IB Psychology IA SL Exemplar: ​Abstract

Below is an example of an Abstract for an exemplar IB Psychology Internal Assessment (Standard Level).

Abstract

This experiment is a partial replication of Diemand-Yauman et al.’s (2011) research into disfluency and learning, in which they demonstrated that material written in italicized or bold font (disfluent font) was better learnt and more easily recalled than material written in an easier to read (fluent) font (Diemand-Yauman et al., 2011). The aim of this experiment was to investigate if a list of words written in an italicized (disfluent) font would be better remembered than the same list written in a fluent font.

An independent samples design with 20 students chosen by opportunity sampling and the 17 and 18 year old student participants were randomly allocated, by distribution of word lists, to the experimental (disfluent) or the control (fluent) group. They were given 10 minutes to learn the words on their list, and another 10 minutes to try and recall them in writing. The mean number of words remembered from the disfluent font word list was 19.6 with a SD of 2.76 and the mean number of words remembered from the fluent font word list was 17.5 with a SD of 2.17.

These results confirmed the findings of Diemand-Yauman et al. (2011): More words were remembered from a 25-word list written in an italicized disfluent font than from the same list written in a normal (fluent) font. The conclusion is that disfluency aids memory.

Word count: 224