Question

Research Methods class

2. Describe two advantages and two disadvantages of a between-subjects experiment.

Answer 1

Two advantages of a between-subjects experiment:

1) It gives researchers the chance to conduct an experiment with very less contamination by extraneous factors.

2) There is lower chances of participants feeling bored after tests or becoming more accomplished through practice, thereby skewing results. This is because in these tests every participant is only subjected to a single treatment.

Two disadvantages of between-subjects experiment:

1) This design is impractical for many researches. In cases, where a research requires an extra group to the mix, they would need an entirely new set of participants. The scale of the experiment therefore gets impractical.

2) It is difficult to maintain homogeneity across the groups which can skew the data. This is because this method uses participants with their subtle differences. These individual difference create disturbances in the study, which reduces the effects of the statistics, thereby changing patterns and trends.