Researchers use single factor experimental designs to study causal relationships. For example, if researchers want to know if an exercise intervention reduces depression, they might randomly assign half the participants to receive the exercise intervention and the other half to not receive the exercise intervention. They could collect baseline and post-intervention data and compare the two groups. If the treatment group showed a significantly greater reduction of depression than the control group, the researchers would conclude that the exercise intervention reduced depression.
Think of a topic of interest, and please respond to the following:
Create a research question and hypothesis.
Summarize how you would construct a single factor experimental study to test your hypothesis. Include random assignment to groups and/or counterbalancing in your description.
Describe the difference between using a between subjects design or a within subjects design.
For your topic, would you want to use a between subjects or within subjects design? Explain.