unrealistic to expect
that he could or would apply himself to such a course.
The initiation of the course at the sixth-grade level
might well be a more realistic approach.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
89
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Fourth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Highland Park,
N.J.: The Gryphon Press, 1953. 1163 pp.
Aloia, Alex D., and Juan F. Saliuda. "A Correlation
Study between Grades in English and Cooperative
English Test Scores of College Freshmen," California
Journal of Educational Research, 11:7-13, January
1960.
j . —
Arnold, H. F. "The Comparative Efficiency of Certain
Study Techniques in Fields of History," Journal of
Educational Psychology. 33:449-457, 1942.
Bird, Charles. Effective Study Habits. New York: The
Century Company, 1931. 247 pp.
Blake, W. S., Jr. "Study-Skills Programs," Journal of
Higher Education, 26:97-99, 1955.
_______ . "Do Probationary College Freshmen Benefit from
Compulsory Study Skills and Reading Training?"
Journal of Experimental Psychology. 25:91-93, 1956.
Block, J. "An Unprofitable Application of the Semantic
Differential," Journal of Consulting Psychology.
22:235-236, 1958.
Brother Adelbert James. "Attacking the Problem of How
to Study," Catholic School Journal. 62:44-46,
October 1962.
Brown, William F., and Wayne H. Holtzman. "A Study-
Attitude Questionnaire for Predicting Academic
Success." Journal of Educational Psychology. 46:
75-84, 1955.
90
91
Carter, H. D. "The Mechanics of Study Procedure,1'
California Journal of Educational Research, 9:8-13,
1958.
Cheyney, A. B. "City-wide Effort Improves Study Skills,"
Clearing House, 36:330-332, February 1962.
Cooperative English Tests— Technical Report. Princeton,
N.J.: Educational Testing Service, 1960.
Cristantiello, Philip, and James J. Cribbin. "The Study
Skills Problems," Journal of Higher Education,
27:35-38, 1956.
Danskin, D. G., and C. W. Burnett. "Study Techniques of
Those Superior Students," Personnel and Guidance
Journal, 31:181-186, 1952.
Feinberg, M. R., £t _al. "Results of a Mandatory Study
Course for Entering Freshmen," Journal of Develop
mental Reading, 5:95-100, Winter, 1962.
Feldt, Leonard S. "The Cooperative English Tests," The
Sixth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Highland Park,
N.J.: The Grython Press, 1965.
Gehman, W. S. "Problems of College Sophomores with
Serious Scholastic Difficulties," Journal of Counsel
ing Psychology, 2:137-141, 1955.
Holmes, Eleanor. "Reading Guided by Questions versus
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The School Review, 39:361-371, 1931.
Honey, D. E., et al. "Effects of Self-directed Study
on Course Achievement, Retention and Curiosity,"
Journal of Educational Research, 56:346-351, March
1963.
Hurt, I. D. "Study Skills: Panacea?" School and
Community, 49:14-15, March 1963.
Jackson, R. A. "Prediction of the Academic Success of
College Freshmen," Journal of Educational Psychology,
46:296-301, 1955.
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Jenkins, James J., W. A. Russell, and George J. Suci.
’ ’ An Atlas of Semantic Profiles for 360 Words,1 1
The American Journal of Psychology. , 71:688-699,
1958.
Johnson, M., Jr. "Study Skills," Bulletin of the
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47:30-31, October 1963.
Kingston, A. D., and C. E. George. "The Effectiveness of
Reading Training at the College Level," Journal of
Educational Research, 48:467-471, 1955.
Knight, James, and Norman M. Chansky. "Anxiety, Study
Problems, and Achievement," Personnel and Guidance
Journal, 43:45-47, September 1964.
Layman, Martha E. "Cooperative American History Test,"
The Fourth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Highland
Park, N.J.: The Gryphon Press, 1953.
Lorimer, Margaret F. "The Cooperative English Tests,"
The Sixth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Highland
Park, N.J.: The Gryphon Press, 1965.
MacDonald, A. S. "Influence of a College Reading Improve
ment Program on Academic Performance," Journal of
Educational Psychology. 48:171-181, 1957.
McClusky, Howard Y. "An Experiment on the Influence of
Preliminary Skimming on Reading," Journal of Educa
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Morse, Horace T., and G. H. McCune. Selected Items for
the Testing of Study Skills. National Council for
the Social Studies, 1949. 81 pp.
Naslund, Robert A., and Richard E. Servey. Organizing
and Reporting Skills. Teacher Handbook. Chicago:
Science Research Associates, 1962. 47 pp.
Nicholas, Robert C., and John L. Holland. "The Selection
of High Aptitude High School Graduates for Maximum
Achievement in College," Personnel and Guidance
93
Journal, 43:33-41, September 1964.
Noall, M. S. "Effectiveness of Different Methods of
Study," Journal of Educational Research, 56:51-52,
September 1962.
Osgood, Charles E., George J. Suci, and Percy H.
Tannenbaum. The Measurement of Meaning. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1957. 342 pp.
Parker, Don, e_t al. Reading Laboratory. Teachers1
Handbook. Chicago: Science Research Associates,
1958. 70 pp.
Patterson, C. W. "Pilot Project in Reading and Study
Habits." Reading Teacher, 17:531-535, April 1964.
Perez, Patricia A. "Semantic Differential Measurement
of Attitudinal Changes for Students on Scholastic
Probation." Unpublished Master's Thesis, University
of Southern California, 1964.
Peterson, H. A., et al. "Some Measurements of the
Effects of Reviews," Journal of Educational Psy
chology, 26:65-72, 1935.
Powell, C. F. A. "The Rehabilitation of School Drop-outs
through an Intensive Summer School Program."
Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of
Southern California, 1966.
Pressey, L. C. "The Permanent Effects of Training in
Methods of Study on College Success," School and
Society, 28:403-404, 1928.
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Senior High School," National Association of
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443-454, 1955.
94
Robinson, Francis P. Effective Study. New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1961. 278 pp.
Schutter, G., and H. Maher. "Predicting Grade Point
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of Counseling Psychology. 7:225-226, February 1960.
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Sister Mary Donald, S.S.N.D. "Teach Your Students to
Study," Catholic School Journal. 65:52-53, September
1965.
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33:363-368, 1942.
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95
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96
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Higher Education, 27:449-454, 1956.
APPENDIX A
SIX SQ3R STUDENT STUDY GUIDES USED IN
SAN DIEGO COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
97
98
1. SQ3R FOR READING MATHEMATICS
A Student Study Guide
by
Ralph E. Kellogg*
Mathematics has a language of its own. Each word or symbol is impor
tant and may change the meaning of the entire problem. Therefore,
reading word problems or mathematical formulas should be done very
slowly and analytically. Knowing the purpose for reading is important
in all kinds of reading, but is especially critical in mathematics.
If the reader does not determine what the question to be solved is
correctly, the entire computation will probably be incorrect. While
it might seem to be a long process to use all the steps of the SQ3R
formula for reading a word problem or formula, the reader will find
that if each step is followed through he will gain more understanding
of the problem and his computation will have more chance of being
correct.
SURVEY
This step is to get an idea of the type of problem it is.
QUESTION
The three questions in this step are critical to the understanding
of any problem:
What is the question or questions?
What facts are needed for solution?
What order of steps is necessary for solution?
READ
After reading the problem carefully, it will help to write down
briefly the answer to each of the three questions above.
REVIEW
By thinking through the factors which will influence the answer,
a check upon understanding is made.
RECITE
State the problem in your own words without using numbers to see
whether you really know what the problem is all about. State
procedures for solution and estimate the answer.
^Curriculum Coordinator, Department of Education, San Diego County.
i
99
IMPROVE YOUR READING I A GAIN OF 20 PER CENT IN RATE OF COMPREHENSION
CAN SAVE YOU ONE DAY OF STUDY PER WEEK.
This formula for effective reading has been designed from research
done originally in the U.S. Air Force. The original formula was PQRST-
Preview, Question, Read, Study, Test. This formula was later revised
to SQ3R--Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. The SQ3R formula can
be used for general reading or to read specific kinds of reading
material. In this guide instructions are given to apply it to reading
in subjects typically found in junior and senior high school classes.
There is no doubt of the effectiveness of the formula. It has helped
many persons to read more effectively. The author feels that if he
had known the formula and used it in college, his grade point average
could have been improved at least one grade level. Many students and
adults have benefited and continue to benefit from using it daily in
their study. Try it; it can help you.
The following suggestions may be of help to you in making the SQ3R
formula a habit in reading your assignments and other selections.
1. Punch holes in the left margin of this guide and place it
in a section of your notebook which you keep for notes,
assignments, etc., for this class.
2. Request that your teacher demonstrate and explain the formula
to you using an assignment from one of your textbooks.
3. Cut out the small copy of the formula included in this guide
and paste it lightly in your text. Each time you open your
book look at the formula briefly to help remind you of the
steps.
4. Use the check list for a period of six weeks or more to guide
you each time you read for this subject. This will help
you to make this way of reading a habit. Until you make
the formula a habit, it will not help you to the best degree
possible.
5. Practice the formula each time you get a chance. See if
you can improve on it and make it most effective for you.
6. Talk with some of your fellow students who might be learning
to use the formula. Discuss different ways in which you have
found it to be of help. Study with a friend with both of you
trying to use the formula.
ii
100
SQ3R FOR READING MATHEMATICS --CHECK LIST
Assignment Date_
SURVEY
Skim to get a general idea of the problem
QUESTION
What is the question? or questions?
What facts are needed for solution?
What order of steps are necessary for solution?
READ carefully
What is the question? Needed facts Steps for solution
REVIEW
On what does the answer depend?
RECITE
State the problem in your own words without using numbers
State procedures for solution
Estimate the answer
101
Cut out this copy of the SQ3R Reading Formula and paste it
in the front of your book. Before you read each assignment
in the book, REVIEW the formula first.
Then use it in reading each assignment.
Before reading an assignment in your textbook,
check yourself on this formula. It will help
you read better only if you use it.
SQ3R FOR READING MATHEMATICS
SURVEY
Skim to get a general idea of the problem.
QUESTION
What is the question? or questions?
What facts are needed for solution?
What order of steps is necessary for solution?
READ carefully to
Clarify the question
Identify the needed facts
Determine the steps for solution
REVIEW
On what does the answer depend?
RECITE
State the problem in your own words without
using numbers.
State procedures for solution.
Estimate the answer.
iv
102
SQ3R TEACHER GUIDE
The guide has been prepared primarily for student use. You will note
that the directions are included for the students to (1) keep the
guide in their notebooks, (2) paste a copy of the SQ3R formula in
their textbooks, and (3) use the formula as a study guide. Consid
erable instruction, help, and encouragement by the teacher in using
the formula will be necessary if a large number of students are to
improve their reading. The following suggestions may be of help
in this regard:
1. Have a school secretary cut master copies and run as many
copies of the guide for student use as you need. You may
wish to include several copies of the check list in the
guide which you make for your students. This would allow
them to have several practice sessions using the formula.
2. Demonstrate the formula to the students on an assignment
which you might typically give. Illustrate it step by step.
This will seem mechanical at first, but remember that you
are attempting to change reading habits students have already
developed and substitute a new one.
3. Go through several practice sessions with the students from
time to time during the first six weeks of class. While
many better students may "understand" the formula after the
first presentation, they will not automatically substitute
it for their previously formed habits without practice.
4. When students are studying individually, observe their reading
habits to see how much they are voluntarily following the
steps when you are not requiring them to be followed.
5. Encourage students to improve the formula if they can.
A discussion from time to time of its use, how students have
applied it, what improvements they can suggest, etc., will
stimulate interest in improving the reading process.
6. Emphasize the RECITE step in as many ways as you can envision.
You have been doing this by your tests and discussions in
the past anyway. Now get the student to do this before he
gets to the test or discussion.
These materials may be duplicated.
Credit should be given to the Department of Education,
San Diego County.
v
103
2. SQ3R FOR READING LITERATURE
A Student Study Guide
by
Ralph E. Kellogg*
Literature includes many different kinds of materials to read. For
example, there is considerable difference in a poem and a short story.
In a poem each word may be important to the meaning which the author
is trying to portray. In a short story each word is less important
but general ideas assume prominence. Therefore, a poem should be read
slowly, critically, thoughtfully, and with many pauses. A short story
may be read much faster. Therefore, it will be important that you
know the nature of what you are reading, what your purpose is in
reading it, and how fast you should read. The mark of an efficient
reader is that he reads with a purpose and can vary his rate of
reading to fulfill that purpose.
SURVEY
The survey step is one of skimming or scanning quickly to get a gen
eral impression of what the selection is about.
QUESTION
While you are surveying the selection, you should be mentally asking
questions. These questions will be setting your purpose for a more
careful reading in the third step. It is in the question step that
you set your purpose for reading. At first, it will help you to write
down briefly some of your ideas after surveying. (See check list.)
READ
This reading step is slower than the one done in the survey step.
While you are reading, be thinking constantly of what your purposes
are. This will help focus your thinking.
REVIEW
The review step again is one of faster reading such as done in the
survey step. Its purpose is to review some of the main ideas which
you have already read and to check on some specific details which you
might have missed.
RECITE
The recite step is a most important one, one which is often left out
*Curriculum Coordinator, Department of Education, San Diego County.
. . . j
104
by many readers. This step is designed to help you fix in your mind
what you have read and to check on yourself to see how well you know
what you have read. If you cannot tell in your own words or write a
brief story or outline of what you have read, you really don't know
what you have "read.H
IMPROVE YOUR READING: A GAIN OF 20 PER CENT IN RATE OF COMPREHENSION
CAN SAVE YOU ONE DAY OF STUDY PER WEEK.
This formula for effective reading has been designed from research
done originally in the U.S. Air Force. The original formula was
PQRST--Preview, Question, Read, Study, Test. This formula was later
revised to SQ3R--Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. The SQ3R
formula can be used for general reading or to read specific kinds of
reading material. In this guide instructions are given to apply it
to reading in subjects typically found in junior and senior high
school classes.
There is no doubt of the effectiveness of the formula. It has helped
many persons read more effectively. The author feels that if he had
known the formula and used it in college, his grade point average
could have been improved at least one grade level. Many students and
adults have benefited and continue to benefit from using it daily in
their study. Try it; it can help you.
The following suggestions may be of help to you in making the SQ3R
formula a habit in reading your assignments and other selections.
1. Punch holes in the left margin of this guide and place it in
a section of your notebook which you keep for notes, assign
ments, etc., for this class.
2. Request that your teacher demonstrate and explain the formula
to you using an assignment from one of your textbooks.
3. Cut out the small copy of the formula included in this guide
and paste it lightly in your text. Each time you open your
book look at the formula briefly to help remind you of the
steps.
4. Use the check list for a period of six weeks or more to guide
you each time you read for this subject. This will help you
to make this way of reading a habit. Until you make the formula
a habit, it will not help you to the best degree possible.
5. Practice the formula each time you get a chance. See if you
can improve on it and make it most effective for you.
ii
105
6. Talk with some of your fellow students who might be learning
to use the formula. Discuss different ways in which you have
found it to be of help. Study with a friend with both of you
trying to use the formula.
Assignment
SQ3R FOR READING LITERATURE--Check List
Due Date
SURVEY
Title of selection
First paragraph of selection
Last paragraph of selection
First sentence of each paragraph
QUESTION
Kind of Selection
Essay ____
Poem ____
Short story ____
Novel ____
Biography ____
Difficulty Level
Very difficult
Average difficulty
Fairly easy
Very easy
Reading Speed
Slowly and Care
fully
Average rate
Quickly
Rapidly
What will the selection tell me? (Briefly jot ideas below)
READ to
Interpret the author's message
Determine the main idea
Analyze relationships
REVIEW to
Recall the general plot or idea
Check specific details
Organize your thinking about the story
RECITE
Visualize a mental picture of the story
Tell the story in your own words
Write a brief outline below
iii
106
Gut out this copy of the SQ3R Reading formula and paste it in
the front of your literature textbook. Before you read each
assignment in the book, REVIEW the formula first. Then use
it in reading each assignment.
Before reading an assignment in your literature
book, check yourself on this formula. It will
help you read better only if you use it.
SQ3R FOR READING LITERATURE
SURVEY
Title of selection
First paragraph of selection
Last paragraph of selection
First sentence of each paragraph
QUESTION
What meaning does the title have?
What kind of selection is this?
What will the selection tell me?
How fast shall I read?
READ to
Interpret the author's message
Determine the main idea
Analyze relationships
REVIEW to
Recall the general plot or idea
Check specific details
Organize your thinking about the story
RECITE
Visualize a mental picture of the story
Tell the story in your own words
Write a brief outline
iv
107
SQ3R TEACHER GUIDE
The guide has been prepared primarily for student use. You will note
that the directions are included for the students to (1) keep the guide
in their notebooks, (2) paste a copy of the SQ3R formula in their
textbooks, and (3) use the formula as a study guide. Considerable
instruction, help, and encouragement by the teacher in using the
formula will be necessary if a large number of students are to im
prove their reading. The following suggestions may be of help in
this regard:
1. Have a school secretary cut master copies and run as many
copies of the guide for student use as you need. You may wish
to include several copies of the check list in the guide which
you make for your students. This would allow them to have
several practice sessions using the formula.
2. Demonstrate the formula to the students on an assignment which
you might typically give. Illustrate it step by step. This
will seem mechanical at first, but remember that you are at
tempting to change reading habits students have already devel
oped and substitute a new one.
3. Go through several practice sessions with the students from
time to time during the first six weeks of class. While many
better students may "understand" the formula after the first
presentation, they will not automatically substitute it for
their previously formed habits without practice.
4. When students are studying individually, observe their reading
habits to see how much they are voluntarily following the steps
when you are not requiring them to be followed.
5. Encourage students to improve the formula if they can.
A discussion from time to time of its use, how students have
applied it, what improvements they can suggest, etc., will
stimulate interest in improving the reading process.
6. Emphasize the RECITE step in as many ways as you can envision.
You have been doing this by your tests and discussions in the
past anyway. Now get the student to do this before he gets to
the test or discussion.
T h e s e m a t e r i a l s m a y b e d u p l i c a t e d .
C r e d i t s h o u l d b e g i v e n t o t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f E d u c a t i o n , S a n D i e g o
C o u n t y .
v
108
3. SQ3R FOR GENERAL READING
A Student Study Guide
by
R a l p h E . K e l l o g g *
The term general reading implies that a great variety of types of
materials may be included. Of first importance then is the identifica
tion of the kind of material being read. After this is done the reader
should determine the purpose for which he is going to read. The pur
pose will dictate the degree of speed which he will use in reading.
T h e m a r k o f a n e f f i c i e n t r e a d e r i s t h a t h e r e a d s w i t h a p u r p o s e a n d
c a n v a r y h i s r a t e o f r e a d i n g t o f u l f i l l t h a t p u r p o s e .
SURVEY
The survey step is one of skimming or scanning quickly to get a
general impression of what the selection is about.
QUESTION
While you are surveying the selection, you should be mentally asking
questions. These questions will be setting your purpose for a more
careful reading in the third step. It is in the question step that
you set your purpose for reading. At first, it will help you to write
down briefly some of your ideas after surveying. (See check list.)
READ
T h i s r e a d i n g s t e p i s s l o w e r t h a n t h e o n e d o n e i n t h e s u r v e y s t e p .
While you are reading, be thinking constantly of what your purposes
for reading are. This will help focus your thinking.
REVIEW
The review step again is one
survey step. Its purpose is
you have already read and to
you might have missed.
RECITE
The recite step is a most important one, one which is often left out
by many readers. This step is designed to help you fix in your mind
what you have read and to check on yourself to see how well you know
what you have read. If you cannot tell in your own words or write a
* C u r r i c u l u m C o o r d i n a t o r , D e p a r t m e n t o f E d u c a t i o n , S a n D i e g o
C o u n t y .
i
of faster reading such as done in the
to review some of the main ideas which
check on some specific details which
109
brief story or outline of what you have read, you really don't know
what you have !>read.1 1
IMPROVE YOUR READING1 . A GAIN OF 20 PER CENT IN RATE OF COMPREHENSION
CAN SAVE YOU ONE DAY OF STUDY PER WEEK.
This formula for effective reading has been designed from research
done originally in the U.S. Air Force. The original formula was PQRST--
Preview, Question, Read, Study, Test. This formula was later revised
to SQ3R--Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. The SQ3R formula can
be used for general reading or to read specific kinds of reading
material. In this guide instructions are given to apply it to reading
in subjects typically found in junior and senior high school classes.
There is no doubt of the effectiveness of the formula. It has helped
many persons read more effectively. The author feels that if he had
known the formula and used it in college, his grade point average
could have been improved at least one grade level. Many students and
adults have benefited and continue to benefit from using it daily in
their study. Try it; it can help you.
The following suggestions may be of -help to you in making the SQ3R
formula a habit in reading your assignments and other selections.
1. Punch holes in the left margin of this guide and place it in a
section of your notebook which you keep for notes, assignments,
etc., for this class.
2. R e q u e s t t h a t y o u r t e a c h e r d e m o n s t r a t e a n d e x p l a i n t h e f o r m u l a
t o y o u u s i n g a n a s s i g n m e n t f r o m o n e o f y o u r t e x t b o o k s .
3. Cut out the small copy of the formula included in this guide
and paste it lightly in your text. Each time you open your
book look at the formula briefly to help remind you of the
steps.
4. U s e t h e c h e c k l i s t f o r a p e r i o d o f s i x w e e k s o r m o r e t o g u i d e
y o u e a c h t i m e y o u r e a d f o r t h i s s u b j e c t . T h i s w i l l h e l p y o u
t o m a k e t h i s w a y o f r e a d i n g a h a b i t . U n t i l y o u m a k e t h e f o r m u l a
a h a b i t , i t w i l l n o t h e l p y o u t o t h e b e s t d e g r e e p o s s i b l e .
5. Practice the formula each time you get a chance. See if you
can improve on it and make it most effective for you.
6 . T a l k w i t h s o m e o f y o u r f e l l o w s t u d e n t s w h o m i g h t b e l e a r n i n g
t o u s e t h e f o r m u l a . D i s c u s s d i f f e r e n t w a y s i n w h i c h y o u h a v e
f o u n d i t t o b e o f h e l p . S t u d y w i t h a f r i e n d w i t h b o t h o f y o u
t r y i n g t o u s e t h e f o r m u l a .
ii
110
SQ3R FOR GENERAL READING--CHECK LIST
Assignment___________________________________ Date_____________________
SURVEY
Pictures, charts, and/or diagrams
Title of selection
First paragraph
Topic sentence of each paragraph
QUESTION
What meaning does the title have?
Kind of selection Difficulty level Reading speed
____________________ Very difficult _________ Slowly and carefully
____________________ Average difficulty Average rate _______
____________________ Fairly easy ____________ Rapidly ____________
____________________ Very easy _____________
Kind of information I will find: Questions I wish answered:
READ to
Find answers to my questions
Determine the main idea and supporting details
REVIEW
Skim to recall general idea
Skim to check specific details
RECITE
Project a mental picture
Describe orally what you have read
Write a brief outline
iii
Ill
Cut out this copy of the SQ3R Reading Formula and paste it in
the front of your book. Before you read each assignment in
the book, REVIEW the formula first. Then use it in reading
each as s ignment.
Before reading an assignment in your textbook,
check yourself on this formula. It will help
you read better only if you use it.
SQ3R FOR GENERAL READING
SURVEY
Pictures, charts, and/or diagrams
Title of selection
First paragraph
Last paragraph
Topic sentence of each paragraph
QUESTION
What meaning does the title have?
What kind of information will I find?
What questions do I wish answered?
How fast shall I read?
READ to
Find answers to my questions
Determine the main idea and supporting details
REVIEW
Skim to recall general idea
Skim to check specific details
RECITE
Project a mental picture
Describe orally what you have read
Write a brief outline
IV
SQ3R TEACHER GUIDE
112
The guide has been prepared primarily for student use. You will note
that the directions are included for the students to (1) keep the
guide in their notebooks, (2) paste a copy of the SQ3R formula in
their textbooks, and (3) use the formula as a study guide. Consider
able instruction, help, and encouragement by the teacher in using the
formula will be necessary if a large number of students are to improve
their reading. The following suggestions may be of help in this regard.
1. Have a school secretary cut master copies and run as many
copies of the guide for student use as you need. You may
wish to include several copies of the check list in the guide
which you make for your students. This would allow them to
have several practice sessions using the formula.
2. Demonstrate the formula to the students on an assignment
which you might typically give. Illustrate it step by step.
This will seem mechanical at first, but remember that you
are attempting to change reading habits students have already
developed and substitute a new one.
3. Go through several practice sessions with the students from
time to time during the first six weeks of class. While
many better students may "understand" the formula after the
first presentation, they will not automatically substitute
it for their previously formed habits without practice.
4. When students are studying individually, observe their reading
habits to see how much they are voluntarily following the steps
when you are not requiring them to be followed.
5. Encourage students to improve the formula if they can.
A discussion from time to time of its use, how students have
applied it, what improvements they can suggest, etc., will
stimulate interest in improving the reading process.
6. Emphasize the RECITE step in as many ways as you can envision.
You have been doing this by your tests and discussions in the
past anyway. Now get the student to do this before he gets
to the test or discussion.
These materials may be duplicated.
Credit should be given to the Department of Education, San Diego County.
v
113
4. SQ3R FOR READING SCIENCE
A Student Study Guide
by
Ralph E. Kellogg*
Science textbooks are typically organized into four patterns of writing.
These are: Classification (living things or objects), technical
explanation of processes, explanation of experiments, and factual
information about a science topic. All reading of science information
should be at a rather slow rate. The key to success here is to iden
tify the pattern of writing which the author is using at a particular
time and then to set your purpose for reading in harmony with that
pattern. In one chapter of a science textbook, two or maybe three
different patterns will be used. Whatever the pattern, critical
analysis of the material is usually needed.
SURVEY
The survey step is one of skimming or scanning quickly to get a general
impression of what the selection is about.
QUESTION
The question step is one of determining which pattern of writing is
being used.
READ
A slow careful reading of the material with a purpose which is in
harmony with the pattern of writing is important here. When the pat
tern of writing changes, the purpose should change. (See Formula on
checklist page.)
REVIEW
The review step is similar to that of the survey, except that you sur
vey to a specific spot and then slow down and carefully review an
important detail which relates to the main idea.
RECITE
The recite step is a most important one, one which is often left out
by many readers. This step is designed to help you fix in your mind
what you have read and to check on yourself to see how well you know
what you have read. If you cannot tell in your own words or write a
^Curriculum Coordinator, Department of Education, San Diego County.
i
114
brief story or outline of what you have read, you really don*t know
what you have "read."
IMPROVE YOUR READING? A GAIN OF 20 PER CENT IN RATE OF COMPREHENSION
CAN SAVE YOU ONE DAY OF STUDY PER WEEK.
This formula for effective reading has been designed from research
done originally in the U.S. Air Force. The original formula was
PQRST--Preview, Question, Read, Study, Test. This formula was later
revised to SQ3R--Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. The SQ3R
formula can be used for general reading or to read specific kinds of
reading material. In this guide instructions are given to apply it
to reading in subjects typically found in junior and senior high
school classes.
There is no doubt of the effectiveness of the formula. It has helped
many persons read more effectively. The author feels that if he had
known the formula and used it in college, his grade point average
could have been improved at least one grade level. Many students and
adults have benefited and continue to benefit from using it daily in
their study. Try it; it can help you.
The following suggestions may be of help to you in making the SQ3R
formula a habit in reading your assignments and other selections.
1. Punch holes in the left margin of this guide and place it in a
section of your notebook which you keep for notes, assignments,
etc., for this class.
2. Request that your teacher demonstrate and explain the formula
to you using an assignment from one of your textbooks.
3. Cut out the small copy of the formula included in this guide
and paste it lightly in your text. Each time you open your
book look at the formula briefly to help remind you of the
steps.
4. Use the check list for a period of six weeks or more to guide
you each time you read for this subject. This will help you
to make this way of reading a habit. Until you make the formula
a habit, it will not help you to the best degree possible.
5. Practice the formula each time you get a chance. See if you
can improve on it and make it most effective for you.
6. Talk with some of your fellow students who might be learning
to use the formula. Discuss different ways in which you have
found it to be of help. Study with a friend with both of you
trying to use the formula.
ii
115
SQ3R FOR READING SCIENCE--CHECK LIST
Assignment ___________________________________ Date_
SURVEY
Read titles, pictures, charts, and diagrams
Read topic sentences of each paragraph
QUESTION
• • What pattern of writing is the author using?
* Classification -- living things or objects
() Technical explanation of processes
# Explanation of experiments
Factual information about science
READ carefully to
* Analyze likenesses and differences
() Clarify the process
# Interpret directions for experiments
Recall the facts
REVIEW
Skim to recall general ideas
Skim to check specific details
RECITE
Visualize a mental picture
Describe orally what you have read
List likenesses and differences; What is the process?
Give directions for the experiment: List the main facts:
iii
116
Cut out this copy of the SQ3R Reading Formula and paste it
in the front of your book. Before you read each assignment
in the book, REVIEW the formula first. Then use it in reading
each assignment.
Before reading an assignment in your textbook,
check yourself on this formula. It will help
you read better only if you use it.
SQ3R FOR READING SCIENCE
SURVEY
Titles, pictures, charts, and diagrams
Topic sentences of each paragraph
QUESTION
What pattern of writing is the author using?
* Classification--living things or objects
() Technical explanation of processes
# Explanation of experiments
< t > Factual information about science
READ carefully to
* Analyze likenesses and differences
() Clarify the process
# Interpret directions for experiments
Recall the facts
REVIEW
Skim to recall general ideas
Skim to check specific details
RECITE
Visualize a mental picture
Describe orally what you have read
Write a brief outline
iv
117
SQ3R TEACHER GUIDE
The guide has been prepared primarily for student use. You will note
that the directions are included for the students to (1) keep the guide
in their notebooks, (2) paste a copy of the SQ3R formula in their
textbooks, and (3) use the formula as a study guide. Considerable
instruction, help, and encouragement by the teacher in using the
formula will be necessary if a large number of students are to improve
their reading. The following suggestions may be of help in this
regard.
1. Have a school secretary cut master copies and run as many
copies of the guide for student use as you need. You may
wish to include several copies of the check list in the guide
which you make for your students. This would allow them to
have several practice sessions using the formula.
2. D e m o n s t r a t e t h e f o r m u l a t o t h e s t u d e n t s o n a n a s s i g n m e n t w h i c h
y o u m i g h t t y p i c a l l y g i v e . I l l u s t r a t e i t s t e p b y s t e p . T h i s
w i l l s e e m m e c h a n i c a l a t f i r s t , b u t r e m e m b e r t h a t y o u a r e a t
t e m p t i n g t o c h a n g e r e a d i n g h a b i t s s t u d e n t s h a v e a l r e a d y
d e v e l o p e d a n d s u b s t i t u t e a n e w o n e .
3. G o t h r o u g h s e v e r a l p r a c t i c e s e s s i o n s w i t h t h e s t u d e n t s f r o m
t i m e t o t i m e d u r i n g t h e f i r s t s i x w e e k s o f c l a s s . W h i l e m a n y
b e t t e r s t u d e n t s m a y ' ' u n d e r s t a n d " t h e f o r m u l a a f t e r t h e f i r s t
p r e s e n t a t i o n , t h e y w i l l n o t a u t o m a t i c a l l y s u b s t i t u t e i t f o r
t h e i r p r e v i o u s l y f o r m e d h a b i t s w i t h o u t p r a c t i c e .
4. When students are studying individually, observe their reading
habits to see how much they are voluntarily following the
steps when you are not requiring them to be followed.
5. Encourage students to improve the formula if they can.
A discussion from time to time of its use, how students have
applied it, what improvements they can suggest, etc., will
stimulate interest in improving the reading process.
6. Emphasize the RECITE step in as many ways as you can envision.
You have been doing this by your tests and discussions in the
past anyway. Now get the student to do this before he gets
to the test or discussion.
T h e s e m a t e r i a l s m a y b e d u p l i c a t e d .
C r e d i t s h o u l d b e g i v e n t o t h e D e p a r t m e n t c f E d u c a t i o n ,
S a n D i e g o C o u n t y .
v
118
5. SQ3R FOR SOCIAL STUDIES--A STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
by
Ralph E. Kellogg*
Social studies material typically includes many pictures, graphs and
charts which relate to the written text. Each of these has informa
tion which is of importance. Typically, social studies material is
written in a rather organized fashion with topic sentences at the
beginning of each paragraph and names, etc., of importance are also
included. This manner of organization causes the reader to read for
major ideas with supporting details. Cause and effect relationships
are important to note in nearly all social studies material. History
requires attention to sequence of events. It has been stated that
.the necessity for effective reading in the social studies is perhaps
more important than in any other subject area. Knowing the purpose
and regulating speed become important. The mark of an effective
reader is that he reads with a purpose and can vary his rate of reading
to fulfill that purpose.
SURVEY
The survey step is one of skimming or scanning quickly to get a general
impression of what the selection is about.
QUESTION
While you are surveying the selection, you should be mentally asking
questions. These questions will be setting your purpose for a more
careful reading in the third step. It is in the question step that
you set your purpose for reading. At first, it will help you to write
down briefly some of your ideas after surveying. (See check list.)
READ
This reading step is slower than the one done in the survey step.
While you are readings be thinking constantly of what your purposes
for reading are. This will help focus your thinking.
REVIEW
The review step again is one of faster reading such as done in the
survey step. Its purpose is to review some of the main ideas which
you have already read and to check on some specific details which you
might have missed.
^Curriculum Coordinator, Department of Education, San Diego County.
i
119
RECITE
The recite step is a most important one, one which is often left out
by many readers. This step is designed to help you fix in your mind
what you have read and to check on yourself to see how well you know
what you have read. If you cannot tell in your own words or write a
brief story or outline of what you have read, you really don*t know
what you have "read.1 1
IMPROVE YOUR READING I A GAIN OF 20 PER CENT IN RATE OF COMPREHENSION
CAN SAVE YOU ONE DAY OF STUDY PER WEEK
This formula for effective reading has been designed from research
done originally in the U„S. Air Force. The original formula was
PQRST--Preview, Question, Read, Study, Test. This formula was later
revised to SQ3R--Survey, Question, Read, Review, Recite. The SQ3R
formula can be used for general reading or to read specific kinds of
reading material. In this guide instructions are given to apply it
to reading in subjects typically found in junior and senior high
school classes.
There is no doubt of the effectiveness of the formula. It has helped
many persons read more effectively. The author feels that if he had
known the formula and used it in college, his grade point average
could have been improved at least one grade level. Many students and
adults have benefited and continue to benefit from using it daily in
their study. Try it; it can help you.
The following suggestions may be of help to you in making the SQ3R
formula a habit in reading your assignments and other selections.
1. Punch holes in the left margin of this guide and place it in
a section of your notebook which you keep for notes, assign
ments, etc., for this class.
2. Request that your teacher demonstrate and explain the formula
to you using an assignment from one of your textbooks.
3. Cut out the small copy of the formula included in this guide
and paste it lightly in your text. Each time you open your
book look at the formula briefly to help remind you of the
steps.
4. Use the check list for a period of six weeks or more to guide
you each time you read for this subject. This will help you
to make this way of reading a habit. Until you make the formula
a habit, it will not help you to the best degree possible.
ii
120
5. Practice the formjula each time you get a chance. See if you
can improve on it and make it most effective for you.
6. Talk with some of your fellow students who might be learning
to use the formula. Discuss different ways in which you have
found it to be of help. Study with a friend with both of you
trying to use the formula.
SQ3R FOR READING SOCIAL STUDIES--CHECK LIST
Assignment__________________________________ Date_______
SURVEY
Title, pictures, and charts
Introduction and summary
Topic sentences of each paragraph
QUESTION
D i f f i c u l t y L e v e l R e a d i n g S p e e d
Very difficult ____ Slowly and carefully
Average difficulty ____ Average rate
Fairly easy ____ Quickly
Very easy____________ ____ Rapidly
Information I will find; Questions I wish answered:
READ to
Determine main idea and supporting details
Find sequence of events
Analyze cause and effect relationships
Discriminate between fact and opinion
REVIEW
Skim to recall general idea
Skim to check specific details
RECITE
Visualize a mental picture of the information
Describe orally what you have read
Write a bri^f outline:
ill
121
Cut out this copy ot the SQ3R Reading Formula and paste it
in the front of your book. Before you read each assignment
in the book, REVIEW the formula first. Then use it in reading
each assignment.
Before reading an assignment in your textbook,
check yourself on this formula. It will help
you read better only if you use it.
SQ3R FOR READING SOCIAL STUDIES
SURVEY
Title, pictures, and charts
Introduction and summary
Topic sentences of each paragraph
QUESTION
What kinds of information will I find?
What questions do I wish answered?
How fast shall I read?
READ to
Determine main idea and supporting details
Find sequence of events
Analyze cause and effect relationships
Discriminate between fact and opinion
REVIEW
Skim to recall general idea
Skim to check specific details
RECITE
Visualize a mental picture of the information
Describe orally what you have read
Write a brief outline
iv
122
SQ3R TEACHER GUIDE
The guide has been prepared primarily for student use. You will
note that the directions are included for the students to (1)
keep the guide in their notebooks, (2) paste a copy of the SQ3R
formula in their textbooks, and (3) use the formula as a study
guide. Considerable instruction, help, and encouragement by
the teacher in using the formula will be necessary if a large
number of students are to improve their reading. The following
suggestions may be of help in this regard:
1. Have a school secretary cut master copies and run as
many copies of the guide for student use as you need.
You may wish to include several copies of the check list
in the guide which you make for your students. This
would allow them to have several practice sessions using
the formula.
2. Demonstrate the formula to the students on an assignment
which you might typically give. Illustrate it step by
step. This will seem mechanical at first, but remember
that you are attempting to change reading habits students
have already developed and substitute a new one.
3. Go through several practice sessions with the students
from time to time during the first six weeks of class.
While many better students may "understand" the formula
after the first presentation, they will not automati
cally substitute it for their previously formed habits
without practice.
4. When students are studying individually, observe their
reading habits to see how much they are voluntarily fol
lowing the steps when you are not requiring them to be
followed.
5. Encourage students to improve the formula if they can.
A discussion from time to time of its use, how students
have applied it, what improvements they can suggest, etc.,
will stimulate interest in improving the reading process.
6. Emphasize the RECITE step in as many ways as you can
envision. You have been doing this by your tests and
discussions in the past anyway. Now get the student to
do this before he gets to the test or discussion.
v
APPENDIX B
SAMPLE OF MARK SENSE RESPONSE CARD USED IN
THE WEBB-HARRIS WORD MEANING TEST
123
124
APPENDIX B
WEBB-HARRIS WORD MEANING TEST
MARK SENSE RESPONSE CARD
SHOWING A CONCEPT AND TWELVE BI-POLAR ADJECTIVES
1 8
MOTHER
1 0 0 0 0 0
CRUEL
h 4 r d 0 | 0 0 0 0 s o f t
p a s s i v e 0 0 0 0 1
strong 1 0 0 0 0 0
TRU E
WISE
MOVING
ACTIVE
W EAK
CALM 0 1 0 0 0 0 EXCITA BLE
0 0 0 0 0
F A L SE
ught 0 0 0 0 1 0 heavv
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
FOOLISH
S T IL L
u g l y 0 0 0 0 0 1 b e a l i t i f u l
small 0 0 0 0 0 1 URGE
fast o i o o o o sl°w

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Asset Metadata

Creator Turner, William Joe (author)

Core Title A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Teaching Methods Of Study To Selected High School Freshmen

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, educational psychology,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Carnes, Earl F. (committee chair), Jacobs, Alfred (committee member), Lefever, David Welty (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-136916

Unique identifier UC11360191

Identifier 6710777.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-136916 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 6710777.pdf

Dmrecord 136916

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Turner, William Joe

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA