Designing Experiments

AMY QUINN, MA, MS, LMFT

SOURCE: CRANO, W.D. & BREWER, M.B. (2002)
Experimental Design

Basic Design problems

1. Threats to internal validity
1. History
2. Maturation
3. Testing
4. Instrumentation
5. Statistical Regression
6. Selection
7. Experimental mortality
8. Selection-history interactions
Random Assignment and
Experimental Control

1. Randomization requires that all individuals available for a particular

study by potentially able to participate in either the experiment or
control group, and only chance determines group assignment.
2. Cancels out individual variation
3. Blocking
4. Other extraneous variables must be held constant
Setting up your Experiment
Classic True Experimental Design

1. Obtaining a pool of participants.

2. Pretesting them on dependent variable of interest.
3. Randomly assigning each participant to experimental or control
groups
4. Carefully controlling for differences in the application of the
experimental treatment between two groups.
5. Remeasuring both groups on the dependent variable at some time
following the experimental treatment.
Pretest-posttest control group design
Experimental Treatments

1. Environmental Manipulations
2. Stimulus Manipulations
3. Social Manipulations
4. Instructional Manipulations
5. The Manipulation Check
External Validity of Laboratory
Experiments

1. Restriction of Participant Populations

2. Participant Awareness
3. Voluntary Participants
4. Involuntary Participants
5. Nonvoluntary Participants
6. Experimenter Expectancy and Bias
Factorial Designs

Condition 1-1 Condition 1-2 Condition 1-3

Level 1
Condition Level 2
2-1 Level 3
Condition 2-2 Condition 2-3
Level 1
Level 2 Condition 3-1 Condition 3-2 Condition 3-3
Level 3 Condition 4-1 Condition 4-2 Condition 4-3
Level 4
Analysis of Variance

1. Assumes any score on the dependent measure is determined by the

individual peculiarities of the subject plus the sum of relevant factors
that are influencing him/her at the time.

2. Example: Final exam score= Individual test-taking ability + amount

studied + tempuature in the room + anxiety over boyfriend/girlfriend
+ etc (error)
Should Organizational Psychologists
care About Laboratory Experiments?

Envy is a negative emotional response to a situation in which someone

lacks anothers superior quality, achievement, or possession, and either
desires it or wishes the other lacked it. Recent research has revealed that
it manifests itself into two forms: malicious and benign envy. Malicious
envy entails negative thoughts about the person envied and their
suffering. Benign envy entails more positive thoughts about the person
envied and is associated with increased effort.
Should Organizational Psychologists
care About Laboratory Experiments?

Lang, J. & Crusius, J. (2015) The tango of two deadly sins: The social-
functional relation of envy and pride. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 109 (3) 453-472.

6 experiments on the relationship between pride and envy.

Should Organizational Psychologists
care About Laboratory Experiments?
Should Organizational Psychologists
care About Laboratory Experiments?

Study 2
Study 3
Study 4
Study 5
Study 6
Strengths/Limitations of this Study

Strengths:
Random assignment, university students and employees were used,
control and non-control groups, manipulation checks, population over 100
in 5 of the 6 studies.
Limitations:
Similarity in participants and confederate

Overall, a strong relationship between hubristic pride and malicious envy

was established
Overall, a strong relationship between authentic pride and benign envy
was established
Should Organizational Psychologists
care About Laboratory Experiments?
Another Example of Laboratory
Research Influencing Organizational
Research
John Gottman relationship research

4 Horseman of the Apocolypse

(see video)

Article and study on 13 signs that someone is about to quit, according to

the research

Gardner, T. M., Wright, P. M., & Moynihan, L. M. (2011). The Impact of

Motivation, Empowerment, and Skill Enhancing Practices on Aggregate
Voluntary Turnover: The Mediating Effect of Collective Affective
Commitment. Personnel Psychology, 64(2), 315- 350.
Ethics in Laboratory Research

The declaration of Helsinki

The Belmont Report
APA Ethical Principles that Apply to Human Research Participants