Determining Design and Statistical Analysis
Study 1: A team of cognitive psychologists conducted a study on the effects of sleep
deprivation on short- term memory decay. Forty-eight subjects stayed in a lab for two
days. Twenty-four of the subjects are randomly assigned to a condition in which they are
not permitted to sleep during that period. The other twenty-four are allowed to sleep
whenever they want. At the end of the two days, the subjects complete a task that
involves reading a list of 20 words, then recalling as many words as possible. !
1) Sleep Deprivation (True)!
2) No!
3) No Sleep vs. Sleep Whenever!
4) Short-term memory decay (recall list 20 words) !
5) Ratio!
6) Between-Subjects!
7) Two-Group (Simple Experiment) !
8) t test for independent means !
Study 2: A researcher examined the effect of different kinds of music on general math
ability. Forty-eight subjects were randomly assigned to do a series of math tasks under
one of three conditions: 16 while listening to soft gentle music, 16 while listening to loud
intense music, and 16 while in silence. The math quiz contained arithmetic, geometry,
and word problems. There were 25 items that were 2 points each. !
1) Type of Music (True)!
2) No!
3) Soft/Gentle vs. Loud/Intense vs. Silence !
4) Score on Quiz !
5) Ratio!
6) Between-Subjects!
7) Multi-Group Design!
8) One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) !
Study 3: A health psychologist conducted a study on the how the number of hours a
person exercised each week relates to the number of days being sick per year.
Participants were randomly selected from the community and provided self-reports
through a series of questions on the topics of interest. !
1) Not Applicable (Correlational Design) !
2) Not Applicable!
3) Not Applicable (Correlational Design) !
4) Hours exercised & Number of Sick Days !
5) Ratio!
6) Not Applicable!
7) Survey!
8) Correlation (Bivariate) !
Study 4: A study was designed to test the effects of science fiction movies on
participants' belief in the supernatural. A scale was designed to measure the degree that
a subject believes in the supernatural (high scores indicate high levels of belief). Fifty-
seven subjects, selected via random digit dialing (RDD) responded to the scale before
and after watching Return of the Jedi, a popular science fiction movie. !
1) Science Fiction Movies (True) !
2) No!
3) Pre & Post Watching Movie !
