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Explain why the researcher's classification of this study as an 'experiment' is incorrect based on the design, and explain what the research design actually is.
Case context: A researcher conducts a study in a highly controlled laboratory setting. She has participants complete a computerized backward digit span task and a computerized risky decision-making task. After collecting the data, she analyzes the statistical relationship between the scores. Because the data was collected under strict laboratory conditions with precise instruments, the researcher labels this study a 'laboratory experiment' in her report draft.
Question: Explain why the researcher's classification of this study as an 'experiment' is incorrect based on the design, and explain what the research design actually is.
Sample answer: The researcher is incorrect because a laboratory setting and precise instruments do not define an experiment. For a study to be an experiment, the researcher must manipulate an independent variable. In this case, the researcher only measures the variables (the two task scores) without manipulating anything. Therefore, this study is a laboratory correlational study, not an experiment.
Key points:
- Highly controlled environments and precise instruments do not make a study an experiment.
- An experiment requires the manipulation of an independent variable.
- No independent variable was manipulated in this study.
- The study is a laboratory correlational study because it only measures the relationship between two variables.
Rubric: The response must explain that strict control and precise instruments are insufficient to classify a study as an experiment. It must state that an experiment requires the manipulation of an independent variable, which did not occur here. Finally, it must identify the design as a correlational study.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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