What is a counterbalanced design?

Counterbalancing is a procedure that allows a researcher to control the effects of nuisance variables in designs where the same participants are repeatedly subjected to conditions, treatments, or stimuli (e.g., within-subjects or repeated-measures designs).

What does counterbalanced order mean?

Counterbalancing is one way to control for order effects. Counterbalancing basically means mixing up the order in which tasks are performed in a repeated measures design. So with the experiment above, you might split the participants into two groups.

What is an example of quasi-experimental design?

This is the most common type of quasi-experimental design. Example: Nonequivalent groups design You hypothesize that a new after-school program will lead to higher grades. You choose two similar groups of children who attend different schools, one of which implements the new program while the other does not.

How do you avoid order effects?

Carryover and interference effects can be reduced by increasing the amount of time between conditions. Researchers also reduce order effects by systematically varying the order of conditions so that each condition is presented equally often in each ordinal position. This procedure is known as counterbalancing.

What are the three types of order effects?

Three basic types of question order effect have been identified: (a) unconditional, in which the answer to a subsequent question is affected by the individual having responded to the prior question but not by the response given on that prior question; (b) conditional, in which the answer to a subsequent question …

What is the meaning of quasi-experimental design?

A quasi-experimental design is one that looks a bit like an experimental design but lacks the key ingredient – random assignment. You will see that the lack of random assignment, and the potential nonequivalence between the groups, complicates the statistical analysis of the nonequivalent groups design.

What are the characteristics of a quasi-experimental design?

Quasi-experimental research designs, like experimental designs, test causal hypotheses. A quasi-experimental design by definition lacks random assignment. Quasi-experimental designs identify a comparison group that is as similar as possible to the treatment group in terms of baseline (pre-intervention) characteristics.