A group of kinesiology students wanted to know if individuals who took group fitness classes lost more weight than individuals w
ho worked out on their own. They obtained a sample of 70 individuals who wanted to lose weight. The first 35 participants to show up for the study were assigned to the group fitness condition; they attended a group fitness class twice a week. The second 35 participants were assigned to the individual workout condition; they worked out alone in the gym twice a week. Change in weight over a 15 week period was recorded and compared for the two groups. Is this an observational or experimental study?
It is an independent measure design. Multiple experimental groups are used in an independent measures design, which is a research method and participants are only in one group. Each participant is only in one condition of the independent variable during the experiment.
