Experimental design Flashcards
What method is the best for identifying causal relationship?
- experimental method
- where groups systematically differ by only one variable
What internal validity threats are there to an experimenter’s results?
- Time
- Group threats
- Participant reactivity threats
What are more specific time related internal validity threats?
- history
- maturation
- Selection-maturation interaction
- repeated-testing
- instrument change
What are more specific Group related internal validity threats?
- selection: initial non-equivalence of groups
- regression to the mean
- Differential mortality
- Control group awareness of its status
What are more specific participant reactivity related internal validity threats?
- experimenter effects
- reactivity
- evaluation apprehension
Explain how history can threaten internal validity
- Extraneous events between pre-test and post-test affect ppt post test performance
SO add control
What in internal validity?
Having confidence that the changes to the dependent variable IS DUE to the independent variable
Explain how maturation threatens internal validity
- longitudinal experiment
- ppt can change during the course of the study
- so difference due to natural development/ things happening
SO have a control at each developmental point + try and control the natural programs
Explain how selection-maturation interaction threatens internal validity
- groups of different ages
- might have different maturation rates = response to manipulation
SO make sure they only differ by only one variable (eg match age)
Explain how repeated testing can threaten internal validity
- pre-test may improve their performance?
SO avoid repeated testing/ add control group who only get post-test
Explain how instrument change can threaten internal validity
Experimenter getting bored, not good = another systematic difference between conditions
SO having highly standardised procedures, random allocation + lots of familiarisation for the experimenter
Explain how initial non-equivalence of groups can threaten the internal validity
Cohort effect: groups differ on many variables other than the one interest
Explain how regression to the mean can threaten the internal validity
- testing once can result in extreme score and picking people from this score, their scores can be vastly different next time
SO select people randomly
Explain how differential mortality can threaten internal validity
- motivation to recover from something = making the treatment more effective
Explain how experimenter effects can threaten internal validity
- experimenters have expectations which may affect performance
- pygmalion effect
- Placebo effect
SO “double-blind” procedures if possible