Exam 2: Theory and Method in Studying Aging and Older Adulthood

Which type of study is best for identifying cause and effect?

Which developmental research design confounds (is unable to separate) age and cohort?

Professor Sanchez conducts a memory study in which young and older adults are randomly assigned to one of two different levels (or conditions) of an instruction variable.Those assigned to one instruction condition are just told to study a list of words,which they will later be asked to recall.Those assigned to the other instruction condition are told to use visual imagery when they study a list of words which they will later be asked to recall.Professor Sanchez finds that,on average,the young and older adults given visual imagery instructions recall more words than do the young and older adults just told to study the words.In this study,what is the independent variable?

What are the defining characteristics of an experimental research study?