WACE Psychology — Unit 4
Experimental Design — Flashcards & Quiz
Experimental design is the heart of empirical psychology, and WACE Psychology Year 12 Unit 4 expects you to identify independent variables (IV), dependent variables (DV), control variables, and potential confounds. You need to distinguish between-subjects and within-subjects designs and evaluate internal and external validity.
Sample Flashcards
Q1: Compare independent groups, repeated measures and matched pairs experimental designs.
Independent groups (between-subjects): different participants in each condition. Strength: no order effects. Limitation: individual differences between groups may confound results; requires more participants. Repeated measures (within-subjects): the same participants in all conditions. Strength: controls individual differences. Limitation: order effects (fatigue, practice); addressed by counterbalancing. Matched pairs: participants are matched on key variables and then assigned to different conditions. Strength: reduces individual differences without order effects. Limitation: matching is time-consuming and imperfect; difficult to match on all relevant variables.
Sample Quiz Questions
Q1: In a repeated measures design, different participants are used in each experimental condition.
Answer: FALSE
In a repeated measures (within-subjects) design, the same participants are used in all conditions. Different participants in each condition describes an independent groups (between-subjects) design.
Last updated: March 2026 · 1 flashcards · 1 quiz questions