A Study on Weight Control: Peanut Consumption in Normal and Overweight Individuals

Scenario: A researcher interested in weight control wondered whether normal and overweight individuals differ in their reactions to the availability of food. Thus, normal and overweight participants were told to eat as many peanuts as they desired while working on a questionnaire. One manipulation was the proximity of the peanut dish (close to or far from the participant); the second manipulation was whether the peanuts were shelled or unshelled. After each participant filled out the questionnaire, the peanut dish was weighed to determine the amount of peanuts consumed.

1. Identify the design (for example, 2 × 2 factorial). Value: 3 points

2. Conditions are the potential scenarios in the experiment made up of the various combinations of the independent and dependent variables. Describe the eight conditions from the above experiment. Total question value: 4 points

1.       Condition:

2.       Condition:

3.       Condition:

4.       Condition:

5.       Condition:

6.       Condition:

7.       Condition:

8.       Condition:

3. Identify the manipulated variable(s). Value: 4 points

4. Is this an IV × PV design? If so, identify the participant variable(s). Value: 3 points

5. Is this a repeated measures design? If so, identify the repeated variable(s). Value: 3 points

6. Identify the dependent variable(s). Value: 3 points

The manipulated variables are given below.
1)    Proximity of the peanut dish - Close or Far
2)    Nature of peanuts – Shelled or Unshelled
These are called as manipulated variables since there values can be changed by the researcher at will and this possibly changes the outcome. Weight is not a manipulated variable but a measured variable in the given case.
Yes this is an IV×PV design since there are independent variable and also participative variables in the given scenario. The participative variable for the given case is the weight of the participant.
The given study is not a repeated measures design since the experiment does not any provision for repetition with the same subjects (Hillier, 2006).