Thought Questions (Think about briefly, discuss with partner, and then move on)
The above descriptive analysis tells us what we have learned about the 50 subjects in the study. But can we make any inferences beyond what happened in this study?
- What are the two possible explanations for why there were more yawners in the yawn seed group? (Why aren't we worried about confounding variables?)
- Consider the "random chance" explanation. Is it possible that the higher rate of yawning in the yawn seed group could have risen just from an unlucky random assignment? Do you think it was probable?
- Suggest a way to explore how we could use index cards to determine whether random assignment alone could have lead to this large of a difference.
- Note: We will "fix" the number of yawners and non-yawners because we are assuming they will have yawned or not regardless of which group they were randomly assigned into.
- How many cards will you have? How many will be blue and how many green? How many will you deal out to represent each treatment group?
- Why aren't we answering this question with coin flips anymore?