The Acute Effects of Humor and Exercise on Mood and Anxiety

The Acute Effects of Humor and Exercise on Mood and Anxiety
Use the article "The Acute Effects of Humor and Exercise on Mood and Anxiety" by Attila Szabo, published in The Journal of Leisure Research in 2003, to answer the following questions.
1. On what basis did the author justify the need for their study? i.e., what was the rationale for conducting this study? What flaws and/or limitations of prior research did he identify to support the need for more research?
2. How did the author use the review of literature to help support the variables and design used in the study?
3. Into which broad category of design does this study fall? (i.e., was it a type of true experimental, quasi-experimental, or non-experimental design). Within the broad design type, what specific type of design was used in the study? What information in the article suggests this?
4. What type of sampling procedure did the author use for obtaining participants (and how did you determine this)? To what extent did the sampling procedure appear to account for representativeness of the sample?
5. Was the sample size in the current study sufficient? Conduct a post hoc power analysis on this study to determine what sample size would have been required to obtain sufficient statistical power in this study, Indicate how you determined the minimal N needed for the statistical analyses in this study.
6. What is meant by ecological validity and how did the authors attempt to maximize ecological validity in the design of their study?
7. What are at least three possible threats to internal validity that might have been present in this study? Indicate how these threats or artifacts might have affected the outcome of the study. (Do not merely provide a general list of threats and artifacts, but describe threats that might apply to this particular study.) Also describe any efforts the authors made to address these potential threats.
8. Discuss at least two possible threats to external validity and briefly explain how these aspects of the study posed external validity threats.
9. Given that the order of treatments was the same for all participants, explain the potential advantage and disadvantage of this design decision.
10. What efforts, if any, did the author take to ensure treatment fidelity? Where there is no evidence of efforts to ensure treatment fidelity, discuss how the study might have been affected by lack of fidelity.
11. If you were attempting to extend this line of research in which the effects of humor on levels of anxiety are examined, describe two changes you would make in a new study in an effort to address either flaws or limitations of the current study. Explain how these proposed changes would improve either the internal or external validity of the study.