Reference no: EM133405367

For each of the following examples, identify the independent variable and its levels and the dependent variable and how it is being operationalized/measured.

1. A pharmacologist is testing whether a new anti-anxiety medication, Moodcor, will cause people to gain weight. To test this, she gives 100 people Moodcor for one month and 100 people a placebo drug. At the end of the month, she monitors any weight gain by having weigh in on a scale.

2. A clinical psychologist hypothesizes that listening to an inspirational tape will lead one to be in a better mood. To test this, she has 50 people listen to an hour-long inspirational tape. Another 50 listen to white noise for an hour. She then has them rate their mood on a 10-point scale.

3. A researcher is interested in whether drinking water right before bed increases the likelihood that children will wet the bed at night. The researcher recruits fifty 5-year-old children to participate in her study. Twenty-five children are given two glasses of water two hours before their bedtime (one glass per hour) and 25 children are prohibited from receiving liquids within two hours of their bedtime. The researcher collects information from the parents of the children participating for one week-parents are telephoned and asked to report whether the child wet the bed each night.

4. An air force psychologist hypothesizes that environmental temperature will affect pilot's reaction time. The task is to press, as quickly as possible, one of 5 buttons depending on which of 5 lights come on. Using 21 pilots, he tested each for 90 minutes. He assigned 7 pilots to a 70 degree room, another 7 pilots to a 90 degree room, and the last 7 pilots to a 40 degree room. On average the pilots in the 70 degree room took longer to respond than did the pilots in the 40 degree and 90 degree rooms. From these results, the air force psychologist concludes that the more uncomfortable the temperature (90 degrees and 40 degrees) the faster the reaction time (in seconds).