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A researcher wants to test a new light-therapy lamp designed to reduce seasonal affective symptoms. How would the researcher apply a placebo control condition to this specific experiment to ensure accurate results?
Question: A researcher wants to test a new light-therapy lamp designed to reduce seasonal affective symptoms. How would the researcher apply a placebo control condition to this specific experiment to ensure accurate results?
Sample answer: The researcher would use a simulated lamp for the control group that looks identical to the light-therapy lamp but lacks the specific active therapeutic light frequencies. This ensures both groups expect improvement, allowing the researcher to attribute any additional progress in the treatment group to the active light therapy.
Key points:
- Provide the control group with a simulated lamp.
- The simulated lamp must lack the active therapeutic element.
- The simulated lamp must appear identical to the real lamp.
- This ensures both groups have the expectation of improvement.
Rubric: The answer must explain that the control group receives a lamp that looks identical but does not contain the active light frequencies, thereby controlling for the participants' expectation of improvement.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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