122
4.
Is there any relationship between the look-up frequency and the scores in
reading comprehension? In other words, does higher/lower look-up frequency
correlate with higher/lower reading scores in both conditions?
5.
Is there any correlation between the type of the dictionary used and the degree
of vocabulary retention?
In the light
of the previous questions, the following hypotheses have been made
:
1.
The students would spend less time reading the text in the CD condition than
in
the PD condition
.
2.
Comprehension performance would be higher in the CD condition than in the
PD condition, as the CD is expected to promote better comprehension scores
.
3.
The students would look up more words in the CD condition to comprehend
the
text than in the PD condition
.
4.
There would be a positive correlation between the subjects’ look-up
frequencies and their reading scores
.
Increased dictionary look-up frequency
could induce better understanding of the reading passages; therefore, the
comprehension scores would be higher
.
Similarly, lower look-up frequency
could result in poor understanding of the reading passages and thus the reading
scores
.
5.
The students would remember words better after using PDs than using CDs;
that is, the words looked up in the PD will be better retained than those looked
up in the CD
.
123
Along with using the significance level of
p = 0.05 to determine the strength
of dictionaries’ effect on reading comprehension and vocabulary retention, I used
box
plots to visually illustrate the distribution of the subjects’ reading times, reading
scores,
lookup frequencies, and vocabulary retention scores
.
A box plot is a common type of a graph that enables us to study the
distributional characteristics of a group of scores
.
A box plot summarizes quantitative
data by displaying its first quartile (25 %), median (50 %) which is the middle value
of the dataset, third quartile (75 %), minimum and maximum values (whiskers), and
any unusual values in the data (outliers)
.
See Figure 18 for an explanatory box plot
.
Figure 18
.
Explanatory box plot
124
Box plots not only help map the subjects’ distribution of values and detect any
unusual values in the obtained data, but are also good at showing differences between
distributions in comparative groups, which is relevant to the scope of
this study
.
Some
general observations and interpretations when considering box plots include
:
The box plot is comparatively short
:
This suggests that the subjects have a
high level of agreement with one another as far as their performance or scores
are concerned
.
The box plot is comparatively tall
:
This indicates that the subjects hold quite
different scores and that their performance varies from one subject to another
.
One box plot is much higher or lower than another
:
This could suggest a
notable difference between comparative groups of subjects
.
The 4 sections of the box plot are uneven in size
:
This shows that many
subjects have similar scores at certain parts of the scale, but in other parts of
the scale subjects are more variable
in their scores
.
In the following, I will report on the findings for each question as a result of
the data analysis procedure
.
The results of each research question will be statistically
described and analyzed
.
“Researchers use numerous approaches to the analysis of
data, and no one approach is uniformly preferred as long as the method is appropriate
to the research questions being asked and the nature of the data collected” (American
Psychological Association, 2010, p
.
33)
.
Yet, accurate, unbiased, complete, and