Question

In a long-term study about coffee consumption, age, and memory, a researcher gathered N=10 participants. The researcher gave the participants a list of words to remember, and asked them how many of these words can be recalled 2 hours later. On day 1, participants were told to come in, but refrain from drinking any caffeinated drinks at least 24h prior to the testing session. On day 2, participants were told to come in, and consumed one cup of coffee prior to start remembering the word list. On day 3, participants were told to come in, and consumed two cups of coffee prior to start remembering the word list. On day 4, participants were told to come in, and consumed three cups of coffee prior to start remembering the world list. All participants were tested once when they were an adolescent, and once more when they were an adult (20 years later).

1. State the research question(s) – 2pts

2. Identify the independent variable(s) and their level(s) – 4 pts

3. What is the nature of the independent variables? (Subject characteristics variables or manipulated?) – 2pt

4. Identify the dependent variable – 2 pts

Answer 1

There can be a variety of research questions: Whether drinking coffee has an effect on memory? Whether age has an effect on memory? How does drinking coffee and age interact ?

The IVs are: Age group of the participant (two levels: Adult or adolescent), Cups of coffee consumed (ordinal variable taking values 1 upto 3)

Age group is a subject characteristics variable while cups of coffee is manipulated.

The dependent variable is: The number of words that can be recalled after 2 hours.