The scale of measurement of the IV

A behavioral psychologist wanted to know if making a public commitment to lose weight will make a difference in how much time is spent exercising. The literature substantiated her hypothesis that the type of public commitment made would affect the amount of time people would dedicate to exercising.

She obtained 150 volunteers from her Instagram friend list who responded to her post about wanting to lose weight and randomly assigned them to groups. The “online announcement group” had to make one post on Instagram stating that they were starting a new workout routine. The “in-person announcement” group had to tell 3 friends or family members about their new exercise routine and the “no announcement” group was told not to tell anyone about their new exercise regimen. All participants were given gym memberships. Time exercising was operationalized as the time spent in the gym based on the entry and exit times registered by the gym memberships swipe card over a 30-day period.

a) What is the IV of this experiment? What are the levels of the IV? What is the scale of measurement of the IV?

b) What is the DV of this experiment? What is the scale of measurement of the DV?

c)  Is this a True experiment or not? Explain your reasoning.

d) What is the hypothesis of this experiment? Is it directional or nondirectional?

e) What kind of statistical test would you use.

f) Are there any threats of internal validity?  Explain your reasoning.

g) Are there any threats of external validity?  Explain your reasoning.