Imagine you own a popular gym. You have several personal trainers providing workouts and fitness support to your gym members. Your gym has a particular training plan that all the personal trainers use. You want to evaluate the effectiveness of your training plan against another gym’s training plan for your members. You would like to run an experiment to evaluate the difference between the plans. Based on the outcome, you plan to create an advertising campaign to promote your training plan.

Consider what research design and scientific method you would use to conduct your analysis as well as any possible extraneous variables that might complicate your research.

Assessment Deliverable

Write a 700- to 875-word proposal for your potential training plan experiment in which you:

• Describe the scientific method and how it is used in psychological research.
• Describe which research method you would use to evaluate your gym’s training plan against the other training plan.
• Outline specific details about how you would recruit participants, how many you would recruit to participate, and how you would collect the data. Provide a hypothesis about what you might find.
• Describe at least 2 extraneous variables that might influence the outcomes of your evaluation. Explain at least 1 way you might be able to avoid or mitigate their influence.

Cite at least 2 peer-reviewed, scholarly, or similar references according to APA guidelines.

Struggling with where to start this assignment? Follow this guide to tackle your assignment easily!

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Step-by-Step Guide for Structuring and Writing Your Paper

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1. Understand the Assignment

Before jumping into the writing process, take a moment to understand what is being asked. The task requires you to write a proposal for an experiment comparing the effectiveness of your gym’s training plan to that of another gym. You’ll be using the scientific method to guide your research design. The paper needs to cover the following:

• Description of the scientific method and its role in psychological research.

• Explanation of the research method you would use for your experiment.

• Recruitment strategy, participant numbers, data collection method, and a hypothesis.

• Identification of extraneous variables and strategies for managing them.

2. Research and Review the Scientific Method

In your paper, you’ll begin by discussing the scientific method. This is essential for any research study, including psychological and experimental research. The scientific method involves the following steps:

• Observation: Identify a problem or a question you want to address.

• Hypothesis: Formulate a testable prediction.

• Experiment: Design and conduct an experiment to test your hypothesis.

• Data Collection: Collect and analyze the data.

• Conclusion: Draw conclusions based on the data collected, determining whether the hypothesis was supported or not.

Research and include real-life examples from psychology or scientific studies that show how this method is applied in the field of psychology.

3. Describe the Research Method

Next, explain the research method you would use. Since you’re evaluating the effectiveness of two gym training plans, you may want to use an experimental design. This could involve a controlled experiment in which participants are randomly assigned to two groups: one group follows your gym’s training plan and the other follows the competing gym’s training plan.

• You can outline that the dependent variable is the effectiveness of the training plans, which could be measured by improvements in strength, endurance, or fitness scores, while the independent variable is the type of training plan.

Make sure to explain why this experimental design is appropriate for your question and how it will allow you to evaluate the difference in effectiveness between the two plans.

4. Recruitment and Data Collection

Now, you’ll need to discuss how you’ll recruit participants and how many you will need. Consider how many gym members you would need to ensure statistical significance. A good range for a pilot study is at least 30-50 participants per group, depending on your resources. Ensure diversity in your sample for better generalizability of results.

When it comes to data collection, explain the methods you’ll use to track progress. This could include fitness assessments before and after the trial period, such as strength tests, endurance measures, or self-reported surveys on fitness perception.

5. Formulate a Hypothesis

Based on your understanding of the two training plans, create a hypothesis. For example:

• Hypothesis: “Gym members who follow Plan A (your gym’s training plan) will show greater improvements in fitness metrics compared to those following Plan B (the competitor’s plan).”

Your hypothesis should be clear, testable, and based on your understanding of the two training plans and their potential impacts.

6. Identify Extraneous Variables and Mitigation Strategies

Extraneous variables are factors that could affect the outcome of your experiment but are not the main focus of your study. Two common examples in fitness studies are:

• Motivation level of participants: Some participants may be more motivated than others, which could influence their progress. To mitigate this, you can monitor the motivation level by asking participants to rate their commitment at the start and periodically throughout the experiment. You could also provide incentives to encourage consistent effort.

• Dietary habits: Participants’ nutrition habits may vary and could affect their results. You could control for this by providing a standardized meal plan or by collecting self-reported dietary data from participants.

Explain how you will control or mitigate these extraneous variables to ensure valid results.

7. Writing Your Proposal

Once you have all the details, it’s time to organize your paper. Follow this structure:

• Introduction: Provide an overview of the problem and the goals of your experiment. Mention the significance of evaluating your gym’s training plan.

• Scientific Method: Define the scientific method and explain how it will be applied in your study.

• Research Method: Explain the experimental design, focusing on how it will help you compare the two training plans.

• Participant Recruitment and Data Collection: Discuss your strategy for recruiting participants, how many you’ll need, and your approach to data collection (fitness tests, surveys, etc.).

• Hypothesis: Clearly state your hypothesis.

• Extraneous Variables and Mitigation: Identify potential extraneous variables and explain how you will mitigate their effects.

• Conclusion: End with a brief summary of the importance of your experiment and how it will help you evaluate and potentially promote your gym’s training plan.

8. References

Don’t forget to cite at least two peer-reviewed, scholarly references in APA format. These could be research studies on fitness training, experimental design, or psychological methods related to your experiment. Remember to follow APA guidelines for both in-text citations and the reference list.