It was recently reported in a popular lifestyle magazine that both mindfulness meditation apps and walking in nature can significantly reduce daily stress levels. A psychologist wanted to investigate whether one of these interventions is more effective than the other at lowering stress. However, she was unable to find any existing published academic literature comparing these two specific activities directly.
The researcher used an independent groups design with 30 participants recruited via a university community board.
All participants completed this routine for a period of 3 weeks and were instructed not to engage in any other new relaxation techniques during this time. Self-reported stress levels were measured using a validated scale at the start and the end of the 3-week period, and the researcher calculated the decrease in stress score for each participant.
Based on the study described above, would a directional or a non-directional hypothesis be more suitable for the researcher to use? Explain your answer.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Research methods with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 100 questions covering Experimental method, Observational techniques, Self-report techniques, Correlations, Content analysis (A-level only), Case studies (A-level only), Scientific processes, Data handling and analysis, and Inferential testing (A-level only), matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.