Psych Stat 4
Psych Stat 4
Psych Stat 4
BS Psychology – 1
1. A company researcher wants to test a new formula for a sports drink that has been
designed to improve running performance. Instead of the regular “carbohydrate-only”
drink that the company produces, this new sports drink contains a “carbohydrate-protein”
formula. The researcher would like to know whether this new carbohydrate sports drink
leads to a difference in running performance compared to the carbohydrate-only sports
drink. Therefore, the dependent variable was “running performance” and the independent
variable was “formula”, which consisted of two related groups: “carbohydrate-protein”
and “carbohydrate-only”.
To carry out the experiment, the researcher recruited 18 middle distance runners. All of
these participants performed two trials in which they had to run as far as possible for 2
hours on a treadmill. In one of the trials, all 18 participants drank from a bottle containing
the carbohydrate-only formula. In the other trial, the same 18 participants drank from a
bottle containing the carbohydrate-protein formula. Whilst all participants completed
both trials, the order in which they underwent the trials differed, which is
counterbalancing (i.e., 9 out of 18 participants completed the trial with the carbohydrate-
only drink first, and then the trial with the carbohydrate-protein drink second, whilst the
other 9 participants started with the carbohydrate-protein trial and then undertook the
carbohydrate-only trial). At the end of the two trials, the distance each participant ran (in
km) was recorded.
A paired t-test was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant
difference in distance run between the two trials (i.e., when using the carbohydrate-
protein drink compared to the carbohydrate-only drink.)
Carb 10.58 10.89 10.17 11.61 9.72 10.80 11.79 10.98 11.66
Carb-Protein 10.53 11.16 10.31 11.79 9.81 10.98 12.01 11.12 11.70
We calculate di= A-B for each pair of data resulting in negative values meaning that the
participants lost weight.
We wish to know if we may conclude, at the 95% confidence level, that the treatment is
effective in causing weight reduction in these people.