experimental design Flashcards
what is a solution to the problem of order effects caused by a repeated measures design?
a solution would be counterbalancing. this is when half of the participants are made to do conditions in one order and the other half in the opposite order.
this eliminates order effects
what is an experimental method?
the manipulation of the IV to see its effect on the DV
independent groups
there are two separate groups of participants: one group takes part in condition A, the other takes part in condition B
advantages of independent groups
- fewer demand characteristics - participants may only know the condition they have taken part in
- no order effects - only takes part in one condition so participants don’t get bored or practised
disadvantages of independent groups
- more participants required
- individual differences as the people taking part in each condition are different - one group might simply be better at that particular task
repeated measures
there is only one group of participants: this group takes part in both conditions
advantages of repeated measures
- less people required
- no individual differences as the same person does both conditions
disadvantages of repeated measures
- demand characteristics - participants expect what the second condition may be and may perform to meet that expectation
- order effect - either boredom or practise - can be helped by counter-balancing
matched pairs
there are 2 separate groups but this time they are matched into pairs for certain qualities such as same age or iq: one of each pair takes part in condition A, the other takes part in condition B
advantages of matched pairs
- no order effects
- controls for individual differences - can be more sure the IV caused difference in DV rather than big differences between the 2 groups
disadvantages of matched pairs
- can be difficult to make perfect matches and is costly on money and time
