Question

Scenario A. A professor is interested in studying how sleep influences exam performance. She instructs her students to sleep for 8 hours before exam 1, to sleep for 4 hours before exam 2, and to not sleep at all before exam 3 and then compares exam scores.

1. What is the independent variable?

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable?

3. What is the dependent variable?

4. What is the confound?

Scenario B. A researcher is interested in studying how alcohol consumption influences memory. She goes into a local bar and asks bar patrons who have had at least two alcoholic drinks in the past hour to complete a memory test. She then compares their memory scores to a control group, who came into her laboratory at the university to complete the memory test (while sober).

1. What is the independent variable?

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable?

3. What is the dependent variable?

4. What is the confound?

Scenario C. A researcher is interested in whether living in a city where the major sports team is currently doing well makes residents feel happier and more connected to their city than if their sports team is doing poorly. He asks residents of Washington, D.C. to rate their feelings of connectedness to their city (on a scale of 1-10) during game 3 of the World Series, when their baseball team, The Nationals, are currently winning the series (2-0). He then asks residents of Pittsburgh, PA to rate their feelings of connectedness to their city (on a scale of 1-10) during fifth week of the football season, when their football team, the Steelers, have yet to win a game all season (when their record is 0 wins and 5 losses).

1. What is the independent variable?

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable?

3.What is the dependent variable?

4. What is the confound?

Scenario D A researcher wants to see if a new phone app can help to treat anxiety better than in-person therapy or medication. She has participants in her study complete two weeks of treatment with the app, two weeks of treatment with medication, and then two weeks of treatment in-person with a therapist. She compares anxiety scores after each round of treatment.

1. What is the independent variable?

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable?

3. What is the dependent variable?

4. What is the confound?

Answer 1

Scenario A. A professor is interested in studying how sleep influences exam performance. She instructs her students to sleep for 8 hours before exam 1, to sleep for 4 hours before exam 2, and to not sleep at all before exam 3 and then compares exam scores.

1. What is the independent variable? - The independent variable is Sleep Duration

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable? - The levels of sleep duration are 0, 4 and 8 hours.

3. What is the dependent variable? - The dependent variable is exam performance.

4. What is the confound? The confound variable is students. Good students may score high irrespective of sleep duration.

Scenario B. A researcher is interested in studying how alcohol consumption influences memory. She goes into a local bar and asks bar patrons who have had at least two alcoholic drinks in the past hour to complete a memory test. She then compares their memory scores to a control group, who came into her laboratory at the university to complete the memory test (while sober).

1. What is the independent variable? - The independent variable is alcohol consumption.

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable? - The levels of sleep duration are no alcoholic drinks or at least two alcoholic drinks .

3. What is the dependent variable? - The dependent variable is memory scores.

4. What is the confound? The confound is the person used in the test. Person who is visiting laboratory at the university may score high memory scores than the person at the person at the bar.

Scenario C. A researcher is interested in whether living in a city where the major sports team is currently doing well makes residents feel happier and more connected to their city than if their sports team is doing poorly. He asks residents of Washington, D.C. to rate their feelings of connectedness to their city (on a scale of 1-10) during game 3 of the World Series, when their baseball team, The Nationals, are currently winning the series (2-0). He then asks residents of Pittsburgh, PA to rate their feelings of connectedness to their city (on a scale of 1-10) during fifth week of the football season, when their football team, the Steelers, have yet to win a game all season (when their record is 0 wins and 5 losses).

1. What is the independent variable? - The independent variable is living in a city with the major sports team.

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable? - The levels of sleep duration are major sports team is currently doing well or doing poorly.

3. What is the dependent variable? - The dependent variable is ratings on feelings of connectedness to the city .

4. What is the confound? The confound is the city. A well developed, planned city with its demographics may influence the  ratings on feelings of connectedness to the city .

Scenario D A researcher wants to see if a new phone app can help to treat anxiety better than in-person therapy or medication. She has participants in her study complete two weeks of treatment with the app, two weeks of treatment with medication, and then two weeks of treatment in-person with a therapist. She compares anxiety scores after each round of treatment.

1. What is the independent variable? - The independent variable is type of treatment for anxiety.

2. How many levels are there for the independent variable? - The levels of type of treatment are phone app, in-person therapy or medication.

3. What is the dependent variable? - The dependent variable is anxiety scores.

4. What is the confound? The confound is the usage of phone. Person using more phone may influence the anxiety score.