Experimental Design for Hypothetical Research Study Recent

Experimental Design for Hypothetical Research Study Recent research has emerged which suggests that the ingestion of chocolate may lead to improved cognitive function within the realm of memorization and retention of information. Establishing a conclusive link between certain chemical components found in chocolate and the improvement of memory function would be a significant point of progress for medical science, especially when the impact of Alzheimer's disease, early-onset dementia and other memory-reduction ailments on senior citizens is fully considered.

By expanding on the work of Jones and Wilson (2011) -- who improved scoring on math tests two hours after subjects ate chocolate -- it may be possible to identify the particular enzymes released during digestion which serve to alter fundamental aspects of memory.

Research published by Wong, Hideki, Anderson, and Skaarsgard (2009) -- which suggests that the impact of chocolate on memory improvement occurs more frequently for women -- can also be integrated into this study to determine whether hormones produced predominately by females are reacting with components found in chocolate to produce the memory improvements which have been recorded.

The hypothesis that a predominately female hormone such as estrogen or progesterone may be reacting with components found in chocolate to produce increased memory improvement would appear to be well-founded considering the previously cited research. This hypothesis would be tested using a one-tailed test to determine whether the effect of chocolate on memory was indeed more prevalent and/or powerful for women.

The previously cited research put forth by Wong, Hideki, Anderson, and Skaarsgard (2009) suggests that women are more likely to experienced memory gains after ingesting chocolate; therefore the hypothesis and test is one-tailed. The null hypothesis in this case would be that chocolate effects human memory function on an equal inter-gender basis. Methods: The sample group of 100 individuals (50 men and 50 women selected from a community college campus) will be randomly divided into five groups of 20, with each group containing 10 men and 10 women.

Each group will ingest chocolate before taking a specific academic test -- with no two groups taking the same test, and one group ingesting a chocolate substitute as a control. The same tests will be administered before the actual experiment begins to provide a set of baseline scores for each subject.

Identically portioned chocolate bars with the same ingredients will be distributed to each subject either one, two and three hours prior to taking the test, to both echo and expand upon the methodology used in the study conducted by Wong, Hideki, Anderson, and Skaarsgard (2009). Testing will take place over a period of one hour in a secure location, and no telephonic devices will be allowed to preserve the integrity of each subject's score.

The independent variables in this experiment are a.) the duration between ingestion of chocolate and testing, and b.) the gender of the subject being tested. The dependent variable in this experiment is the test score obtained from each subject. Results: The statistical analysis functions provided by the Microsoft Excel add-in Analysis ToolPak will be utilized after the receipt period for test score data collection has concluded. After the raw data has been manually recorded and sorted, the information will then be entered into an Excel spreadsheet.

A frequency distribution analysis will be conducted to assess whether or not the respondent sample is truly representative of the test scores using the particular examination test subjects utilized, because the relatively simple process of calculating the frequency distribution allows researchers to gaining valuable insights into the attributes and traits of test-takers which may affect their scores in addition to, or rather than, chocolate.

The results of this experiment confirmed both of the studies cited in the Introduction, as the subjects who ingested chocolate before testing showing marked improvements over their baseline scores, while the control group exposed to a placebo chocolate substitute returned results which were nearly identical to their baseline. More specifically, women tested higher than their baseline at each duration interval of chocolate ingestion, and the gains experienced by women were significantly higher (on a statistical basis) than.