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Do
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Don't
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Do make sure the task has a clear focus and that the participants stay focused on it and not the verbalization.
The goal is to get a verbal trace of the participants' problem solving behavior. If participants are more focused on the verbalization, the sequence of their problem-solving activities will be disrupted and the resulting data will be less meaningful.
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Don't engage in social interaction while the student is thinking aloud.
If the participant stops verbalizing, say something to the effect of "keep talking." Don't inject yourself into their process with statements such as, "tell me what you are thinking."
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Do sit behind the participant.
Keeping out of the participants' immediate view will help mitigate the extent to which the think-aloud session serves as a form of social interaction.
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Don't panic when the verbalisations students provide lack coherence.
Concurrent verbalizations do not detail how a solution was generated per se; they detail the thoughts that are going through working memory. An account of the problem-solving process must be inferred from the data by the researcher.
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Do provide each participant ample practice thinking aloud.
Verbalizing while completing a task does not come naturally and requires practice. Some individuals may pick it up faster than others, but make sure you provide each participant enough time to practice on simpler tasks until they are comfortable.
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Don't use think-aloud methods with tasks that require visual imagery.
Though think-aloud procedures can be used with tasks that prompt non-verbal thoughts, they are more difficult and require highly refined instructions. If completing the task requires visual imagery, consider using a different strategy.
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