Answered: Describe the problems that can be…

Ciccarelli: Psychology_5 (5th Edition)

5th Edition

ISBN:9780134477961

Author:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White

Publisher:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White

Chapter1: The Science Of Psychology

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1TY

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Describe the problems that can be caused by individual differences in a between-subjects experiment and explain how these problems are eliminated or reduced in a within-subject experiment.

Expert Solution

Between-subjects Experiments

Also known as independent measures design, the between-subject design is a common experimental design in which two or more separate groups are compared. It is used to avoid the carryover effects that can have negative consequences in the within-subject design as various experimental treatments are given to different groups. The main aim of using a between-subject design is to compare the different treatments and understand if one is better than the other.

Disadvantages of between-subject design:

The between-subject design is complex and requires a large number of participants to generate any useful data.
For a number of research programs, the scale of the experiment itself can make this design impractical because finding enough subjects difficult.
It is difficult to maintain homogeneity across the groups. And in a design like this where various participants with subtle individual differences are used, the data may get skewed.
Random assignment of the treatment is not always possible in a between-subject design.
Generalization is difficult as the researcher cannot extrapolate the results to encompass the bigger population.