Evaluate the collective function of references cited together in a given text segment.
Classify their combined role into one of the following categories: 'method', 'background', or 'result'.

Text:(2010). They collected verbal estimates and free-hand measures of outdoor hills using the present device for a set of campus paths ranging from nearly flat (0.5°) to fairly steep (8.6°). Note that the perceived orientation of any specific outdoor hill may depend on a variety of factors in addition to its physical slant (e.g., curvature and viewing distance), but if the free-hand measure represents the NSE orientation, then we should expect the relationship between verbal estimates and free hand (NSE) estimates to remain similar to that observed for near surfaces. In other words, we should be able to make a prediction about the verbal estimates based on the free-hand estimates. ----- Figure 7 to be inserted here ----Figure 7 shows Stigliani et al.’s (2010) numeric estimation data for outdoor slopes plotted against the corresponding free-hand estimates (NSE) for each physical path (physical path inclination is shown next to each data point).
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