Question

Dr. Bartos is a psychologist who believes that pet therapy leads to less anxiety. She hopes to fund a research project to demonstrate this so she can promote animal adoption at the local shelter where she volunteers. She is proposing an experimental study to examine this belief

Answer 1

To conduct an experimental study, Dr. Bartos would need to:

Recruit participants who experience anxiety.
Randomly assign participants to one of two groups: a treatment group that receives pet therapy or a control group that does not receive pet therapy.
Measure the anxiety levels of both groups before and after the study using a standardized anxiety questionnaire.
Analyze the data to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in anxiety levels between the treatment group and the control group.
Interpret the findings and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of pet therapy in reducing anxiety.
If the study results show that pet therapy significantly reduces anxiety levels in the treatment group, Dr. Bartos can use these findings to promote animal adoption and the use of pet therapy as a treatment for anxiety.