The Effects of Nonsupporting Data on Undergraduates’ Acquisition of Two Generalizations

Abstract

Two studies that examined the impact of nonsupporting data on 88 university students’ ability to write and recognize generalizations, as well as use the generalizations to make predictions and explain situations, are reported. Results of analysis of variance indicate that students who were taught with only supporting data prior to forming the generalization, then presented nonsupporting data, or students taught with nonsupporting data before and after forming the generalization performed better on the writing and recognition tasks than learners who were taught with nonsupporting data only. It was concluded that nonsupporting data is essential in teaching social science generalizations that must be qualified.