Research participants read an “eating diary” of either a male or a female stimulus person. The information in the diary indicated that the person ate either large meals or small meals. After reading this information, participants rated the person’s femininity and masculinity.

a) Identify the design of this experiment.
b) How many conditions are in the experiment?
c) Identify the independent variable(s) and the dependent variable(s).
d) Is there a participant variable in this experiment? If so, identify it. If not, can you suggest a participant variable that might be included?

Answer: The given study is based on the experimental design with random assignment where the same group of participants are randomly exposed to two different treatment conditions ( independent variables), which may lead to a change in behaviour or outcomes for the participants of the study. The researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and tries to control for confounding variables.