RESEARCH STUDY 9.2
Dr. Acitelli studies sleep and sleep disorders. She is curious as to whether falling asleep in front of a television set causes people to fall asleep more slowly than falling asleep regularly. She recruits a sample of 60 middle-aged women from a local church who reported no history of sleep problems. She creates three conditions. All participants come to the sleep lab for three nights in a row and experience all three conditions. In the first condition (A), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is off. In the second condition (B), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel. In the third condition (C), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel but is muted. With the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG), the researcher measures how long it takes participants to fall asleep.
-Refer to Research Study 9.2 above to answer the following question. Dr.Acitelli was concerned that asking participants how long it took them to fall asleep would lead them to suspect that was the purpose of the study.Her decision to measure how long it took participants to go to sleep using the EEG instead of self-report was meant to decrease which of the following?
A) Order effects
B) Selection effects
C) Demand characteristics
D) Counterbalancing effects
E) None of the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Measuring how long it took participants to fall asleep using the EEG instead of self-report was meant to decrease demand characteristics, which refer to cues that participants pick up on that may lead them to respond in a particular way based on their perceptions of the study's purpose. By using EEG measurements, Dr. Acitelli hoped to eliminate the potential for demand characteristics and obtain more accurate data.