QQRM- Research Diary Template (2019/20) A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Please fill in the following information about you, and the study you took part in. Your full name and student ID: Kiera Murrell S5204590 Your personal tutor's name: Kevin Thomas Name of researcher running the experiment: Jordanne Wright Title of experiment: Effects of lavender essential oil on behavioural, physiological and self-report measures of anxiety. Date of experiment: 25th February 2020 B. LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIMENT 1) How long did the study take to complete? The study took 60 minutes to complete in a lab. 2) What type of equipment or materials were used and what data will be produced? A 2 (eye movement response: pupil dilation and saccades) x2 (truthfulness: truthful and deceptive) x3 (tablet condition: lavender, placebo and control). The data consisted of pupil size difference (pupil size taken from question period subtracted from the response period) and saccade counts (number of saccades made during the response period. 3) What type of design was used and why was that chosen instead of alternatives? A mixed design was used which helped to rule out order effects or the possibility of changes due to naturally-occurring internal processes seen in within subject designs, and helps me add statistical power which a between subjects design would lack. 4) What was the main research question? The main research question was 'effects of lavender essential oil on behavioural, physiological and self-report measures of anxiety' 5) What relevance do you think this research question has to real world applications? This research question has a lot of relevance to the real world as it was looking at self- reported levels of anxiety in people with a range of social anxiety levels. It was hoped that this work will help us to begin to understand if lavender essential oil is useful in treating acute anxiety. Which could form the basis of future work in this area. 6) Write a brief procedure. In what ways do you think the researcher did or did not show professionalism during the testing? The researcher showed the upmost professionalism during the study. She was polite as we entered the lab and greeted me and offered me a glass of water. The researcher provided me with a consent form to sign, which was clearly explained and I was given the opportunity to answer ask any questions. I was asked to fill out three questions 1
which asked about feelings of anxiety you experience in social situations and how I was feeling at the present time. Each participant was then to be assigned to one of three groups. Two groups were given a tablet, either a lavender oil tablet or a placebo and the other did not. Then you were given three electrodes to monitor your heart rate and was instructed on how to put these on. Then you had to sit quietly for 10 minutes whilst the heart rate monitor measured your resting heart rate. Then you had to give a short speech for two minutes