Arleene wanted to increase the productivity of the clerical staff in her plant. She thought that painting their cubicles blue (her favorite color) would increase their rate of work completion, but that painting their cubicles yellow (a color that she felt was harsh) would have no effect or might even lower the clerical staff's rate of completions. To test her idea she had the cubicles in the Sales Department painted blue and the cubicles in the Public Relations Department painted yellow. Then, for the next three months, she kept track of how many projects each department completed. During that period the Sales staff dramatically outperformed the Public Relations staff in the number of projects completed.

What is the focal behavior of the study and how is it operationally defined?

What is the hypothesis?

What is the independent variable?

What is the dependent variable?

What are some potential confounds in this study?

Was Arleene's idea supported? Did her research measure what she thought it measured?