General Asylum: Re: I thought... by Analog Scott General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

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Posted by Analog Scott (A ) on August 20, 2006 at 12:54:03

In Reply to: I thought... posted by PhilNYC on August 20, 2006 at 12:00:23:

"...varying the time in which I implemented the tweak in each of the 3 tests would solve that; particularly with the one where I waited 40 seconds until the very last 5-6 seconds of the music sample before implementing it."

Doesn't matter if the subjects know that within that time period you are going to implement the tweak. Audible clues of your actions and the other subject's reactions are there.

"I would have guessed that if there were anyoneone who was raising their hand thinking there was a difference before the tweak had yet to be installed, that trial would have exposed it."

Not if they can hear you moving. Not if they are peaking. If you are having them close their eyes then clearly you are trying to do the test "blind". Literally in this case. The problem is there are still far too many ways the subjects can pick up cues and ultimately they know the tweak will be put in place so they have a predisposed answer for you.

"But not one person raised their hand in the first 40 seconds, and then instantly after I installed it, more than half the people raised their hands."

You still may be giving cues.

"Anyways, I do understand and appreciate the feedback from everyone...I know this wasn't scientific, but I was actually pretty impressed with the consistency of the results, so I wanted to get peoples' opinion on this somewhat casual testing method..."

Let me be clear on this. I have no opinion about the tweak. I don't even know what it is. but if you are really interested in testing it free of bias effects yor test doesn't cut it. I would say the same thing even if you had a null result. This is one reason I don't put too much faith in home brewed blind tests. I do them myself all the time but I don't kid myself about how good they are. Quality bias controled listening tests are really hard to do. I think you would substantially improve this test if you randomly implemented the tweak using the same exact motions. There are even better ways still if you are interested in persuing it.

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