I need help with my science fair project???????????????

Question

Hey my science question is ............
Does Scary Movies Cause Nightmares???/
Please. Help. Me. Any Info, Comments, Or Anything Would Help. Thanks.

Answer 1

One approach to this would be as follows:

For your test group:
You could have 5 people (or more if possible) watch a different scary movie every night for a week. Give them each a dream diary to write down any dreams they can remember when they wake up.

For your control group:
Once again, have 5 or more people watch a non-scary movie every night for a week. Give them a dream diary to report on their dreams as well.

For your placebo group:
Again with 5 or more people, don't assign them any movies to watch at night...but still have them report to you about their dreams.

Before you analyze what everyone dreamt about, you should think about what you classify as being a nightmare. Percieved threats to one's safety might be one thing, but what else can be classified as a nightmare?

Also, a lot of times people won't remember what they dreamt about at night, so you could improve your chances of people recording their dreams if you have them set an alarm to themselves up briefly once or twice during the night. You might have a hard time getting sleep-lovers to comply with that though... But if people are willing to do that, they have to remember to write down their dreams when they are woken up...once they go back to sleep it will be unlikely that they remember them again later.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm guessing she's looking for an A, not a Ph. D. But that's not a bad idea if you have the willing participants.