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For one month, on Saturday nights researchers measured the blood alcohol content (BAC) of departing patrons at each of two

taverns (baseline). The patrons were compensated for agreeing to do this with lottery tickets. Then, a treatment was administered


that included (1) placing cards in the lottery tickets instructing them on how to pace their drinking to stay under the legal limit, (2)


providing individual feedback on BAC to departing patrons, and (3) posting a large poster in each tavern indicating the percentage of


patrons who drove home intoxicated the previous week. Data continued to be recorded during the treatment for one more month on


Wednesday nights. The treatment reduced the mean BAC of departing patrons at each of the two taverns.


1. What is the independent variable (IV) in this study?


2. What is the dependent variable (DV) in this study?


3. Define what a confound is.


4. What are at least two confounds in this study? (look through Mr. Diminish to help you identify these)


5. Define the confounds you selected in #4.

User PKS
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1 Answer

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1. The independent variable (IV) in this study is the treatment that was administered to patrons at the two taverns, which included placing cards in the lottery tickets instructing them on how to pace their drinking to stay under the legal limit, providing individual feedback on BAC to departing patrons, and posting a large poster in each tavern indicating the percentage of patrons who drove home intoxicated the previous week.

2. The dependent variable (DV) in this study is the blood alcohol content (BAC) of departing patrons at each of the two taverns.

3. A confound is an extraneous variable that is not controlled for in a study and that could influence the results. Confounds can lead to spurious or false relationships between variables.

4. Two confounds in this study could be (1) the time of day that the BAC measurements were taken, and (2) individual differences in drinking habits, such as frequency of drinking, amount of alcohol consumed, and tolerance to alcohol.

5. The confound of time of day could be a problem if the BAC measurements were taken at different times on Saturday nights versus Wednesday nights. For example, if the measurements were taken earlier on Wednesday nights, it could lead to lower BAC readings even if the treatment had no effect. The confound of individual differences in drinking habits could also be a problem because some patrons may be more likely to drink heavily and ignore the treatment, while others may be more responsive to the treatment and drink less. This could lead to differences in BAC readings between the two groups that are not due to the treatment.

User Lowrin
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