Armand Conducts a Study for His Research Method Class

question 49

Essay

Armand conducts a study for his research method class. He is curious as to whether watching romantic movies makes people more committed to their romantic relationship. He collects a sample of men in dating relationships and divides them into two groups. One group watches a 5-minute clip of a movie in which the main characters are having a romantic first date. The second group watches a 5-minute clip from the same movie in which the main characters break up. After the participants watch the movie clip, they are then asked to write a sentence about their relationship. Armand counts the number of uses of the words we and us as a measure of commitment. After conducting the study, he finds that there is not a statistically significant difference between his two groups.
Armand's professor proposes that he replicate the study and double the number of participants he recruits. State which cause(s) of within-group variability will be helped by adding more participants and why this will help.

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Definitions:

Dehydration

Excessive loss of water from the body tissues accompanied by a disturbance of body electrolytes.

Blood Pressure

The pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, indicating heart and vascular health.

Psychological Stress

A condition arising when an individual perceives a discrepancy between the demands of a situation and their capacity to meet those demands, resulting in anxiety or other stress-related symptoms.

Intensive Care Unit

A specialized department in a hospital that provides comprehensive and continuous care for patients with severe and life-threatening conditions.