EXAMPLE 1
A researcher wanted to assess whether mood influenced people's memory. The researcher hypothesized that positive moods would lead to greater memory performance than would a negative mood state. On Monday the researcher had 50 subjects learn a list of nonsense syllables and then watch a very humorous comedy film. Their recall of the list of syllables was then assessed. On Tuesday the researcher had a second group of 50 subjects learn the same list of nonsense syllables and then watch an upsetting documentary on World War II. Their recall of the list was then assessed after having watched the film.
ANSWER:
EXAMPLE 2
A researcher wanted to see whether a new way of teaching English was superior to a more traditional approach. The researcher selected two Thursday night classes at a local community college. In one class the instructor used a traditional method, the second instructor used the newer approach. The researcher then assessed students language ability after they had completed the program.
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