Group Members (Leader in bold)

Short Title

Outcome

Chris Muller, Bob Jeffrey, Alex Kapur

Does SAT preparation really help?

Test hints administered between two rounds of taking a short SAT-like verbal skills test seemed to be of little value. A control group that received no hints showed roughly the same improvement between tests.

Karim Sarr, Corey Aber, Jamey Harding

Which tastes better: Coca-Cola or Safeway Select cola?

In double-blind taste tests, approximately 2/3 of students preferred Coca-Cola.

Dan Creighton, Chris Hayes, Willy Rasmussen

Exercise level vs. reaction time

No general trends emerged; response appears to be individualized.

Stephan Hein, Jimmy Carr, Evan Oremland

Pepsi vs. Pepsi One

In double-blind taste tests, students as a group had no clear preference.

Dan Spring, Sam Bond, Dan Healey

Effects of music on short-term memory

Classical music had a noticeable positive effect, and heavy metal music had a noticeable negative effect, when compared with normal background noise. (Since we had not studied significance testing yet, there were no p values.)

Rashaka Caldwell, Garth Hogan, Norman Summers

D.C. tap water vs. spring water

In double-blind taste tests, approximately 57% of students preferred spring water.

Tyler Morrison, Kamal Aqui, Mr. Hansen (assisted with data collection)

D.C. vs. Maryland vs. Virginia tap water

In double-blind taste tests, students clearly preferred a Virginia tap water sample, based on a rating scale. This trend held even after considering the student’s home area and type of water (tap or bottled) normally consumed. The test was not replicated for multiple water sources within each area.

Brandon Dixon, Jake Williams, Will Felder

Safeway Select vs. name brand cola, cookies, raisins, and breakfast cereal

Of the four name-brand products tested in double-blind trials against Safeway Select products, only Chips Ahoy appears to have any appreciable preference among students.

Eric Love, Brian Barrett, Trevor Winstead

Assessing the legitimacy of a claim made by 20/20 that partial visual occlusion affects mental functioning

Differences appear to be negligible. (Since we had not studied significance testing yet, there were no p values.)