Experimental Design

• There are 3 main types of experimental design

  • Independent groups
  • Repeated measures
  • Mathed pairs design
• In an independent groups design participants only experience ine cindition of the independent variable. This design generates unrelated data.
• In an independent groups design, participants are randomally allocated to each condition of the independent variable.

  1. The nae of every participant in the sample is put into a hat or a box
  2. The researcher pulls out the first name and allocates the person to condition 1
  3. The researcher pulls out the second name and allocates this person to condition 2
• In an independent groups design researchers may use a specific name-generator software to randomise allocation to condition, especially if dealing with a large sample.
• Random allocation is done to avoid researcher bias.