Experimental designs

Question 1

What does an independent measures design involve using?

Answer 1

Different people in each condition

Question 2

What does a repeated measures design involve using?

Answer 2

The same people in each condition

Question 3

What is counterbalancing?

Answer 3

The group of participants are split into 2 and perform the tasks in a different order, ensuring each condition is tested 1st or 2nd in equal amounts and any differences are balanced or cancelled out

Question 4

What is matched pairs?

Answer 4

Where the participants are matched or paired with another who is similar in a number of variables, each person from a pair goes in different condition

Question 5

What are the strengths of independent measures?

Answer 5

1. Easy to run and can be used in a wide range of situations
2. There will be no problem with order effects

Question 6

What are the weaknesses of independent measures?

Answer 6

1. May be individual differences between the groups
2. A large sample is required as each participant is only used once

Question 7

What are the strengths of repeated measures?

Answer 7

1. Requires fewer participants
2. No risk of individual differences

Question 8

What are the weaknesses of repeated measures?

Answer 8

1. Demand characteristics- more of an opportunity to guess the purpose of the study
2. Order effects- the way they perform in a condition may be effected by when they do it

Question 9

What are the strengths of matched pairs?

Answer 9

1. No order effects
2. Much more of a reduced individual differences

Question 10

What are the weaknesses of matched pairs?

Answer 10

1. Time consuming and expensive
2. Difficult to ensure that the pairs are matched well

Question 11

What does counterbalancing eliminate?

Answer 11

Order effects

Question 12

What is randomisation/ random allocation?

Answer 12

• Randomly allocate participant’s to experimental conditions by putting all names on paper, then place in a top hat and shuffle
• Extract at random putting each name into different experimental conditions

Question 13

What does randomisation/ random allocation eliminate?

Answer 13

Reduces participant variability and sampling bias

Question 14

What is a single blind technique?

Answer 14

When the participants don’t know what the purpose of the study is

Question 15

What does a single blind technique eliminate?

Answer 15

Demand characteristics

Question 16

What is a double blind technique?

Answer 16

When the participants and experimenter don’t know what the purpose of the study is

Question 17

What does the double blind technique eliminate?

Answer 17

Experimenter effects, situational factors, participant factors

Question 18

What are standardised procedures?

Answer 18

Everyone does the same thing in the same order

Question 19

What do standardised procedures create?

Answer 19

Reliability