How Grounded Is Your Love Life? In a recent experiment, psychologists at Univers

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How Grounded Is Your Love Life?

In a recent experiment, psychologists at University of Pittsburgh and the University of Waterloo in Canada decided to examine stability, turbulence and love. The researchers focused on stability because it is a term that has both literal and abstract meanings. Our bodies can be physically stable or they can be wobbly, and so can our intimate relationships. The study participants were 40 college students who reported being involved in a committed relationship that had lasted for at least a year. The researchers randomly assigned half of their volunteers to sit at a normal desk and the other half to sit at a workstation that had been subtly altered so that both the chair and the desk wiggled slightly. The volunteers individually completed questionnaires about their lives and romantic relationships, including whether they felt the relationship would last. The volunteers were alone in the room when they completed the questionnaire and were instructed to not put their name on the questionnaire. The ratings of perceived stability ranged from 1- 7 (1 = not at all likely to last to 7 = certain this relationship will last). A participant could report any number between 1 and 7 on that scale. The students who had been seated at the unstable workstations were much more likely to perceive instability in their love lives (mean = 4.17) than were the students whose chairs and work spaces didn’t waver (mean = 4.93). There is a statistically significant difference between these means (t(38) = 3.64; p<0.05).

1. Name the Outcome / Dependent Variable
2. Give the operational definition of the Outcome / Dependent Variable.
3. Evaluate the construct validity of the operational definition for the Outcome / Dependent Variable. (Be sure to consider face, method, and procedural aspects though not all aspects will necessarily need to be discussed; point out strengths and weaknesses of this measure.)

Explanation / Answer

1.The outcome or the possible result of the experiment is the fact that: students who had been seated at the unstable workstations were much more likely to perceive instability in their love lives. Perception of stability in the love relationship is the dependable Variable.

2.The operational definition of the outcome is the result of an experiment. The dependent variable is the variable about which the experiment is conducted with depends upon another factor the independent variable.

3.The validity of the operational definition for the outcome which is based on the reading of the dependable variable is significant and cannot be negated as there is a statistically significant difference between these means (t(38) = 3.64; p<0.05). The strength lies in the statistical significance number but the weakness lies in the fact that this is just a pilot study done one set of the population it cannot be generalized unless and until done on a larger population.

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