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You are designing an experiment testing whether physical fatigue impairs decision-making. You indirectly manipulate the independent variable by having the experimental group run on a treadmill for 20 minutes while the control group sits quietly. Based on the concept of abstract constructs, describe one specific secondary measurement you could implement as a manipulation check before they begin the decision-making task.
Question: You are designing an experiment testing whether physical fatigue impairs decision-making. You indirectly manipulate the independent variable by having the experimental group run on a treadmill for 20 minutes while the control group sits quietly. Based on the concept of abstract constructs, describe one specific secondary measurement you could implement as a manipulation check before they begin the decision-making task.
Sample answer: I could take the participants' blood pressure or heart rate, or I could administer a short paper-and-pencil questionnaire asking them to rate how physically exhausted they currently feel.
Key points:
- Proposes a concrete secondary measurement method.
- The measure specifically targets the targeted abstract construct (physical fatigue).
- The measure is used to confirm the independent variable was successfully altered.
Rubric: Full credit is given for proposing a realistic, secondary measure (such as a physiological reading like blood pressure, or a self-report exhaustion questionnaire) that specifically verifies the construct of physical fatigue.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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You are designing an experiment testing whether physical fatigue impairs decision-making. You indirectly manipulate the independent variable by having the experimental group run on a treadmill for 20 minutes while the control group sits quietly. Based on the concept of abstract constructs, describe one specific secondary measurement you could implement as a manipulation check before they begin the decision-making task.