Imagine a researcher wants to test the hypothesis that participating in psychotherapy will cause a decrease in reported anxiety. Describe the type of research design the investigator might use to draw this conclusion. What would be the independent and dependent variables in the research?
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Answer:
A researcher who wants to investigate this question would need to use an experimental design to answer this question and know whether psychotherapy CAUSES a decrease in reported anxiety. An experiment is the only way to determine cause and effect in research. The experiment could look something like this: there are two groups. All the participants in both groups have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. Both groups take an anxiety inventory questionnaire to measure their current symptoms of anxiety. One group is put on a waitlist, and after the experiment, they will receive treatment. The other group receives 10 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy. At the end of the ten sessions, all participants will receive an anxiety inventory questionnaire which will measure their anxiety levels. Hopefully, by the end of the ten sessions, the group that received therapy has significantly less anxiety levels than the group that was put on a waitlist to receive treatment. In this experimental design, the independent variable is the treatment (one group got therapy and the other is on a waitlist). The dependent variable, what is being measured, is anxiety levels as reported in the anxiety inventory.
Answer:
Imagine a researcher wants to test the hypothesis that participating in psychotherapy will cause a decrease in reported anxiety. Describe the type of research design the investigator might use to draw this conclusion. What would be the independent and dependent variables in the research?