A high school humanities teacher wants to determine whether monetary awards will motivate students to create better projects. The teacher assigns a project about community spirit. He says that the student with the best project will win a $25 prize awarded by the mayor and be featured in a front-page article in the local newspaper. After grading the completed projects, the teacher concludes that monetary awards motivate students to create better projects.
a. Describe the problems with the teacher’s study. Include in your description at least one possible lurking or confounding variable and identify which type it is.
b. Redesign the study so that it is a well-designed experiment.