4 ms·
I did an experiment like this in the mid-90s as an undergraduate for a research methods lab assignment. I showed true and made-up (NPR Wait Wait style) article
by dmd 11y ago
I did an experiment like this in the mid-90s as an undergraduate for a research methods lab assignment.
I showed true and made-up (NPR Wait Wait style) articles to elderly people (over 70, in a care home), printed in one of 3 formats - on newsprint in the font the NY Times uses, on glossy paper in a somewhat 'friendly' font (like comic sans, but less so), and finally in dot matrix, on green-and-white fanfold, all upper case.
There were remarkably few differences in the first two, for either true or false stories, but NEARLY EVERYONE (like, > 85%) rated the computer fanfold printed stories as being true.
One person's reaction has stuck with me to this day: "If it weren't true, the computer would have rejected it!"
- kristopolous 11y agoover 70 years of age or over 70 sample size?
- CodeWriter23 11y agoI'm gonna go with age because of the qualifier "in a care home"
- smorrow 11y agoMaybe his thought process was that giving the age twice ("elderly" and then "70" -- do you need both?) would be redundant, so that the redundant number might not be an age.
- kristopolous 11y agoIndeed. I also consider 70 to be pretty young for a retirement home. Statistically speaking, I assume the vast majority of 70 year olds (95+%) are living independently. So I thought either OP is being redundant and low-balling or giving a sample size. Didn't know. Btw, through a quick web-search, it appears the average for new residents is mid-80s.
- dmd 11y agoAge. N was about 20.
- chimeracoder 11y ago> One person's reaction has stuck with me to this day: "If it weren't true, the computer would have rejected it!" Must have been a Prolog programmer!
- rz2k 11y agoThe customer account statements for Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities were notoriously old fashioned computer printouts. [1][2] There was some coverage with a former client, I can't find now, where he even talked about the appearance of the statements encouraging trust. I wonder if Bernie Madoff researched it, or if it just came with a con man's intuition. [1] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/madoff/financial/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/madoff/financial/ [2] http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/a-look-at-madoffs-trading-records/ http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/a-look-at-madoffs-tra...