c.a.t.

Basic Between-
Subjects Design
why tho?
The purpose of experimental design is to
minimize extraneous or uncontrolled variation,
thereby increasing the likelihood that an
experiment will produce valid, consistent results.
Basic Between-Subjects Design

Group A Group B
Basic Between-Subjects Design

Group A Group B
words are words are
repeated 5 times repeated 1 time
 Basic Between-Subjects Design

Group A Group B
words are words are
repeated 5 times repeated 1 time

Pro
Less prone to Carryover effect/Practice effect
Con
the differences among people cannot be fully
balanced
Selecting and Recruiting Subjects
the more the sample resembles
the whole population, the more
likely it is that the behavior of
the sample mirrors that of the
population.
Selecting and Recruiting Subjects
Practical Limits
“subject pool” / population where you’d get your
subjects

How Many Subjects?

in a between-subjects design, we want to have more
than one or two subjects in each treatment
condition.
“if individuals in the population are all very similar
to one another on the dependent variable, small
samples are adequate. When individuals are likely to
be quite different, larger samples are needed”
How Many Subjects?
effect size - is a statistical estimate of the size or
magnitude of the treatment effect.
The larger the effect size, the fewer subjects
needed to detect a treatment effect.
between-subject;
2-group design
1 Control & 1 Experimental
Between-Subjects Group Design

2-Group Design:
One I.V, One Control
2 Experimental Group
Matching
Multiple Groups
Advantage of a 2-Group Design
if there is only one independent variable, the two-
independent-groups approach is a good choice if the
hypothesis can be tested with two treatment conditions.
One Independent Variable:
Two-Group Designs
the simplest experiments are those in which
there is only one independent variable.
at least two conditions
Two-Group Design – only two treatment
conditions are needed, the experimenter may
choose to form 2 separate groups of subjects.
 They are formed into
2 Independent Groups
subjects are placed in each of two treatment
conditions through random assignment.
Random Assignment
every subject has an equal chance of
being placed in any of the treatment
conditions.
“Experimental and Control”
Experimental Group-Control Group Design
To assess the impact of the IV, we must have at least 2 different
treatment conditions so that we can compare the effect of
different values of the independent variable.

The groups
Experimental Group - we apply a particular value of our
independent variable to the subjects and measure the
dependent variable.
Control Group – we use it to determine the value of the
dependent variable without an experimental manipulation of the
independent variable.
Control Condition
Baseline/No intervention (For comparison)

If one group is to be exposed to loud

noises while memorizing, the Control
Group will be memorizing in a normal
condition.
Any difference between the data from the
2 groups will be attributed to the effect of
the noise (the I.V)
 Between-Subjects Design;
One I.V, One Control

Group A Group B
with visual aid eyes closed
I.V Control
between-subject;
2-group design
2 Experimental Group
Two-Experimental-Groups
it can be used to look at behavioral differences that
occur when subjects are exposed to two different values
or levels of the IV.

mild extreme
Matching
 Matching
in this design, there are also two groups of subjects, but
the researcher assigns them to groups by matching or
equating them on a characteristic that will probably
affect the dependent variable.
 How to do Matching
Form pairs of subjects having similar scores on the
matching variable
Randomly assign one member of each pair to one
condition of the experiment
The remaining member of each pair is placed in the other
treatment condition.
 How to do Matching
Three Ways:
Precision Matching – we insist that the members of
the matched pairs have identical scores.
Range Matching – in which we require that the
members of a pair fall within a previously specified
range of scores.
Rank-Ordered Matching – the subjects are simply
rank-ordered by their scores on the matching
variable, and subjects with adjacent scores then
become a matched pair.
 + Features Matching
By matching a variable that is likely to have a strong
effect on the DV, we can eliminate one possible source of
confounding.
Matching can also make the effects of the IV easier to
detect even if random assignment has worked
successfully and confounding is not a concern.
Multiple groups
 Multiple Groups
a design in which there are more than two groups of
subjects and each group is run through a different
treatment condition.
Assigning Subjects
Block Randomization – used to ensure that each
condition has an equal number of subjects.
 Multiple Groups
Choosing Treatments
Always think in terms of the hypothesis you are testing:
What will I gain by adding these extra conditions to the
experiments?
Practical Limits
Several levels of IV can yield more information than only
2 groups.
However, practical considerations also affect choice of
design.
Thank You!
Do you have any questions?