A language researcher wanted to investigate the potentially negative impact that text message usage may have on children’s ability to spell. Or, put another way: does sending text messages make u 4get how 2 spell? To investigate this, the researcher recruited 40 children (aged 8-9) from schools in the UK. Half of the children were given a mobile phone and encouraged to send text messages to one another over a 3 month period. The other half of children had to promise that they would not use a mobile phone until the study was over. To investigate the impact of text usage on spelling ability, all of the children completed a spelling test (scored out of 100) both before and after the 3 months were up. Thus, there are two independent variables in this study: • The first IV is text message group (text messagers vs controls) • The second IV was time (i.e. when the children completed the spelling text: either before or after the 3 month period).
