Experimental Designs Flashcards
What are the 3 designs?
- Independent groups
- Repeated measures
- Matched pairs
What is independent measures design?
Participants only take part in one condition of the IV.
What are independent measures strength?
- No order effects: they don’t get to practise between conditions. No practise or fatigue effects.
- Demand characteristics are less of a problem
What are the weaknesses of independent measure?
Individual differences between groups
What is repeated measures design?
All participants take part in all conditions.
Strengths of repeated measures design?
No individual differences between groups.
What are weaknesses of repeated measures?
- Order effects: by the 2nd condition they’ve had practice (practise effects). May become bored (fatigue effects)
- Demand characteristics: may try to guess aim.
What is matched pairs design?
A form of independent measures design. Participants can be matched on variables, which are considered to be relevant to the experiment.
-E.g. age, gender, IQ or personality test scores
What are advantages of matched pairs?
- Unlike independent measures there are no individual differences.
- No order effects: no practise or fatigue effects
- Less chance of demand characteristics
What are weaknesses of matched pairs?
Impossible to match people exactly.
