Beliefs about learning sources

For 7-to–11-years-olds

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you. You will then receive a Zoom link via email to participate with us. In the first part of the study, children will hear descriptions of different jobs and tell if they think an adult will feel like they fit in with each job. In the second part of the study, children will answer questions about the trustworthiness of different online information sources like search engines, voice assistants, and AI and choose which source of technology would be best equipped to answer different kinds of questions, and which would have the most accurate information.

Adults and technology serve as two major learning sources for children. Looking at children’s beliefs about adults’ sense of fit with different jobs helps us determine how their perceptions may impact children’s own decisions of pursuing different types of jobs in the future. Similarly, children’s beliefs about technological devices may impact their trust and decisions. Overall, our study aims to understand how children’s beliefs about their everyday learning sources (i.e., adults, technology) change as they grow older.

30-minutes

Families of child participants will be compensated with a $5 e-gift card to Amazon.com. (Gift cards to other sites are not available, and the gift card is only valid when used through the US Amazon site.) This gift card will be sent via email within one week of participation. A child may only participate in this study once. To receive compensation, the child must be within the age range, be able to hear the experimenter, and follow verbal instructions and be visible during the duration of the experiment.