Caffeine coffee vs decaf
- What area of interest/research question do you wish to explore through a research study design? I would like to study a group of people, where half would drink standard caffeine coffee, while the other half drank decaffeinated coffee without knowing (single blind study), and see if the mind can trick itself into reacting differently then it is expected.
- What variables or concepts are you looking to observe and/or manipulate? I would like to observe the differences between the group ingesting caffeine vs the one that is not, and survey their responses to it.
- What type of design would best suit your research question? (Experimental, Correlational, etc) It would be a single-blind study where the experimental group would receive the regular coffee, and the placebo control group would receive the decaffeinated coffee
- What research method would you use to conduct your experiment? (Survey, case study, naturalistic observation, lab experiment, etc.) Originally, I would have thought a lab experiment, however with a person knowing there is a possibility they have a placebo, an environment would be best suited to disguise the study.
- If applicable, what would you put as your independent and dependent variables? The independent variable would be the caffeine. The dependent variable would be who “appears” to have the affects of caffeine in their system.
- Give a hypothesis about what you think you might find. I think if the entire group was told they are drinking standard caffeinated coffee, some may appear that they are more energetic even though they drank the decaffeinated coffee
- What might be the benefits and implications of this study? In other words, who would gain from it? I think coffee drinkers could benefit from it. If they are told afterwards they were drinking decaffeinated coffee the entire time, and did not feel sluggish, they may realize that they can substitute the caffeine for something else (non decaf tea)
- Please reflect on the process of designing this experiment. What were the challenges you faced? Was this more/less difficult than you expected? How? I think the hardest part would be switching people’s coffee without them knowing. If we did so in their house, I am sure there is some kind of law I would be breaking. If done at a coffee shop, it would be an issue on them paying for something, and not receiving it. Also, having to notify them of the study ahead of time would be difficult, because some people would always be on the lookout for the placebo.
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