The use of questions in social science material.

Abstract

S, with no questions. T, with questions all at the beginning of the story. Y, with questions interspersed at the beginning of appropriate paragraphs.Z, with questions interspersed at the end of appropriate paragraphs. X, with the questions all at the end of the story. 1 Some of the questions dealt only with facts which were mentioned in the reading matter; some dealt with generalizations which were not made in the story but could be educed from the facts presented.II. The five forms of reading material were distributed among equivalent groups of junior high school children.III. Identical tests were given. The tests had five sections: 1. Factual questions not related to questions in the story. (In the discussion of results, scores in this part of the test are referred to as scores in "non-experimental facts.") 2. Factual questions directly connected with (in most cases, repeating) questions in the story. (Scores in this part of the test are referred to as scores in "experimental facts.") 3. Generalization questions not connected with questions in the story (referred to as "non-experimental generalizations").4. Generalization questions related to factual questions in the story. (The score in this part of the test is referred to as the score in '' semi-experimental generalizations.'') 5. Generalization questions directly connected with (in most cases, repeating) generalization questions in the story (referred to as "experimental generalizations").Thus the test was divided into "non-experimental facts," "experimental facts," "non-experimental generalizations," "semiexperimental generalizations," and "experimental generalizations." Examples of each of these five divisions will be given in the detailed account of the experimental procedure.1 This unalphabetical arrangement of the forms is followed throughout, and it may assist the reader in interpreting the tables and charts to note the pattern of the arrangement. The first is the control group form. In the two principal bar graphs this form is not represented by a bar, but constitutes the line from which the other bars rise or fall. The four experimental group forms are arranged according to the placement of the questions. The form in which the questions most precede the reading matter to which they refer, comes first; the form in which the questions only slightly precede the reading matter to which they refer, comes next; the form in which the questions follow closely the matter to which they refer, comes next; and the form in which the questions follow most remotely the matter to which they refer, comes last.

Students' Studying Processes on Course Related Texts: The Impact of Inserted Questions

“…This was surprising and is contrary to the results of the few other studies which have studied the impact of inserted questions when subjects were allowed to look back in the text (Gustafson & Toole, 1970;Hamaker & Kirschner, Note 2;Hiller, 1974;Washburne, 1929). These studies did find a positive effect of inserted questions on relevant test items but did not find the indirect effect of increased performance on incidental items.…”

“…Except for rare instances (Gustafson & Toole, 1970;Hamaker & Kirschner, Note 2;Hiller, 1974;Washburne, 1929), it has been standard practice in inserted question research to restrict subjects from rereading the text once a question has been given. This practice was generally followed because the major interest of the inserted question studies was on how questions influenced memory for text information and not how they influenced studying behavior.…”

Inserted questions as aids to reading text

“…The inserted question paradigm was first introduced by Washburne (1929) in an investigation of the effects of questions upon the retention of social science material. Washburne (1929) presented a 3000 word social science passage to 1456 subjects under 5 treatment conditions: (1) "long before" -all questions at the beginning of the story; (2) "shortly before" -questions interspersed at the beginning of appropriate paragraphs; (3) "shortly after" -questions interspersed at the end of appropriate paragraphs; (4) "long after" -all questions at the end of the story; and, (5) a control group which did not receive questions.…”

Presenting technical information: A survey of research findings

“…factual information or general relations among concepts) may account for much of the variation in experimental findings. Washburne (1929) concluded that questions at the beginning of a chapter were more useful than questions at the end. There certainly seems strong evidence that questions encountered before reading can produce changes in the reader's approach to the material.…”