Two arm randomised experiment, pre registered

Psychology research poster

The strongest psychology research poster leads with its question and answers it in the first sentence of results. This A0 portrait example asks whether ten minutes of paced breathing before an exam lowers test anxiety, and answers with the number: 5.7 points lower with a 95% CI of -8.4 to -3.0, in a pre registered two arm experiment with 204 students analysed.

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RU
RESEARCH QUESTION
Does ten minutes of paced breathing before an exam lower test anxiety?
A. Sorensen ¹, K. Mbeki ¹, J. Halloran ²
1 School of Psychology, Redcliffe University · 2 Redcliffe Student Wellbeing Service
WHAT WE DID
Design. Two arm, individually randomised experiment, pre-registered before the first participant (registry id REG-2025-0614).
Participants. 216 undergraduates sitting the same first year statistics exam, recruited from the course with no course credit attached.
Intervention. Ten minutes of paced breathing at six breaths per minute with an audio guide; control arm read quietly for the same ten minutes.
Measure. 20 item state anxiety scale (range 20 to 80) immediately before entering the exam; exam score as the secondary outcome.
Analysis. ANCOVA on the pre exam score with baseline anxiety as covariate, alpha 0.05, analysis pre-registered with the design.
PARTICIPANT FLOW
Screened
n = 268
Not enrolled: 31 declined, 21 baseline missing
n = 52
Randomised
n = 216
Breathing arm
n = 108
Reading arm
n = 108
Analysed (101 + 103)
n = 204
Results
The answer is yes, by a medium sized margin. State anxiety immediately before the exam averaged 41.2 in the breathing arm against 46.9 in the reading arm, an adjusted difference of -5.7 points (95% CI -8.4 to -3.0, p < 0.001, d = 0.52) with baseline anxiety as covariate. Baseline scores were 44.8 and 45.1, so the arms started level and separated only after the ten minutes: the breathing arm walked into the exam calmer than it arrived, while the reading arm walked in more anxious. The secondary outcome did not follow. Exam scores averaged 63.1 against 61.8, a difference of 1.3 points with a 95% CI from -1.9 to 4.5 that comfortably includes zero. Ten minutes of breathing lowered how anxious students felt; it did not measurably change how they performed, and this board reports both facts with equal weight. Attrition was small and balanced: 7 of 108 breathing and 5 of 108 reading participants missed the pre exam measure, leaving 204 analysed, and their baseline scores did not differ from completers.
Breathing
Reading
Baseline
Before the exam
015304560
Figure 1. State anxiety (20 to 80 scale) at baseline and immediately before the exam, by arm. The arms separate only after the intervention.
Source: Trial dataset, 2026.
Discussion
A 5.7 point fall on a 60 point scale, d = 0.52, is a medium effect from an intervention that costs ten minutes and an audio file, and the design supports the causal reading: randomised arms, level baselines, a pre-registered analysis and attrition too small and too balanced to explain the gap. What the design cannot do is separate paced breathing from expectation, because students knew which activity they were doing; quiet reading controls for time and seclusion, not for believing one is doing something calming. The null on exam performance restrains the claim a service should make: this is an intervention for the experience of the exam, not for the mark. Single site, one exam, and a self report measure bound generality, and all three bounds are addressed in the next study.
Background
Around one undergraduate in five reports anxiety severe enough to impair exam performance, and the interventions with the best evidence, multi week cognitive programmes, are exactly the ones an anxious student is least likely to start in exam week. The wellbeing service that co-authored this study asked a narrower question: is there anything worth doing in the last quarter hour before the paper is turned over? Slow paced breathing at around six breaths per minute reliably raises heart rate variability and is repeatedly associated with lower state anxiety, but most published tests are laboratory studies with no exam in sight. This experiment took the ten minutes to the corridor outside a real statistics exam, randomised who spent it breathing with an audio guide and who spent it reading quietly, and measured anxiety at the door.
-5.7
points of state anxiety, breathing against reading
95% CI -8.4 to -3.0, d = 0.52, n = 204 analysed
Future work
Three extensions are planned. A second cohort at another university tests whether the effect survives a different exam culture. A physiological arm adds heart rate variability so the mechanism is measured rather than assumed. And a three arm design with a placebo audio guide, calm music at no particular tempo, separates paced breathing from the expectation of being helped, which this study could not do.
Anxiety 5.7 points lower after ten minutes of breathing
Exam scores unchanged, difference 1.3 (CI crosses zero)
Effect size d = 0.52, a medium effect
Pre-registered, 204 of 216 analysed
REFERENCES
1.Sorensen A, Mbeki K. Paced breathing and state anxiety: a laboratory dose study. Journal of Applied Psychophysiology 2024;29(1):44-59.
2.Halloran J, Sorensen A. Test anxiety prevalence in first year cohorts: a service audit. Student Wellbeing Reports 2023;5(2):12-24.
3.Mbeki K, Quist P. Reporting randomised experiments in psychology: a JARS worked example. Methods in Psychology Notes 2025;9(3):77-91.

Block by block

What each block on the board is for, in the order a reader walks it.

The question as the title
An eyebrow line reads research question and the title beneath it is the question itself: does ten minutes of paced breathing before an exam lower test anxiety? A reader who walks past with one glance still leaves knowing what the study asked, which no declarative title achieves as cleanly.
What we did
Five protocol entries carry the design: individually randomised and pre registered with the registry id printed, 216 undergraduates before a real statistics exam, the breathing intervention at six breaths per minute against quiet reading, the 20 to 80 anxiety scale, and the pre registered ANCOVA.
Participant flow
The six node flow runs 268 screened, 52 not enrolled in the aside itemised as 31 declined and 21 missing baseline, 216 randomised, 108 per arm, 204 analysed. The last node prints the split, 101 and 103, so the attrition arithmetic checks on the board.
Results
The first sentence answers the title: yes, by 5.7 points, 41.2 against 46.9 with baseline as covariate, d of 0.52. The secondary outcome follows with equal prominence: exam scores moved 1.3 points with an interval from -1.9 to 4.5, so the board claims a calmer walk into the exam, not a better mark.
Anxiety by arm (Figure 1)
Four bars carry the whole design: baseline at 44.8 and 45.1, level between arms, then 41.2 against 46.9 immediately before the exam. Level baselines beside separated outcomes is randomisation made visible, and the caption points the reader to the intervals in the text.
Discussion and background
The discussion credits the design, level baselines, small balanced attrition, pre registration, then names what it cannot rule out: students knew which activity they were doing, so expectation travels with the breathing. The background block explains why a ten minute intervention matters when multi week programmes go unstarted.
The key number and future work
The stat block prints -5.7 points with the interval, the effect size and the analysed n underneath. The future block commits to three concrete extensions: a second cohort, a physiological measure, and a placebo audio arm to separate breathing from expectation.
Conclusion points and references
Four bullets a reader can carry away: 5.7 points lower, exam scores unchanged, d of 0.52, pre registered with 204 analysed. The three references are invented for this fictional study, because the reference block is required on this layout; on your board, replace them with your sources.
How to adapt this board
Make your research question the title and let the first results sentence answer it in the same words. Put your primary outcome alone in the stat block, report the secondary outcome even when null, and keep the flow nodes reconciling, because a psychology audience checks attrition before effect sizes.

What makes this board work

The title is a question and results answers it

The board asks whether paced breathing lowers test anxiety and the first sentence of results replies with the number, 5.7 points with its interval. Question and answer share vocabulary, so nothing has to be translated.

The null is reported at full size

Exam scores moved 1.3 points with a 95% CI from -1.9 to 4.5, printed beside the significant result rather than dropped. The board claims exactly what the data supports: calmer students, unchanged marks.

Pre registration is on the board

The registry id sits in the first protocol entry and the analysis entry says the ANCOVA was pre registered, which converts the p value from a negotiation into a record.

Questions people ask

What goes on a psychology research poster?

The question, the design, the measure with its range, a participant flow, the effect with its interval and effect size, and the limits. This board adds a future work block, which the question led layout carries so the poster ends on the next study rather than a restated summary.

Should the poster follow APA style?

Follow APA norms for what you report, means, intervals, effect sizes, exact p values, rather than typographic convention. This board uses a numbered reference list because the block numbers entries automatically; the citation text inside each entry can follow APA order without any conflict.

How do I show the effect size?

Twice: in the stat block detail, where this board prints d = 0.52 under the -5.7 headline, and in the results sentence beside the interval. An effect size in the stat detail means the one number a passer by remembers arrives with its scale attached.

Where does pre registration go?

The registry id belongs in the first methods entry, as on this board, and the analysis entry should say the model was pre registered. If your analysis departed from the registration, the discussion is where the departure is named; silence is the one option a reviewer will not forgive.

Can I show individual data points?

Not on a bar chart, and this layout charts group means with the intervals in text. If the distribution is the story, outliers, floor effects, bimodality, report the relevant statistic in results and put the full distribution figure behind the QR code where it can be inspected at leisure.

Do I need a participant flow for an experiment?

Yes, whenever people were randomised. Attrition is the first thing a methods minded reader checks, and this flow shows it: 12 of 216 missed the pre exam measure, 7 and 5 by arm, small and balanced. Without the flow, that reassurance costs a conversation instead of a glance.

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