Which of the following research questions is best addressed by an experiment?

• A. Does exposure to a specific type of music cause changes in memory performance?
• B. How do students describe their experiences with online learning?
• C. What are the common study habits among college students?
• D. Is there a relationship between age and preference for social media platforms?

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the nature of an experiment. Experiments are designed to test cause-and-effect relationships by manipulating an independent variable and measuring its effect on a dependent variable.
2. Step 2: Identify the key components in each research question. For example, in the question 'Does exposure to a specific type of music cause changes in memory performance?', the independent variable is the type of music exposure, and the dependent variable is memory performance.
3. Step 3: Determine which question involves manipulation of variables to observe an effect. The question about music exposure and memory performance involves actively changing the music type to see if it causes changes in memory, fitting the experimental design.
4. Step 4: Contrast this with other questions that are descriptive or correlational, such as how students describe experiences (qualitative) or relationships between age and social media preference (correlational), which do not involve manipulation.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the best research question for an experiment is the one that tests causality through manipulation, which is 'Does exposure to a specific type of music cause changes in memory performance?'