Pick one research topic and answer the following questions.
Research Topic #1: The relationship between audience members' opinions of a movie and their mood. Research Topic #2: The relationship between the amount of time couples spend together and their relationship satisfaction. Research Topic #3: The relationship between self-esteem and test performance. Research Topic #4: The relationship between time spent listening to Heavy/Speed Metal music and aggression.
Directions:
- Design a correlational study to investigate the relationship between these two variables. What is your hypothesis? How will you operationally define and measure the two variables?
- How will you obtain a random sample of participants?
- Assume that your study produces a correlation of .56 between the two variables (between liking the movie and audience members' happiness). What are at least three possible causal explanations for this relationship?
- Now design an experimental study to investigate these variables. What is your hypothesis? What type of hypotheses does the experimental method allow you to test that the correlational method does not?
- What is your independent variable? What is your dependent variable?
- How will you make sure that the study has high internal validity? Will you use random assignment to conditions?
- Do any ethical concerns about the treatment of participants emerge from your experimental design?