Chapter R, Problem 3.27RE

How long is 30 seconds? Sofie, Ryan, and Alessandra wanted to design an experiment to find out how distraction affects our ability to judge time. The experiment consisted of starting a clock (out of view of the subject) and then asking the subject to tell them when they thought 30 seconds had passed. For each of four subjects, they repeated the experiment eight times under different treatment conditions: eyes open or closed, having music on or off, and sitting or moving around.

1. a) Identify the factors and the factor levels.
2. b) What kind of variable is subject?
3. c) How many runs did they perform?
4. d) They suspect that subjects may do slightly better the more times they perform the task. Ryan argues that randomizing the run order but having all four subjects use the same run order is a good idea. Sofie insists that they should randomize the run order for all four subjects. What do you think? Explain briefly.