An Investigation of the Relationship Between Debate Tournament Success and Rate, Evidence, and Jargon

Abstract

This study hypothesized that tournament success in debate would be enhanced by a fast speaking rate, use of large amounts of evidence, and use of jargon. Moreover, it was hypothesized that a high positive correlation would exist among fast rate, large amounts of evidence, and large amounts of jargon. None of the hypotheses was supported. Several explanations are offered for the failure to confirm the hypotheses.