Experimental Design Flashcards
What are the types of experimental design?
Repeated measures
Independent groups
Matched pairs
What are repeated measures?
All participants receive all versions of IV
What are the disadvantages of repeated measures?
Practice effect- participants may do better on second round as they are used to the study
Demand characteristics- they may guess the aims of the study
How would you deal with these disadvantages?
Counterbalancing
Produce a cover story that can be presented about the purpose of the test
What are independent groups?
Participants are placed in separate groups, each group does different IVs
What are the disadvantages of independent groups?
Researcher cannot control participant variables, confounding variable
Needs more participants than repeated measures to end up with the same data
How would you deal with these disadvantages?
Randomly allocate participants to conditions to distribute participant variables
What are matched pairs?
To use two groups of participants but match them on key characteristics
What are the disadvantages of matched pairs?
Time consuming, difficult to match individuals
Not possible to control all participant variables, only control them on what is relevant
What is counterbalancing?
Ensures that each condition in a repeated measures design is tested first or second in equal amounts
What are order effects?
Extraneous variables arising from the order in which conditions are presented
