Sleep Derivation Research Paper
Part 1 – Hypothesis: Sleep deprivation impairs task performance.
Part 2 – Experimental Design:
To begin the experiment, I would randomly assign 50 college students into two groups. The participants would not know the purpose of the experiment and they would not be able to make a choice about which group they are in. To begin, each person would be asked to study for a math exam, which will be taken the next day. Each person in the first group would be allowed to sleep for a maximum of 5 hours. The second group, on the other hand, would be asked to study for the test and to have enough sleep (about 8 hours). On the next day, they would have to answer 100 questions of a basic math test (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) within a time limit. Students would get one point for each correct answer, zero point for each blank question, and lose 0.5 point for each incorrect answer. The result of this test would be the measurement of each college student’s task performance.
Part 3
1. What is your independent variable? Be certain to identify your experimental and control conditions.
My independent variable would be the sleeping hours of only 5 hours maximum for my experimental group. For my control group, my independent variable would be more sleeping hours (about 8 hours).
2. What is your dependent variable? Provide the operational definition you will use.
My dependent variable is the completion and accuracy of the participant’s test result. For this experiment, “to get the minimum score of 80 in the 100-question simple math test” is operationally defined as how good one’s task performance is.
3. Would you randomly assign participants to conditions? Why or why not?
Yes, I would randomly assign participants to conditions to create equivalent groups in terms of individual differences.
4. What are confounding variables? What might be potential confounds in your study? How would you control for any confounds?
Confounding variables
Part 2 – Experimental Design:
To begin the experiment, I would randomly assign 50 college students into two groups. The participants would not know the purpose of the experiment and they would not be able to make a choice about which group they are in. To begin, each person would be asked to study for a math exam, which will be taken the next day. Each person in the first group would be allowed to sleep for a maximum of 5 hours. The second group, on the other hand, would be asked to study for the test and to have enough sleep (about 8 hours). On the next day, they would have to answer 100 questions of a basic math test (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) within a time limit. Students would get one point for each correct answer, zero point for each blank question, and lose 0.5 point for each incorrect answer. The result of this test would be the measurement of each college student’s task performance.
Part 3
1. What is your independent variable? Be certain to identify your experimental and control conditions.
My independent variable would be the sleeping hours of only 5 hours maximum for my experimental group. For my control group, my independent variable would be more sleeping hours (about 8 hours).
2. What is your dependent variable? Provide the operational definition you will use.
My dependent variable is the completion and accuracy of the participant’s test result. For this experiment, “to get the minimum score of 80 in the 100-question simple math test” is operationally defined as how good one’s task performance is.
3. Would you randomly assign participants to conditions? Why or why not?
Yes, I would randomly assign participants to conditions to create equivalent groups in terms of individual differences.
4. What are confounding variables? What might be potential confounds in your study? How would you control for any confounds?
Confounding variables