psy627 assignment

University of Phoenix Material

Self-Experiment Assignment

From Weeks Two through Six, students will conduct a study
using the ABA Design, also known as the withdrawaldesign. Students will serve as experimenters and participants in
self-designed studies of their behaviors.

Review the ABA Design in the “Treadmill training for ataxic
patients: A single-subject experimental design” article, located in the Week
One Electronic Reserve Readings.

Week Two

Students will identify variables and submit a plan to their
instructor for approval. An independent variable (IV) is a behavior that will
be changed. A dependent variable (DV) is a behavior that will be measured or monitored.

Examples

Introduce a 45-minute walk
every day (IV) and monitor your weight in pounds (DV).
Introduce a 45-minute walk
every day (IV) and monitor your daily energy level on a scale of 1-10 (DV).
Impose a “no television”
rule (IV) and monitor your daily stress level on a scale of 1-10 (DV).
Introduce a vegan diet
(IV) and monitor your mood on a scale of 1-10 (DV).
Introduce 20 minutes of
daily yoga (IV) and monitor your energy level or mood on a scale of 1-10
(DV).

Students are encouraged to be creative with their plan.

Week Three: Conduct
Part A of the experiment.

Monitor the DV for 7 consecutive days; do not introduce the
independent variable. For example, if your plan is to introduce a 45-minute
daily walk and monitor your weight, this week, you would only monitor your
weight. Record your weight in pounds for 7 consecutive days, but do not change
anything about your behavior. Create a simple scatterplot, with time in days on
the y-axis and your DV on the x-axis. Select a color for Part A and always plot
your results in that color.

Week Four: Conduct
Part B of the experiment.

Introduce your IV—walking, diet, yoga, and so forth—and
continue to track your DV—weight, mood, stress level, energy level, and so
forth. Continue developing your scatterplot, but change the color of the points
to signify the introduction of the IV in Part B of your experiment.

Week Five: Conduct
Part C of the experiment.

Withdraw the IV—stop walking, stop doing yoga, return to
your former eating habits, return to your former TV watching habits, and so
forth—but continue to track the DV—weight, mood, energy level, and so forth. Continue
to plot your results, using the color you selected for Part A.

Week Six

Carefully examine your scatterplot, covering 21 days of data
collection. What changes, if any, did you see during the first 7 days? What
changes, if any, did you notice when you introduced the IV? What changes, if
any, did you notice when you withdrew the IV? What are the advantages of
conducting an experiment on yourself? What are the limitations of this sort of
experimental design? Write a one-page summary of your observations. Submit your
summary and scatterplot to your instructor. If you used a 10-point rating scale
to measure your DV, submit the rating scale as well.