CHAPTER 11: WITHIN-SUBJECTS
DESIGN
- Repeated measures design (subject serves in
more than one condition of the experiment
and measured on the DV after each tx)
- Comparing their performance on the DV
across conditions to determine whether
there is a tx effect
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES:
- Presumed or possible Cause
- Can be controlled
- Can be changed
DEPENDENT VARIABLES:
- Presumed Effect or results
- Can be observed and measured
POWER: ability of the experiment to detect the IV’s
effect on the DV
• WITHIN-SUBJECT FACTORIAL DESIGN
- With 2 or more independent variable
• MIXED DESIGN
- 1 between-subjects and
- 1 within-subject variable
ORDER EFFECTS
- Subject’s response differs due to:
position, order or series of tx
- PRACTICE EFFECTS (+)
o Leads to IMPROVEMENT as
experiment goes on; subject-get
better
- FATIGUE EFFECTS (-)
o Cause DECLINE in performance
as experiment goes on; subject-
tired
** BOTH changes= PROGRESSIVE ERROR
- Includes any changes in the subject’s
responses, caused by testing in multiple
tx conditions
- As experiment progresses, results are
distorted
- Ex: Cola experiment
CONTROLLING FOR ORDER EFFECTS
1. COUNTERBALANCING
- Function: distribute progressive error
across the different tx conditions of the
experiment
- Ensure order effects that alter results in
one condition will be offset or
counterbalanced
- Guarantees order effect won’t be the
reasons for changes in the DV
STRATEGIES:
A. SUBJECT-BY-SUBJECT
COUNTERBALANCING
- Technique for controlling progressive
error for each individual subject by
presenting all tx conditions more than
once
2 Techniques:
§ REVERSE COUNTERBALANCING
- Present all tx conditions TWICE
o First in one order then In reverse
order
- Makes progressive error the same
Ex:
New cola= brand A
Old cola= brand B
= give subjects cola in the order ABBA
§ BLOCK RANDOMIZATION
- Each tx must be presented several times
- BDCA ● DBAC ● ACDB ● CABD ● BADC
- Typically used when tx conditions are
short
B. ACROSS-SUBJECTS
COUNTERBALANCING
- Used to distribute the effects of
progressive error so that if we average
across subjects, the effects will be the
same for all conditions in the
experiment.
2 techniques:
§ COMPLETE
COUNTERBALANCING
- Controls for progressive order by using
ALL possible sequences of the
conditions and using every sequence
the same number of times; gets harder
when more conditions are added
§ PARTIAL COUNTERBALANCING
- controls progressive error by using
SOME subset of the available order
sequences; these sequences are chosen
through special procedures.
- RANDOMIZED COUNTERBALANCING:
o Simplest partial
counterbalancing
o Randomly select out as many
sequences as the subjects have
for the experiment
Ex.: 120 possible sequences (5 treatment
conditions) and only 30 subjects; randomly select
30 sequences and assign them to a random subject.
 - LATIN SQUARE COUNTERBALANCING
o Uses square or matrix where
each tx appears only ONCE in
any order position in the
sequences
- Provides protection against order
effects but cannot control for other
systematic interference between 2
treatment conditions (ABCD, BADC,
CDAB, DCBA -> A comes before B twice)
Counterbalance for each subject when
expecting large differences in pattern of
progressive error from subject to subject
(For example, in a weight training
experiment, everyone will have fatigue at
different levels).
📌 Counterbalance across subjects when
differences won’t be large.

CARRYOVER EFFECTS
- Effects of some tx will persist (carry
over) after txs are removed
Ex: Identifying three scents: lilac, gasoline, and
perfume. After smelling gasoline, the subject
cannot correctly identify the perfume because the
smell of gas was still there.
ORDER EFFECT vs CARRYOVER EFFECT
- ORDER EFFECT: emerge as a result of
the position of a tx in a sequence
- CARRYOVER EFFECT: function of the tx
itself
Order as a design factor
You can include treatment order as an additional
factor in the design if you are concerned that a
partial counterbalancing technique might not be
controlling adequately for progressive error or
carryover effects.
For example, with only two treatment conditions,
half the subjects receive the sequence AB, and the
others receive BA (2x2 mixed-factorial design)
Treatment order is always a between-subjects
factor

Subject-by-subject counterbalancing and

complete counterbalancing will usually
control carryover effects adequately by
balancing them over the entire experiment.

o Balanced Latin squares: each

treatment condition appears
only once in each position in the
order sequences and precedes
and follows every other
condition an equal number of
times

A B D C
B C A D
C D B A
D A C B
Choosing among counterbalancing procedures

Every experiment with a within-subjects condition

will need some form of counterbalancing.

• 1 IV or factorial design à counterbalance

all conditions.
• Within-subjects factorial à multiply the
levels of each factor together to get total
number of conditions)

For example, 4 x 2 within-subjects design

has 8 conditions to be counterbalanced.

• In a mixed design, only the within-subjects

have to be counterbalanced
CHAPTER 12: WITHIN-SUBJECTS
DESIGN: SMALL N
N: stands for the # of subjects needed in an
experiment
LARGE N DESIGNS
- compare the performance of groups of
subjects.
- most common used research design
SMALL N DESIGNS
- test only one or very few subjects
- behavior is studied more intensely in
this design
- uses:
o labs and field studies
o human and animal behavior
o practical reasons (e.g clinical
psychopathology and
psychophysics- how we sense
and perceive stimuli)
o most extensively used in
experimentation- operant
conditioning
§ BF SKINNER: studied
positive and negative
reinforcement
§ He believed, it is better
to use careful, cautious
measurements rather
than statistical tests
BASELINE
- Measure of behavior as it normally
occurs without experimental
manipulation- first phase of small N
design
Ex. we want to examine the notion that talking to a
plant makes it grow better.
We begin with the control condition of the
experiment (condition A)
For three months, we do not talk to the plant and
just measure it every Monday—this establishes
baseline.
In the second phase of the experiment, we
introduce the experimental manipulation
(condition B)—talking to the plant for 2 hours each
day and measuring it every Monday for three
months.
ABA DESIGNS
- Refers to the order of the conditions of
the experiment
- A (baseline condition) followed by B
(experimental condition) returns back to
A
- Uses:
o Maybe used only if the tx
conditions are reversible
o For large N designs
- AKA- reversal designs
VARIATIONS OF ABA DESIGN
ABABA
- The treatment is reintroduced and
added another return to baseline.
ABACADA
- B, C, and D represent 3 different
treatment conditions. Used to extend
the conditions in a small N experiment.
A-B-BC-A-B-BC
- It is used to separate the effects of each
component of a compound independent
variable. The components are presented
individually and in combinations to
determine their effects. Any number of
components can be examined.
AB
- Sometimes researchers sacrifice some
precision for ethical reasons.
MULTIPLE BASELINE DESIGN
- A series of baselines and treatments are
compared within the same person, but
once a treatment is established, it is not
withdrawn
- Uses:
o used when it is not desirable to
reverse treatment conditions.
o used when the researcher wants
to test a treatment across
multiple settings, or when the
researcher wants to assess the
effects of a treatment on several
behaviors.
STATISTICS
- not usually used in small N designs
- ROLE: to infer things about the
population from sample data because
making generalizations based on one
subject isn’t reasonable.
CHANGING-CRITERION DESIGN
- An experimental approach in which
behavior will be modified in increments
and the criterion for success will
intentionally be changed as the
behavior is modified.
 - Used when the behavior being modified
cannot be changed all at once; DV
would be your criterion; reward changes
with criterion.

DISCRETE TRIAL DESIGNS

- Does not rely on baselines
- instead it relies on presenting and
averaging across many applications of
different treatment conditions and
comparing performance on the DV
across the treatment conditions.
- Repeated presentation over many trials
can show reliable picture of the effects
of the IV.

ADVANTAGES OF SMALL N DESIGNS:

o When you are studying clinical subject (ex: a

disturbed child).
o When very few subjects are available.
o You get a more accurate picture of results
or effects (because you measure the effects
multiple times and observe it closer).

DISADVANTAGES OF SMALL N DESIGNS:

o Low in external validity. It may be hard to

generalize for the entire population based
on the results of a few subjects.
o History threats are a problem with small N
designs so it is important to replicate
findings before generalizing them.

WHEN WOULD WE PREFER A LARGE N

DESIGN?
• A large N design would be desirable when
we have sufficient subjects and want to
increase generalizability.
• The generalizability of a large N study
depends on how we select our sample since
a seriously biased sample will not represent
the population.

Why doesn't a large N study always have

greater generality than a small N study?

If a large N study’s sample is biased, we will be

unable to generalize its findings to a larger
population. Also, if it is poorly controlled, there will
be no valid findings to generalize.
In contrast, a well-controlled small N experiment
using a single subject might be successfully
replicated across sufficient subjects to generalize
its results to the population from which they were
drawn.
CHAPTER 13: WHY WE NEED
STATISTICS?
STATISTICS
• quantitative measurements of samples
• to evaluate objectively with the data
carry out statistical tests to see if the IV
PROBABLY caused changes in the DV
STATISTICAL INFERENCE
• Making a statement about the population
and all its samples based on what we see in
the samples we have.
• Allows us to draw conclusions about a
parent population from a sample
• Answers the question, “Are the differences
between groups significantly greater than
expected between any sample in the
population?”
VARIABILITY
• For a set of dependent variable
measurements, there is variability when
the scores are different.
• “spreads out” a sample of scores drawn
from a population.
Results are statistically significant when the
difference between our treatment groups exceeds
the normal variability of scores on the dependent
variable.
STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
• means that there is a treatment effect at an
alpha level we have preselected, like .01 or
.05.
NULL HYPOTHESIS (H0)
We don’t test the research hypothesis directly.
Instead, we formulate and test the null hypotheisis
(H0)
• states that there is no effect or relationship
between variables
• performance of the tx groups is so similar
that the scores could have been sampled
from the same population.
• States that results are so similar they mean
nothing.
• Null is assumed true until proven wrong
• We use statistical tests to tell us if we reject
the null hypothesis or not.
• If we reject the null hypothesis, we are
confirming a change between the groups
that occurred as a result of the experiment:
We say that our results are statistically
significant.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1)
- States the effect or relationship exists
- There is no way to directly test the
alternative hypothesis (H1) —the
research hypothesis— which states that
the data came from different
populations. Therefore, we can never
really prove that our research
hypothesis is correct.
- The best we can do is show that it is
unlikely that the pattern occurred from
chance variation within the population
we sampled: we can only show that the
null hypothesis is probably wrong.
The more variability, the harder it will be to reject
the null hypothesis.
DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS
- A hypothesis that predicts the way
the difference between groups will
go.
ex.: time passes quickly when you are
having fun
NON-DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS
- States that there will be a difference
between the two groups/conditions but
no direction is specified
Ex.: teacher-student relationship
influences learning
NORMAL CURVE
- a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that
represent distribution in theory of the
population.
- Scores fall close to the center
CHOOSING A SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL
SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL (a)
- A criterion for deciding whether to
reject the null or not.
In psychology, we generally reject the null
hypothesis if the probability of obtaining this
pattern of data by chance alone is less than 5%. ONE-TAILED and TWO-TAILED TESTS
Then we say the significance level is
p <. 05.
When we choose a significance level of .05, we are
ONE-TAILED TEST (DIRECTIONAL)
saying that we will reject the null hypothesis if we - Used when we have a directional
get a pattern of data that is unlikely that it could hypothesis.
have occurred by chance less than 5 times out of - The 5% is not distributed to both sides;
100. it can only go one way.

In some experiments, we may want a stricter

criterion. We could choose a significance level of p
< .01
An even stricter criterion, such a p < .001 (less than
1 in one thousand), might be chosen for some
medical research or other projects in which being
wrong about a treatment effect could have
disastrous human consequences.

📌 To make a valid test of hypothesis, we must

think ahead and decide what the significance level TWO-TAILED TEST (NONDIRECTIONAL)
will be BEFORE running the experiment.
- Used when we have a nondirectional
hypothesis.
TYPE 1 and TYPE 2 ERROR 9DECISION - The 5% critical region is divided onto
ERROR) either side of the distribution (i.e. 2.5%
on the left and right side of the center).
TYPE 1
- “false positives”
- Reject the null hypothesis when the null
is true
- Represented by (a-alpha)
TYPE 2
- “false negatives”
- Fail to reject a false null hypothesis
- Represented by (b-beta)

CRITICAL REGIONS
- A.K.A as rejection region
- a set of values f
- or the test statistic for which the null
hypothesis is rejected. If the observed
test statistic is in the critical region then
we reject the null hypothesis and accept
the alternative hypothesis.
TEST STATISTICS
- Inferential statistics are statistics that
can be used as indicators of what is
going on in the population.
- they can be used to evaluate results.
- A test statistic is a numerical summary
of what is going on in our data.

SUMMARIZING DATA: USING DESCRIPTIVE

STATISTICS

RAW DATA
- The data we record as we run an
experiment

SUMMARY DATA
- Whenever we report the results of an
experiment, we report summary data
rather than raw data

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
- When we have group data, we
summarize them with descriptive
 statistics, shorthand ways of describing
the data.
- We summarize and describe data by
using measures of central tendency and
measures of variability.

MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

- Measures statistics that describe what is

typical of a distribution of scores.
MEAN
- Arithmetic average
- Add all scores together and divide by
the total # of scores

MEDIAN
- the score that divides the distribution in
half so that half the scores in the
distribution fall above the median, half
below.

MODE
- The score that occurs most often

Find (a) the mean (b) the median (c) the mode of
this set of data.
5, 6, 2, 4, 7, 8, 3, 5, 6, 6

(a) The mean is 5+6+2+4+7+8+3+5+6+6/10 =

52/10 = 5.2

(b) Median: place all the numbers in order 2, 3, 4,

5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8
Median is 5+6/2 = 11/2 = 5.5

(c)6 appears more than any other number mode =

6

MEASURES OF VARIABILITY

RANGE
- The simplest measure of variability. It is
the difference between the largest and
smallest scores in a set of data.

VARIANCE (s2)
- The average squared deviation of scores
from their mean. The variance tells us
somethings about how much scores are
spread out, or dispersed around the
mean of the data.

STANDARD DEVIATION (s)

- It reflects the average deviation of
scores about the mean.

<3 ILYA ga :p
/sbi