pilot studies and experimental design

Question 1

what are pilot studies?

Answer 1

• small scale prototypes of a study before the full researcher to see if there are problems with:

1. experimental design: enough time to complete tasks
2. instructions for participants: are they clear?
3. measuring instruments

Question 2

repeated measures

Answer 2

the same participants take part in each condition

Question 3

evaluate repeated measures

Answer 3

+ requires fewer participants, so is less costly and time-consuming. also reduces the chances of individual differences impacting results

– order effects can occur, if they experience practice effects they may perform in the second condition, or may perform worse in the second if they are tired/bored. can counter this with counterbalancing

Question 4

independent groups

Answer 4

• uses two separate groups of participants, one for each condition
• should be randomly allocated to each condition to reduce investigator effects

Question 5

evaluate independent groups

Answer 5

+ avoids order effects as they only do one condition. also reduces the chance of demand characteristics as they’re unlikely to guess the aim. results more valid

– more participants are needed so is more expensive and time-consuming. participant variables may effect the results

Question 6

matched pairs

Answer 6

• pairs of participants are matched based on key variables like age or IQ
• one pair is them put in one condition, and the other in the second

Question 7

evaluate matched pairs

Answer 7

+ reduces participant variables. order effects are less likely as participants only do one condition

– more participants are needed, so more expensive and time-consuming. very difficult to find exact matched pairs so individual differences may still play a role