Psyc 1200: Comparison of Experimental and Correlational Research

Experimental Research Question: Is short-term memory hindered by the consumption of alcoholic beverages, compared to the consumption of imitation alcoholic beverages?

Both the test and control groups will consist of randomly selected volunteers who have been identified as individuals who consume alcohol and are of legal drinking age. The procedure will be identical for both groups, but the control group will be given non-alcoholic beverages that mimic the taste of alcoholic beverages. Assignation to groups will be random and researchers will be unaware of the group to which participants are assigned. Participants are asked to fast for 4 hours prior to testing and are given a baseline breathalyzer test at the onset. They are asked to remember a sequence of 7 random numbers over a period of 10 seconds. Following a 3-minute distractor film, the participants are asked to recall the number sequence. The participants then drink either a beverage of 30mL of alcohol diluted to ~20-25% alcohol by volume or the control beverage, followed by a 5-minute wait. Participants are asked to rate how intoxicated they feel on a scale and a breathalyzer test is administered. The memory test is readministered with a new random sequence of numbers. The process is repeated until the participant's blood alcohol level is measured at 0.15 (Virginia Tech, n.d.) or at the point at which they rate themselves as "too drunk," whichever occurs first. The dependent variable in this experiment is the short-term memory recall test and the independent variable is the consumption of either alcoholic. A t-test would be used to analyze whether individuals who consumed alcohol had lower short-term memory recall scores than individuals who did not consume alcohol.

Correlational Research Question: Do individuals who drink alcohol heavily have lower short-term memory scores, compared to moderate, casual or non-drinkers?

Participants are randomly selected volunteers who are of legal drinking age. Participants are surveyed on their average frequency of alcohol consumption and identified as non-drinkers (those who consume no alcohol), heavy drinkers (those who drink an average of > 2 drinks per day for men, and > 1 drink per day for women ) (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010), and moderate drinkers whose drinking habits fall between heavy and non-drinkers. The short-term memory test from the experimental design above (recalling a sequence of 7 random numbers) is administered to the participants. An r-test would be used to analyze whether there is a negative correlation between individuals who tend to consume alcohol regularly and short-term recall scores.

The experimental method would be more effective in identifying whether alcohol use hinders short-term memory, since the only difference between the test and control groups is alcohol consumption. The correlational method is not able to establish a causal relationship between