Say you are a researcher interested in studying the effects of drinking Gatorade or plain water on college student performance on a four-hour math test. Describe how you would conduct this experiment

What is the independent variable? The dependent variable? How would you decide who drinks Gatorade and who drinks water? Is deception appropriate here, and if so, what deception would you use and why?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: The independent variable would be type of drink (Gatorade or water). The dependent variable would be performance or score on the math test. Assignment to condition (Gatorade or water) would be performed randomly in order to ensure that most confounds are controlled, and as a result each testing session should include approximately equal numbers of participants from each condition. Finally, the participants would have to be deceived about the type of drink each consumed (they would have to look and taste the same) so they cannot "guess" the hypothesis and behave in a socially desirable way.

Psychology

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