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Based on your understanding of how practical problems inspire research, diagnose the core practical issue in this hospital scenario and justify how the researchers' proposed study represents applied research.
Case context: A team of researchers at a hospital notices that patients frequently report high levels of anxiety before undergoing minor surgeries. The hospital administration wants to find a cost-effective way to calm patients. The researchers decide to design a study to compare anxiety levels between patients who listen to a standardized soothing music playlist and those who rest in silence in the preoperative waiting room.
Question: Based on your understanding of how practical problems inspire research, diagnose the core practical issue in this hospital scenario and justify how the researchers' proposed study represents applied research.
Sample answer: The core practical issue is the high anxiety experienced by patients before surgery. The researchers' proposed study represents applied research because it is directly inspired by this real-world health domain problem. Instead of studying anxiety in the abstract, they are testing a specific, practical solution (listening to music) to see if it effectively addresses the hospital's need to calm patients.
Key points:
- Diagnoses patient anxiety as the core practical problem
- Explains that testing the music playlist is the applied research component
- Connects the study to the goal of finding a practical solution in a real-world domain
Rubric: Full credit should be given if the student correctly identifies preoperative patient anxiety as the practical problem and explains that the research is applied because it seeks a direct, real-world solution to that problem within a health context.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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