experimental designs

• experimental design definition:

  the way participants are assigned into a group
• what are the 3 types of experimental designs:

  • independent groups
  • repeated-measures
  • matched-pairs
• independent groups definition:

  different participants in different conditions.

  one group is in the experimental condition & the other is in the control condition
• repeated measures definition:

  each participant does both/all the conditions. One group does the experimental condition & the other group will do the control, and then they swap
• matched pairs design definition:

  same as the independent groups - one half will do one condition & the other will do the other- BUT they match at least 1 person from each group based on specific characteristics so that the groups are fair
• what is an experimental condition ?

  changing the independent variables you are testing
• what is a control condition?

  keeping all of the variables the same
• define the term ’order of effects‘ :

  the order you complete each condition which could influence the results (for better or for worse)
• define the term ‘individual differences’ :

  the differences between participants e.g ages, IQ, skills and genders