Experimental Design

Question 1

What is an experimental design?

Answer 1

A method used to structure how participants are separated into conditions.

Question 2

What are repeated measures?

Answer 2

A method whereby all participants experience both conditions and are tested against themselves.

Question 3

What are the strengths of repeated measures?

Answer 3

・not subject to participant variables (same groups)

Question 4

What are the weaknesses of repeated measures?

Answer 4

・order effects
・time consuming (gaps needed between conditions)
・demand characteristics
・may need different materials

Question 5

What are independent groups?

Answer 5

Participants are randomly allocated to each condition. They are divided into seperate groups where each will experience one level of IV.

Question 6

What are the strengths of independent groups?

Answer 6

・avoids order effects
・lowered risk of demand characteristics

Question 7

What are weaknesses of independent groups?

Answer 7

・less economical (needs more participants to produce results)
・risk of participant variables affecting results

Question 8

What are matched pairs?

Answer 8

A method whereby participants are matched to a participant in another group according to a key variable
(related to the study).

Question 9

What are the strengths of matched pairs?

Answer 9

・lower risk of demand characteristics (less likely to guess aim)
・tailored participant matching process controls participant variables
・order effects are controlled

Question 10

What are the weaknesses of matched pairs?

Answer 10

・complex process, not enough participants to match identically
・lengthy process