Cat
Does bringing candy to a presentation increase class participation
Target: HES 560 masters students
Action: giving candy to some students randomly
Outcome: class participation
RCT
Does drinking more than 6 litres of water per day for a year increase the number of books Nolan reads, compared to his baseline reading before the intervention?
Target: Nolan
Action/Means (Intervention): Drinking more than 6 litres of water per day for one year
Outcome: Change in the number of books read from before the intervention to after the intervention
Pre Post-Test study
Among graduate students in Health and Exercise Science, does owning a cat, compared to not owning a cat, lead to lower productivity while studying at home?
Target: Graduate students in Health and Exercise Science
Action/Means (Exposure): Cat ownership
Outcome: Self-reported hours of productive studying per day
Cohort study
Does caring for 8 chickens during a house-sitting period increase Lani and Lauren’s happiness and love for chickens from pre-intervention to post-intervention?
Target: Lani and Lauren
Action/Means: Caring for 8 chickens while house-sitting
Outcome: Change in self-reported happiness and love for chickens
Pre Post-Test study
Do people who talk to frogs have better luck throughout the day?
Target: adults who regularly pass by ponds, puddles or frog-adjacent environments during their daily routine and adults who hate ponds, puddles and frogs
Action/Means: The habitual behaviour (luck) of the participants, people who naturally speak to frogs when they encounter them vs. people who do not
Outcome: "Luck" frog talkers vs. frog haters
Cohort study
Does a 4-week cat interaction intervention increase Brian Dalton’s self-reported happiness compared to his baseline happiness before the intervention?
Target: Brian Dalton
Action/Intervention: 4 weeks of cat interaction — 30 minutes of direct interaction with a cat every other day
Outcome: Brian’s daily self-reported happiness on a 1–10 scale (“How happy did you feel today?”)
Comparison: Brian’s baseline happiness levels prior to the intervention period
Pre post-test study
Among graduate students in Health and Exercise Science, does wearing “lucky socks” during exams, compared to wearing normal socks, improve exam performance?
Target: Graduate students in Health and Exercise Science
Action/Means (Intervention): Wearing designated “lucky socks” during an exam
Comparison: Wearing regular socks (control group)
Outcome: Exam score (%)
RCT Parallel Study
Does consuming a low-dose THC edible reduce stress in master’s students compared to a placebo?
Target: Master’s students reporting moderate to high academic stress during the semester
Action/Means (Intervention): Random assignment to either:
THC group: 5 mg THC edible
Placebo group: 0 mg THC edible (identical in appearance/taste)
Neither participants nor researchers know which edible is consumed
Outcome: Perceived stress during a 30-minute stress-inducing task (measured via anxiety score, heart rate, self-reported focus, sweat rate)
RCT (double blind, cross over)