If an experimentor wanted to determine whether or not massage therapy would relieve pain for terminally ill patients, he/she would have to use a real world type experiment. The manipulation could not be straight-forward. It would have to be an event manipulation in order to make it real to the participants. The dependent measure could be a combination of all three types. During the treatment, the experimentor could record psyiological responses and observe any changes in behavior. Following the treatment, the experimentor could have the participants describe their response through a rating scale.
Brian Stalcup
Kari Shelton
Chico Segura