You are to design an observational experiment with at least three (3) between-subjects conditions of one independent variable that can be analyzed with an ANOVA. Your experiment cannot involve doing anything to any humans or animals, because that requires institutional approvals that are beyond the scope of this class. You might choose to observe the behavior of people or animals in a public place (without actually doing anything to them) or you could analyze something broadcast over television or the Internet. You could also analyze objects rather than people or animals. You should have between five (5) and ten (10) subjects or observations in each condition of your independent variable. Please do not collect data or conduct calculations until you receive feedback from your instructor for this part of the assignment.
This week you will need to submit a short paper containing your topic idea and answering the following questions/prompts:
- What is your research question?
- Give a brief description of how you intend to test this question.
- What is your independent variable (include an operational definition for your independent variable with enough detail that I will be able to understand exactly what it is)?
- What are the conditions of your independent variable?
- What is your dependent variable (include an operational definition for your dependent variable with enough detail that I will be able to understand exactly what it is)?
- How will you measure your dependent variable?
- What is the level of measurement of your dependent variable?
- How do you know that ANOVA is an appropriate analysis for your dependent variable?
- What are the descriptive statistics you will calculate (don't calculate anything yet)?
- What kinds of confounding variables are you concerned about?
You do not need to use APA formatting for this assignment, but please be sure that the answer to each question is written in your own words. If you choose to utilize outside sources in any way, then citations and references in APA format will be required in order to give credit to your sources.