Participant Design/Experimental Design Flashcards
What is an independent groups design?
Participants only take part in one condition of the experiment (2 separate groups) and can be randomly allocated to the two groups
What are the strengths of an independent groups design?
No order effects
Less likely to produce demand characteristics
What are the weaknesses of an independent groups design?
Participant variables
Requires twice as many participants
What is a repeated measures design?
Participants take part in both conditions of the experiment (1 group)
What are the strengths of a repeated measures design?
No participant variables
Requires half as many participants
What are the weaknesses of a repeated measures design?
Order effects (counterbalancing reduces these)
May be a problem with demand characteristics
What is a matched pairs design?
Participants are matched in each condition for characteristics that may have an effect on their performance
e.g. memory test
What are the strengths of a matched pairs design?
Reduces participant variables
No order effects
What are the weaknesses of a matched pairs design?
Matching is difficult and time consuming task which may be too costly to undertake
Pre-testing to match participants may not be accurate
