142
Statistical analysis of the data shows that the subjects looked up 5
.
82 words on
average while reading in the PD condition and 7
.
05 words when reading with access
to the CD, which might suggest the advantage of CD use in encouraging frequent
lookups
.
However, such a premise is not clear-cut as we need a hypothesis test first
.
To examine the aforementioned assumption, a paired-samples t-test was conducted to
find out whether or not the mean difference in lookups between the two dictionary
conditions is significant ( Table 10)
.
Table 10 T-test Results for Number of Lookups in PD and CD Conditions
Paired samples test
Variable
Paired Differences
t
df
Sig
.
(2-tailed)
Mean
Std
.
deviation
Std
.
error
mean
95% Confidence
interval of the
difference
Lower
Upper
PD-CD
-1
.
227
3
.
911
.
590
-2
.
416
-
.
038
-2
.
082 43
.
043
The results indicate that there was a significant difference in the number of
lookups for PD (M = 5
.
82, SD = 1
.
782) and CD (M = 7
.
5, SD = 3
.
785) conditions; t
(43) = -2
.
082, p =
.
043, which is less than 0
.
05
.
This indicates that the subjects looked
up significantly more words in the CD than in PD while reading
.
Due to the differences in the search effort associated with each type of
dictionary, searching through the PD pages to find what a word means would
143
obviously require more effort than simply typing in the unknown word into the CD
definition window
.
Therefore, the subjects might have been reluctant and unwilling to
use their PDs so often while reading, unlike in the CD, in which the ease and speed of
search encouraged them to look up as many words as they felt necessary for their
understanding of the text
.
Though the results from the present study did not yield a highly significant
effect, the research hypothesis which suggested that the subjects would look up
more words in the CD than in the PD is validated
.
These results were expected
and are similar to what previous research has found on the effect of electronic
dictionaries on increasing lookup frequency
.
5
.
4
.
Lookup Frequencies-Reading Scores’ Correlations
Question Four examined whether the subjects’ lookup frequencies are
correlated with their reading scores
.
In order to explore a possible relationship
between the two variables, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was
computed to assess the correlation between the subjects’ dictionary-lookup
frequencies and their reading scores in PD and CD conditions
.
The value of Pearson’s r measures how strong the relationship is between the
subjects’ lookup frequencies and their reading scores
.
If a Pearson’s r value is close to
1, this means there is a strong relationship between our two variables
.
However, if a
144
Pearson’s r value is close to 0, this means there is a weak or no correlation at all
between our two variables
.
In addition to computing Pearson’s correlation coefficient, I used Scatterplots
to display possible relationships between our two variables
.
A scatterplot is
interpreted by looking for patterns in the data as we move from left to right
.
However,
the pattern of interest to us is a linear pattern
.
A linear relationship between the look-
up frequencies and reading scores exists when their values’ pattern resembles a line,
either uphill or downhill
.
If the data values show an uphill line as we move from left to right, this
indicates a positive relationship between our two variables
.
That is, as the
lookup frequency values increase (move right), the reading scores values tend
to increase as well (move up)
.
If the data values show a downhill line as we move from left to right, this
indicates a negative relationship between our two variables
.
That is, as the
lookup frequency values increase (move right), the reading scores values tend
to decrease (move down)
.
If the data values do not seem to resemble any kind of line, then no
relationship exists between our two variables
.
That is, the lookup frequency
and reading scores do not correlate whatsoever
.
145
A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the
relationship between the subjects’ lookup frequencies and their reading scores in PD
and CD conditions (Table 11)
.
Table 11 Pearson Correlation for Lookup Frequencies versus Reading Scores
Correlations
Reading scores
PD lookup frequency
Pearson correlation
Sig
.
(2-tailed)
-
.
129
.
405
CD lookup frequency
Pearson correlation
Sig
.
(2-tailed)
-
.
338*
.
025
*
.
Correlation is significant at the 0
.
05 level (2-tailed)
As shown in Table 11, the Pearson’s r for the correlation between the subjects’
PD lookup frequencies and their reading scores is -
.
129, which is very close to 0
.
This
result means that no linear relationship exists between the two variables, lookup
frequency and reading scores
.
Therefore, the subjects’ PD lookup frequencies and
their reading scores were not correlated, r = - 0
.
129
.
Similarly, the Pearson’s r value for the correlation between the subjects’ CD
lookup frequencies and their reading scores is -
.
338, which is also close to 0
.
This
means that there is a weak relationship between the subjects’ lookup frequencies and
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