To do this assignment, you will need some common household items, but you are free to modify your research question to suit the items that are available to you.
Choose any ONE of the following research questions (or contact your Open Learning Faculty Member if you do not have access to these materials):
Does the amount of baking powder really matter to the final product in a muffin recipe? (Alternatively, you could use a recipe for a cake, biscuit, cookie, etc.)
Do chewing gum brands differ in the size of bubble they produce?
Does listening to music while reading affect your memory for the reading material?
Is there a taste difference between Pepsi and Coke? (or, between two brands of another product)
Your task is to turn your question into a testable prediction and then test the prediction using an experiment. See Figure 2.3 in your textbook (page 53) for a flowchart, outlining the steps you should take.
Note that you can conduct the experiments on baking powder and chewing gum on your own-in the baking powder experiment, you do not need a participant; in the chewing gum experiment, you can be both the experimenter and the gum-chewer! For the music and cola experiments, you need a participant because you cannot be the experimenter AND the participant. In this case, recruit a friend or family member. Make sure you obtain their consent to participate, ensure that their participation is voluntary and may stop at any time, and debrief them afterwards. Debriefing involves describing the rationale for the study, the hypothesis, and the results.
Using Figure 2.3 in your textbook as a guide, construct a diagram describing your hypothesis (this should be a statement of prediction, not a question), independent variable (give an operational definition), control and experimental conditions (describe your experimental materials and procedures), dependent variable, and results.
You should also answer the following questions (refer to pages 52-56 in the textbook for help):
What are the possible experimenter effects in your experiment?
How could you eliminate experimenter effects?
Why can't you generalize from your experimental results to the larger population of muffins, gum chewers, students, or cola drinkers?
Was your hypothesis supported, and how do you know? How would you know if the difference between your control condition's results and your experimental condition's results were (a) important and (b) statistically significant?
What are the problems with your research design? What would you change to improve it?
Attachment:- Hypothesis.pdf