What Is an Effective Way of Learning a Complicated Game

Multiple Choice

What is an effective way of learning a complicated game such as chess? One recent study (de Bruin et al., 2007) had people learn using one of three methods: watching people play the game (the Watching condition) , watching and making predictions regarding what moves each player would do (the Predicting condition) , or watching and making predictions regarding what moves each player would do and explaining the reason for their prediction (the Explaining condition) . Later, each person played a series of games of chess against a computer and the percentage of time each person made correct moves was recorded; the higher the percentage, the better the player's ability to play chess. The researchers hypothesized that players who had to explain their predictions would have a higher ability than people who simply made predictions, who in turn would have a higher ability than those who simply watched others.
You decide to conduct the analytical comparison of Watching vs. Predicting.
Based on your calculations, which of the following represents the decision regarding the null hypothesis and the conclusion regarding whether the result of the analysis supports the research hypothesis?

A) Reject H₀ (p < .05) ; the analysis supports the research hypothesis
B) Do not reject H₀ (p < .05) ; the analysis supports the research hypothesis
C) Do not reject H₀ (p > .05) ; the analysis does not support the research hypothesis
D) Reject H₀ (p > .05) ; the analysis does not support the research hypothesis