Experimental Design Flashcards
What is experimental design?
It is how participants are allocated to specific conditions
Examples of experimental design?
Independent group : where different participants are tested in each condition. As the variable changes, so does the participant
Repeated measures : each participant is tested in both/all conditions. They would be tested in all conditions in a certain order
Matched pair : a combo of the independent group and repeated measures : participants from condition 1 are matched with participants from condition 2
Advantages of independent group and how is it better than the others
Disadvantages of independent group and how can it be improved
The independent group avoids impact of the first condition so there are no demand characteristics which increases the accuracy of the test and hence no order effects
However, the participants are different for each condition which affects the participant variable so this will reduce the validity of the test
Therefore they might use random allocation
Generally they are less economical (than repeated measures )
Advantages of independent group and how is it better than the others
Disadvantages of independent group and how can it be improved
They are more controlled so there is a higher validity such as the participant variables
Fewer participants are needed so time efficient
However, the demand characteristics cannot be controlled so it could arise order effects that causes deterioration to the experiment
The researches try and use counterbalancing which is used to control order effects
Half take condition A and the other half take condition B and swap
Advantages of independent group and how is it better than the others
Disadvantages of independent group and how can it be improved
The demand characteristics are a less of a problem so there is a higher validity and there is no order effects.
Some attempt to reduce participant variable but the participants cannot always be matched as they might not be a pair or it is time consuming and expensive - too many participants
LESS ECONOMICAL than the rest
