TY - JOUR
T1 - Through a Narrow Window
T2 - Sample Size and the Perception of Correlation
AU - Kareev, Yaakov
AU - Lieberman, Iris
AU - Lev, Miri
PY - 1997/9
Y1 - 1997/9
N2 - A theoretical analysis (Y. Kareev, 1995b) of the sampling distribution of correlations led to the surprising conclusion that the use of small samples has a potential advantage for the early detection of a correlation. This is so because the distribution is highly skewed, and the smaller the sample size, the more the distribution is skewed. This article describes 2 experiments that were designed as empirical tests of this conclusion. In Experiment 1 (N = 112), the authors compared the predictions of participants differing in their working-memory capacity (hence in the size of the samples they were likely to consider). In Experiment 2 (N = 144), the authors compared the predictions of participants who viewed samples of different sizes, whose size was determined by the authors. The results fully supported Y. Kareev's conclusion: In both experiments, participants with lower capacity (or smaller samples) indeed perceived the correlation as more extreme and were more accurate in their predictions.
AB - A theoretical analysis (Y. Kareev, 1995b) of the sampling distribution of correlations led to the surprising conclusion that the use of small samples has a potential advantage for the early detection of a correlation. This is so because the distribution is highly skewed, and the smaller the sample size, the more the distribution is skewed. This article describes 2 experiments that were designed as empirical tests of this conclusion. In Experiment 1 (N = 112), the authors compared the predictions of participants differing in their working-memory capacity (hence in the size of the samples they were likely to consider). In Experiment 2 (N = 144), the authors compared the predictions of participants who viewed samples of different sizes, whose size was determined by the authors. The results fully supported Y. Kareev's conclusion: In both experiments, participants with lower capacity (or smaller samples) indeed perceived the correlation as more extreme and were more accurate in their predictions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0031478651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/0096-3445.126.3.278
DO - 10.1037/0096-3445.126.3.278
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AN - SCOPUS:0031478651
SN - 0096-3445
VL - 126
SP - 278
EP - 287
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
IS - 3
ER -