Transcript 331 take home example

Three Research Ideas
46-331 Take-home Exam
Kathryn Lafreniere
800791821
Three Research Ideas:
1) University Students’ Attitudes
Towards Overweight
Individuals
Purpose:
• To investigate whether students with
different academic majors differ in their
attitudes toward overweight individuals
Relevant Literature
• Crandall (1994) drew parallels between antifat attitudes and racism and discussed the
negative consequences of prejudicial
attitudes toward overweight people
• Chambliss, Finley, & Blair (2004) reported
negative attitudes toward obese individuals
among exercise science students
Research Questions:
• Do Psychology students have a more
sympathetic response to overweight
individuals?
• Do students in health fields such as
Nursing and Human Kinetics differ from
Social Science students in attitudes
toward overweight individuals?
Participants:
• Psychology students and other social science
students obtained through the online
participant pool
• Nursing and HK students will be recruited
through the participant pool, and through
visiting classes in their home discipline
• Target sample (N = 120) – 30 Psychology
majors, 30 Social Sciences (non-Psychology)
majors, 30 Nursing majors and 30 HK majors
• Males and females will be included
Measures:
• Antifat Attitudes Scale (Crandall,
1994)
• a demographic questionnaire will
assess academic major, gender, age,
height and weight
• a measure of empathy will also be
included
Design and Procedure
• quasi-experimental design (compare
intact groups based on majors)
• participants will complete a self-report
questionnaire in a laboratory or other
research setting
• questionnaire will take about 25 – 30
minutes, and participants will be
compensated with 1 bonus point
Research Controls:
• participants’ weight and height will be
used to calculate Body Mass Index
(BMI), to determine whether
participants’ BMI influences their antifat
attitudes
• individual differences in empathy will be
statistically controlled
Data Analysis
• academic major is a categorical variable
• other measures (antifat attitudes,
empathy, BMI) are continuous
• will examine correlations among
continuous variables
• ANOVA (or ANCOVA) will be used to
compare students in different academic
majors
Possible Supervisors:
• Dr. Jarry – eating disorders
• Dr. Thomas – body image
• Dr. Lafreniere – health psychology
Three Research Ideas:
2) Personality Predictors of
Attitudes Toward Alternative
Therapies
Purpose:
• To examine the personality
characteristics of individuals who have a
positive attitude toward the use of
alternative therapies (e.g., acupuncture,
herbal medicine)
Relevant Literature
• in recent years, the popularity of
alternative medicine has steadily
increased (Eisenberg et al., 1998)
• Sirois & Gick (2002) found that
compared to conventional medicine
users, patients who used
complementary medicine showed
greater openness to new experiences
Hypotheses:
• individuals who hold positive attitudes
toward alternative therapies will show
greater openness
• having an internal health locus of
control will be associated with more
positive attitudes toward alternative
therapies
Participants:
• approximately 120 participants recruited
through the Psychology department
online participant pool
• both males and females
• students in all years of study will be
included
Measures:
• NEO Five-Factor Inventory –
measures neuroticism, extraversion,
openness, agreeableness &
conscientiousness (Costa & McCrae,
1989)
• measure of health locus of control
• measure of attitudes toward alternative
therapies
Design and Procedure
• correlational research design
• participants will complete a self-report
questionnaire in a laboratory or
research room
• questionnaire will take 20 minutes, and
participants will be compensated with 1
bonus point
Research Controls:
• the attitudes toward alternative therapies
questionnaire will explain what is meant by
“alternative therapies”, giving examples
• questions about participants’ past use of
alternative or complementary medicine will be
included, to allow for statistical comparisons
and controls of previous experience
Data Analysis
• measures of openness, health locus of
control, and attitudes toward alternative
therapies are continuous
• will examine correlations among these
continuous variables, and then regression
analyses with attitudes toward alternative
therapies as outcome variable
• possible t-tests comparing those who did and
didn’t have past experience with alternative
therapies
Possible Supervisors:
• Dr. Sirois – complementary &
alternative medicine
• Dr. Lafreniere – personality & health
• Dr. Hibbard – health & personality
• Dr. Cramer – personality
Three Research Ideas:
3) Effects of Exercise on SelfEfficacy and Depression
Purpose:
• To examine the association between
exercise participation, depression, and
self-efficacy, in non-exercisers,
individual exercisers, and group
exercisers
Relevant Literature
• A number of studies have shown that regular
aerobic exercise can help to reduce
symptoms of depression (e.g., Doyne,
Chambless, & Beutler, 1983)
• Bodin & Martinsen (2004) suggested that
exercise acts to increase self-efficacy, which
is the mechanism necessary for exercise to
reduce depression
Hypotheses:
• both frequency and duration of exercise
participation will be negatively related to
depression
• group exercisers will be less depressed and
higher in self-efficacy than either nonexercisers or individual exercisers
• self-efficacy will be negatively related to
depression
Participants:
• approximately 120 male & female
students recruited through the
Psychology department online
participant pool
• participants will be classified as nonexercisers, individual exercisers, or
group exercisers based on their
responses to a general exercise survey
Measures:
• Beck Depression Inventory – (Beck,
Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979)
• Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer et al.,
1982)
• a general exercise survey will be
created by the author to assess the
types, duration, and frequency of
exercise activities that people engage in
Design and Procedure
• primarily correlational research design
• participants will complete a self-report
questionnaire in a laboratory or
research room
• questionnaire will take 20 – 25 minutes,
and participants will be compensated
with 1 bonus point
Research Controls:
• participants’ weight and height will be used to
calculate Body Mass Index (BMI), to
determine whether participants’ BMI
influences their exercise participation
• participants will be asked whether they have
any physical conditions that limit their
exercise participation
• in case any participants report high levels of
depression, a list of counselling referral
sources will be given to all participants
Data Analysis
• measures of depression, self-efficacy, and
frequency and duration of exercise, are
continuous variables – correlations will be
examined for these measures
• on the basis of their responses to the
exercise survey, participants will be
categorized as non-exercisers, individual
exercisers, and group exercisers
• these three groups will be compared on selfefficacy and depression, using ANOVAs
Possible Supervisors:
• Dr. Cramer – depression; exercise
dependence
• Dr. Hart – health psychology
• Dr. Lafreniere – health behaviours