Extra Credit Homework Assignment

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Imagine you have a friend that has recently started meditating.  Over lunch, your friend starts describing how glad he is that he started meditating and describes all the benefits he has experienced since he started meditating.  He says his grades have improved, he is more patient, and he doesn't get as angry as he used to while driving.  He is convinced that meditating is THE solution to becoming a better person and spends quite a bit of time trying to convince you to take up the practice as well.  However, you are currently taking Psyc 250 from a WONDERFUL teacher and have become a skeptical consumer of information.  You tell your friend that you would like to conduct an experiment to determine if meditation really does all the things he says it does.  You tell him that if your research confirms his claims, you will gladly take up meditating yourself.

1.)  Describe the type of study you would run to test the accuracy of your friend's claims

- You should use either an experimental or quasi-experimental design.  Be sure to let me know the specific design you are using.

2.)  Describe the independent and dependent variable(s) in your study

Be sure to provide operational definitions when appropriate

3.)  What is your hypothesis (or hypotheses if you have more than one IV)?

4.)  Describe the subjects you will use in your study and how you will obtain them and assign them to condition (if appropriate).

5.)  Describe at least two potential confounds in your study.

6.) Describe how you will design your study to control for those confounds.

7.) What potential pitfalls are associated with your design and how does this limit your conclusions about the efficacy of meditation on behavior?