Experimental Design

Question 1

Independent Group Design

Answer 1

Participants are placed into separate groups
Each group does 1 level of the IV
E.g. Group 1- completes homework task with the TV on
Group 2- completes a homework task with the TV off
Researcher will then compare the performance(DV) of the 2 groups

Question 2

IGD However

Answer 2

The researcher cannot control the effects of the participant variable and these could act as a confounding variable
E.g. someone in group 1 may have learning difficulties and cannot answer the homework questions and no one in group 2 has difficulties, it could impact results

Question 3

IDG Solution

Answer 3

The researcher could deal with this problem by randomly allocating participants to conditions to distribute participant variables evenly

Question 4

Matched Pair Design

Answer 4

Follows an independent group design where there are 2 groups of participants and each do a different level of the IV, however they are based on key characteristics relevant to the study
E.g. same IQ level for participation A in group 1 and participant B in group 2
The data is then compared by the researcher

Question 5

MPD However

Answer 5

It is very time consuming and difficult to match participants on key variables
The researcher cannot control all of the variables as some maybe unknown
E.g. you can conduct an experiment on memory and think you have matched everyone accordingly, however someone’s memory may be better than first anticipated

Question 6

MPD Solution

Answer 6

Limiting the number of variables that ou are matching to make it easier
Conduct a pilot study to consider key variables that may be important when matching

Question 7

Repeated Measures

Answer 7

All participants receive all levels of the IV
E.g. each participant does the homework task with the TV on, a week later they do the homework task with the TV off
The researcher will then compare the performance of the DV for each participant on the 2 tests

Question 8

RM However

Answer 8

The order that you do the conditions could affect performance - this is order effects
Students may do better on the second homework task because they have done it before - this is known as the practice effect
However they do worse on the second task because they are bored of doing the same test again - this is known as the borden effect
Participants may also guess the aim of the experiment when doing the second condition therefore change their behaviour - this can effect the results

Question 9

RM Solution

Answer 9

Using 2 different tests and using them in both conditions
In order to stop the participants guessing the aim of the study could be to create a cover story or use red-herrings