Chapter 8

 Two basic research designs are used to obtain the

groups of scores that are compared in an
experiment:
 within-subjects design
 between-subjects design.
 Between Subjects
Within Subjects Students Silence Music
Students Silence Music
A 12  
A 12 15 B 13  
B 13 14 C 15  
C 15 14 D 14  
D 14 15 E 15  
E 15 14
F   15
G   14
H   14
I   15
J   14
To compare three different treatment conditions
with 30 scores in each treatment, the between-
subjects design requires 90 participants.
Individual differences, may lead to group
differences or assignment bias.
If the participants in one group are generally older (
or smarter, or taller, or faster, etc.) than the
participants in the other group, then the experiment
has a confounding variable.
Increases variance which makes it hard to find
significant differences (explained later)
• Confounding from individual differences, which
is called assignment bias.
• Confounding from environmental variables.

one group may be tested in a large room and

another group in a smaller room.
 Random Assignment ( Randomization)
 Matching Groups ( Matched Assignment)
 Holding Variables Constant or Restricting
Range of Variability
• It is relatively easy, and does not require any
measurement or direct control of extraneous
variables.

• However, random assignment is not perfect and

cannot guarantee equivalent groups, especially
when a small sample is used. Pure chance is not a
dependable process for obtaining balanced
equivalent groups.
• School records are used to determine the IQs of the
participants, and each student is classified as high IQ,
medium IQ, or low IQ. The high- IQ participants are
distributed equally between the two groups; half is
assigned to one group and the other half is assigned to the
second group using restricted random assignment.

• However, matching requires pre-testing to measure the

variable( s) being controlled,
• It can become difficult to match several variables
simultaneously.
• For example, a researcher concerned about
potential IQ differences between groups could
restrict participants to those with IQs between
100 and 110.
• Limit the external validity
High variability can obscure any treatment effects
that may exist and therefore can undermine the
likelihood of a successful study.
 One independent variable- Two-group design
a. two-independent-group designs
 Is an experimental design where different participants are used in
each condition of the independent variable.  This means that each
condition of the experiment includes a different group of
participants (Experimental vs. Control). 
 This should be done by random allocation, which
ensures that each participant has an equal chance of
being assigned to one group or the other.
b. two-matched- group design
-refers to a technique in research design in which a participant in
an experimental group being exposed to a manipulation is
compared on an outcome variable to a specific participant in the
control group who is similar in some important way but did not
receive the manipulation.
-precision matching
-range matching
-rank-ordered matching
 Two-experimental group design
- can be used to look for behavioural differences
that occur when the subjects are exposed to two
different level of IV
 Multiple group design

- A design in which there are more than two

groups of subjects and each group is run through
a different treatment condition
 single- factor /two- group design or simply the
two- group design
 a mean is computed for each group of
participants, and then an independent- measures
t-test is used to determine whether there is a
significant difference between the means
 It is easy to set up a two- group study,
 In addition, a two- group design provides the best
opportunity to maximize the difference between
the two treatment conditions; that is, you may
select opposite extreme values for the
independent variable.
 The primary disadvantage of a two- group design
is that it provides relatively little information.
With only two groups, a researcher obtains only
two real data points for comparison.
 a single- factor /multiple- group design may be
used. For example, a re-searcher may want to
compare driving performance under three
telephone conditions: while talking on a cell
phone, while texting on a cell phone, and without
using a phone.
 For this study, the mean is computed for each
group of participants, and a single- factor analysis
of variance ( ANOVA for independent measures).
 When the ANOVA concludes that significant
differences exist, some form of post hoc test or
posttest is used to determine exactly which
groups are significantly different from each other.
 In addition to revealing the full functional
relationship between variables, a multiple- group
design also provides stronger evidence for a real
cause- and- effect relationship than can be
obtained from a two- group design.
 Because you cannot compute means for these
variables, you cannot use an independent-
measures t test or an ANOVA ( F test) to compare
means between groups.
 However, it is possible to compare proportions
between groups using a chi- square test for
independence
 Math test
Teaching methods Passed failed
Traditional 5 6
Group Work 6 6
Computer Based 4 1