A statistical study on the perceptions of earthquake-affected mothers regarding laughter therapy

In social science research, a study is framed using various variables. A variable is an entity that can take different values between individuals and over time. It is a symbol to which numbers or values are assigned. These are characteristics or conditions that can be observed, manipulated, or controlled by the researcher. A variable that truly exhibits variability provides detailed information about the research situation. It is important to understand variables in order to use them correctly and obtain relevant and meaningful results from them. It is also useful to understand and evaluate their applications in other studies. Therefore, this thesis study was prepared to explain in detail the diversity of experimental and control groups in social science research where the independent variable is laughter therapy and the use of dependent variables according to the diversity of groups. In addition, this thesis study presents recommendations for experimental and control groups that are not found in the literature for laughter therapy applications. Finally, the thesis includes the analysis results of data obtained from a field study conducted on earthquake-affected mothers living in Elazığ and Malatya provinces, which is not found in the literature on laughter therapy applications and is recommended for earthquake-affected individuals.