Experimental Design

Front

What is Experimental Design?

Back

Experimental design is a structured approach to conducting experiments that allows researchers to determine the effects of one or more independent variables on a dependent variable.

Front

What is confounding in experimental design?

Back

Confounding occurs when an outside factor influences both the independent and dependent variables, making it difficult to determine the true effect of the treatment.

Front

What is the purpose of random assignment in experiments?

Back

Random assignment helps to ensure that treatment groups are similar in all respects except for the treatment, preventing confounding of results.

Front

Define blocking in experimental design.

Back

Blocking is a technique used to group similar experimental units together to reduce variability and ensure that the treatment effects can be more accurately assessed.

Front

What is the placebo effect?

Back

The placebo effect is a phenomenon where participants experience a perceived improvement in their condition due to their belief in the treatment, even if the treatment has no therapeutic effect.

Front

How does increasing sample size affect the precision of estimates?

Back

Increasing the sample size generally leads to more precise (less variable) estimates, reducing the margin of error.

Front

What is blinding in experiments?

Back

Blinding is a technique where participants (single-blind) or both participants and researchers (double-blind) are unaware of which treatment is being administered to prevent bias.

Front

What is the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable?

Back

The independent variable is the factor that is manipulated or changed in an experiment, while the dependent variable is the outcome that is measured.

Front

What is a treatment group?

Back

A treatment group is a group of subjects that receives the experimental treatment or intervention being tested.

Front

What is a control group?

Back

A control group is a group of subjects that does not receive the experimental treatment and is used as a benchmark to measure the effects of the treatment.