Testing a Theory

A few years ago I decided to test the memorization skills of my children to decide what worked best for helping them remember rules and chores. I used two different methods I have learned in remembering written words and something that has only been spoken to an individual. I wanted to see which technique worked better for them. I gave instructions to the children who were able to read and told them to read the paper until I was done with the my other children. I took those same words and read them to my children who could not read and had them recite it back as I read to them. After I was done reading to the children who could not read and took the paper away from the ones who could. After letting about a half an hour go by I asked the children to either write down, if they can write, or to tell me what they remembered from what they read or what they were told. This method is similar to a correlation research because there were two different variables I was testing in order to determine the best way to help them memorize information. I do have the opportunity to do this again and I would probably only add in the fact of letting the children who cannot read look at the words to see if that has an added benefit in memorization because the children who read for themselves seem to have had an easier time with recall. I think the ethical issue I encountered was ethical consent. I did not tell my children about what I was doing at all. Informed consent is necessary because of the risks the individuals participating may face.