Week 1 Flashcards
Overview of Experimental Design Basics
Structure of a typical experimental article
Introduction
Conceptual Development
Methods
Results
General Discussion
Theoretical Contributions
Managerial Implications
Limitations/Future Research
Interchangeable Term: Manipulation
Treatment, Intervention
Interchangeable Term: Independent Variable (IV)
Factors
Interchangeable Term: Groups
Conditions, Levels, Cells
Interchangeable Term: Respondents
Participants
Interchangeable Term: Dependent Variables (DV)
Dependent Measures, Outcomes
Define Experimental Design
researchers examine impact of 1 or more IV’s independently (and also collectively if multiple IV’s) on 1 or more DV’s
How do you create 2 or more distinct groups/conditions within a given IV
IV’s are either strategically manipulated by researchers or measured “naturally”
What do all respondents do regardless of the condition
Answer the same questions
How do you tell if respondents differ based on their condition?
Analyze their answers
It is NOT an experimental design if -
if you do not manipulate anything (i.e. just measure)
True or False: Manipulation is always first in a survey
True
What is manipulation?
Researchers purposefully alter or change the IV(s) (i.e., apply a “treatment”) to see if it leads to a corresponding change in the DV(s)
The manipulation is conceived based on ______
Theory (i.e., theory suggests that a particular change in an IV would result in a particular change in some DV).
The goal of experimental design is to _____
isolate & observe effect of IV(s) on DV(s), WHILE controlling for effects of other variables on DV(s).
The ONLY difference between groups should be:
the difference we purposefully manipulate/allow for
Randomly assigning respondents to groups helps _____
helps to cancel out any naturally occurring differences between all of our respondents so that we can conclude that differences in responses are attributable (only) to the manipulation(s)
What lets us more confidently conclude that any change in our DV’s are directly due ONLY to the change in the IV(s)?
Random assignment of respondents to groups – coupled with ensuring that the only difference(s) between the groups are the ones we create (i.e., our manipulation[s])
What is internal validity?
refers to the extent to which a study or experiment is free from biases, confounding variables, and errors, ensuring that the observed effect is truly due to the independent variable and not other extraneous factors (i.e., what we see is caused by what we did – and not something else)
What is an interaction?
An interaction looks at effects of different combos of the IV’s on your DV’s
If you don’t have any ________, then you don’t have a true experiment and can’t infer causality - WHY?
manipulated factors in your design - why: due to lack of random assignment to different groups based on your manipulation
True or False: A measured IV by itself is fine and considered an experiment.
False
