Question

Experimental Study Design

Suppose that you have been hired by the university administration to design a randomized experimental study to assess the following hypothesis among undergraduate students: Attending weekly yoga classes leads to better performance on exams.

Be sure that your study design addresses the following elements:

1. Refine the study hypothesis so that it is as specific as possible and contains all elements of a “good” hypothesis. Remember that the design, conduct, and analysis of the study flows from the hypothesis.
2. How will you find and recruit participants?
   • Are there any exclusion criteria that you would apply?
3. How will you define the exposure of interest?
   • How will you assign exposure? What will the unexposed condition be?

4. How and how often will you collect information on exam performance?
5. What steps will you take to maximize and assess compliance?
6. What are the ethical concerns in this study?
7. What other information would you like to know in order to design this study?
8. Discuss how you would conduct the data analysis and design shell tables to describe the characteristics of the participants and the main study results.
9. there is no such data, this is just hypothetical study case that what we can do in this case? also there is another question on chegg but not answer in detail like HOW and WHAT

Answer 1

Answer 1: I will conduct some practise sessions for students who have their assessments/ tests coming, and follow up with their performance to give a scientifically sound data of the good impact/ benefits of meditation in a students life. This will increase students interest to join more such sessions.

I will have some outdoor campaign arranged for students, like in a park or green lawn which will be more soothing for students and this will attract more attention from students who might be bored by having all lectures inside the classroom.

Answer 2: There will be exclusive criteria for students close to final semester and students coming from the backward condition with more struggles, who have more stress not only during assessments/ tests but also in day to day life. Because students close to final semester have various types of stress like future thoughts, finding jobs etc. which need to be handled carefully, and there will be some personal mentoring sessions for students who find difficult to open up in public.

Answer 3: I would define the exposure of interest in positive increasing order, as exercise like meditation close to nature will not only soothe their mental health but it will release happy hormone (oxytocin) which helps the body to function properly, and when the body functioning is proper the students will have more interest in extra activities along with their studies.

Answer 4: The exposure will differ from student to student, the classes will be in a dedicated slot of the afternoon or in the evening when the students have finished their classes, which will help students release their stress of the whole day and along with that, the students are free to come and contact whenever they are free and feel to get some mental health assistance, support or guidance.

To the extent, the unexposed conditions would be rare but students who are not willing to perform any difficult asanas will be given relief and in very few cases if any student wants to have private sessions it will be considered in special cases out of the regular meditation.

Answer 5: Each and every class tests, and semester assessments/ tests results will be recorded and tallied for some time until there are visible changes in the results.

Answer 6: To maximize and assess the compliance, I would make the meditation session compulsory for students who have consistent lower grades, and all the students irrespective of grades have to attend the outdoor meditation session so that they won't feel this as burdened and enjoy the nature and meditation simultaneously.

Answer 7: Ethical concerns in this design will be first knowing the reason behind student's consistent low grades, proper counselling on how he/she must proceed with their academics if they find difficulty somewhere. Children suffering from something serious will be provided with extra care and help as support and guidance.

Answer 8: I would like to have all the previous marks report of each student along with the student's participation in the various extracurricular activity. I would like to have their parents number (for special case students especially) by which I can have a constant monitor on them even outside of college.