Inquiry and analysis is a systematic process of refining our understanding of issues, objects, and works through a cycle of questions and evaluation.
Purpose: Students will use course information on research methods and psychological research studies to design an experimental study testing a research question that is meaningful to college students.
Task: Students will write responses that address the following prompts:
1. Define a specific research question that will address one of the following:
- What will improve grades?
- What will reduce stress?
- What will improve sleep?
- What will improve self-esteem?
Example research question: Does warm milk before bedtime improve sleep?
2. Develop a specific hypothesis for your proposed research question. Which group will have better or worse outcomes?
Example hypothesis: People who drink a cup of warm milk before bedtime will sleep longer than people who drink water before bedtime.
3. Find two sources to support your hypothesis (e.g., from class, lecture, textbook, or approved source). Discuss previous research findings that suggest why your chosen variable will affect the outcome.
Supporting hypotheses with past research: Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impact of drinking milk before bedtime. In one study, adults over 60 who drank fermented milk experienced reduced nighttime wakings (Yamamura et al., 2009). In a different study, adults over 65 who drank milk before bedtime fell asleep more quickly than those who did not consume milk before bed (Kitano et al., 2014).
4. Describe how you would conduct your study, which includes:
- a description of who you will sample (the participants)
- a description of your procedure, which includes a description of your experimental conditions (independent variable) and how you will measure the outcome (dependent variable).
Sample: I will recruit college students who report difficulty getting a good night’s sleep. Participants will be recruited for a study on “drink consumption before bedtime.” Participants would need to meet the following criteria: (1) cannot be lactose intolerant, (2) are okay to consume cow’s milk, (3) have a microwave to warm the milk provided, and (4) are willing to wear a sleep activity watch.
Procedure: I would randomly assign participants to one of two groups: (1) drink warm milk before bed or (2) drink water before bed.
- Participants in the milk condition would be provided with six 8oz bottles of milk for the week. They will be instructed to microwave their milk for 45 seconds and consume it 60 minutes before going to bed. Before going to sleep, the participants will put on the sleep activity watch to monitor their sleep (wakings; length of sleep). The sleep activity watch will track and store their nightly sleep over the six days of the study.
- Participants in the control condition would be provided with six 8oz bottles of water for the week. They will be instructed to consume the room temperature water 60 minutes before going to bed. Before going to sleep, the participants will put on the sleep activity watch to monitor their sleep (wakings; length of sleep). The sleep activity watch will track and store their nightly sleep over the six days of the study.
Independent Variable: Milk consumption (I manipulated whether participants drank warm milk or water)
Dependent Variable: Sleep length (I measured the participants’ length of sleep using the sleep activity watch which recorded sleep time in hours and minutes over six days).
5. Describe your expected resultsthat is, how participants will react or behave in each condition.
Expected results: Participants who drank warm milk will sleep about 45 minutes longer than those who did not consume milk before bed.
6. Which groups or populations would be most interested to learn about your results and why?
Recommended populations:
- People who have a difficult time sleeping could benefit from knowing easy remedies to improve their sleep.
- Doctors and pediatricians could recommend this simple solution to their patients who want improved sleep.
- Researchers may want to test whether alternative forms of milk have the same benefits (e.g., soy milk; almond milk; oat milk).
7. Include your references using APA 7.
- Yamamura, S., Morishima, H., Kumano-go, T., Suganuma, N., Matsumoto, H., Adachi, H., Sigedo, Y., Mikami, A., Kai, T., Masuyama, A., Takano, T., Sugita, Y., & Takeda, M. (2009). The effect of Lactobacillus helveticus fermented milk on sleep and health perception in elderly subjects. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 63(1), 100105.
- Kitano, N., Tsunoda, K., Tsuji, T., Osuka, Y., Jindo, T., Tanaka, K., & Okura, T. (2014). Association between difficulty initiating sleep in older adults and the combination of leisure-time physical activity and consumption of milk and milk products: A cross-sectional study. BMC Geriatrics, 14, 118.
Submission Guidelines:
- Enter your answers to each prompt in a text entry box.
- Be sure to provide enough detail to fully answer each prompt.
- Include your APA 7 citations at the end of your assignment.
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