Experimental Methodology – Mechanisms

Experimental methodology the manipulation of key variables, under controlled conditions, to establish cause and effect relationships. Experimental methods are vital for providing insights into important causal relationships hypothesized to impact health-related outcomes.

• Dr. Ashenafi S Cherkos
• Dr. Melissa Lewis
• Dr. Dana Litt
• Dr. Justin Luningham

• Gex, K. S., Acuff, S. F., Campbell, K. W., Mun, E.-Y., Dennhardt, A. A., Borsari, B., Martens, M. P., & Murphy, J. G. (2022). Change in alcohol demand following a brief intervention predicts change in alcohol use: A latent growth curve analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.14887
• Gex, K. S., Mun, E.-Y., Barnett, N. P., McDevitt-Murphy, M., Ruggiero, K. J., Thurston, I. B., Olin, C. C., Voss, A. T., Withers, A. J., & Murphy, J. G. (2022). A randomized pilot trial of a mobile delivered brief motivational interviewing and behavioral economic alcohol intervention for emerging adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000838.
• Lewis, M. A., Rhew, I. C., Fairlie, A. M., Swanson, A. Anderson, J. & Kaysen, D. L. (2019). Evaluating personalized feedback intervention framing with a randomized controlled trial to reduce young adult alcohol-related sexual risk taking. Prevention Science, 310-320. doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0879-4
• Litt, D. M., Zhou, Z., Fairlie, A. M., Waldron, K. A., Geusens, F., & Lewis, M. A. (2023).  Experimental test of drinking and abstaining social media content on adolescent and young adult social norms and alcohol use.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 84, 700-709.
• Litt, D. M., & Stock, M. L. (2011). Adolescent alcohol-related risk cognitions: The roles of social norms and social networking sites. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25, 708-713.
• Mun, E.-Y., von Eye, A., & White, H. R. (2009). An SEM approach for the evaluation of intervention effects using pre-post-post designs. Structural Equation Modeling, 16(2), 315-337.
• Mun, E.-Y., White, H. R., & Morgan, T. J. (2009). Individual and situational factors that influence the effcacy of personalized feedback substance use interventions for mandated college students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(1), 88-102.
• Ray, A. E., Kim, S.-Y., White, H. R., Larimer, M. E., Mun, E.-Y., Clarke, N., Jiao, Y., Atkins, D.
• C., Huh, D., & The Project INTEGRATE Team (2014). When less is more and more is less in brief motivational interventions: Characteristics of intervention content and their associations with drinking outcomes. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 28, 1026-1040.
• Stock, M., Litt, D. M., & Arlt, V., & Peterson, L., & Sommerville, J. (2013). Impact of academic versus health-risk information on cognitions associated with illicit prescription stimulant use. British Journal of Health Psychology, 18, 490-507.
• Testa, M., Livingston, J. A., Wang, W., & Lewis, M. A. (2019). Preventing college sexual assault by reducing hookups: A randomized controlled trial of a personalized normative feedback intervention. Prevention Science, 21, 388-397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01098-3
• White, H. R., Mun, E.-Y., Pugh, L., & Morgan, T. J. (2007). Long-term e_ects of brief substance use interventions for mandated college students: Sleeper effects of an in-person personal feedback intervention. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 31(8), 1380-1391.