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 CHAPTER 7 – EXPERIENCE CAREFULLY PLANNED:
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGNS
Chapter Summary

Experiments are among the most powerful methods available to research psychologists,
because they help pin down causal relations (i.e., they are high in internal validity). True
experiments make use of both (1) manipulation and (2) random assignment to conditions.
In combination, these two techniques help to eliminate person confounds. In addition, most
experiments take place in the laboratory, and the tight control provided by laboratory
environments also helps to eliminate procedural confounds and to reduce noise. Just as
importantly, laboratory experiments provide a window on events that few if any other
approaches to research can provide. The main drawback of laboratory experiments is that they
often lack realism. Many of the procedures and measures used regularly in laboratory
experiments are highly contrived and simply do not exist in the real world. Nevertheless, by
designing studies that are high in experimental realism, experimenters can often minimize
concerns about the artificiality of lab experiments. Finally, experiments can only be high in
experimental realism when they are conducted carefully. We closed this chapter by reviewing
some of the practical issues one must consider when conducting laboratory studies. We also
noted the value of conducting research that uses multiple methods, because this approach can
address the concerns of artificiality in laboratory experiments – by demonstrating that one’s
laboratory results travel well to the real world.

Sample Answers for the Study Questions from the Textbook

1. In your own words, define and distinguish between the three confounds that are most
applicable to laboratory experiments (person confounds, procedural confounds, and
operational confounds). What can be done to reduce each of these types of confounds?
Which of these confounds is typically eliminated by the use of random assignment?
What can be done to address the other confounds?

Person confounds are individual differences between participants that can have an
influence on the dependent variable. Procedural confounds occur when a researcher
manipulates the independent variable as well as a variable that he or she did not intend
to manipulate. Operational confounds occur when a researcher does not define a
particular construct correctly. The result is that a variable is measured that is not actually
the independent variable in question. To reduce person variables, a researcher should
use random assignment to equalize experimental conditions. To minimize procedural
confounds, experimenters must very carefully conduct their experiments so that no
procedural confounds are introduced. For example, it is helpful if the experimenter is
blind to the condition of each participant. Operational confounds can be reduced by
using different methods to manipulate the independent variable.

2. Define and distinguish between confounds, artifacts, and noise. Which of these
problems is typically reduced or eliminated by a) choosing a homogeneous rather than a
heterogeneous sample, b) using random assignment, c) using random selection, d)
creating experimental conditions that differ along only one meaningful dimension, and e)
maximizing experimental realism in a study? How do these three concepts relate to
internal and external validity?

57
 Confounds are variables that vary systematically with the independent variable and
might be causally related to the dependent variable. Artifacts are important but
overlooked variables that are held constant in a study. Noise is extraneous variables that
influence the dependent variable but are evenly distributed across experimental
conditions. Confounds are typically reduced by using random assignment, maximizing
experimental realism in a study, and creating experimental conditions that differ along
only one meaningful dimension. Artifacts can be eliminated by choosing a homogenous
rather than a heterogeneous sample and maximizing experimental realism in a study.
Noise can be reduced by using a homogeneous rather than a heterogeneous sample.
Noise and artifacts tend to decrease a study’s external validity while confounds reduce a
study’s internal validity.

3. A health psychologist is interested in how peer pressure influences risky health

behaviors (e.g., becoming a smoker, having unprotected sex). She hopes to design a lab
experiment on this topic. Explain why it would probably be difficult and/or unethical to
design a lab experiment on this topic that is high in mundane realism. Now explain why it
might be a lot easier to design experiments on this topic that are high in experimental
realism.

It would be unethical to design a lab condition that is high in mundane realism because
one cannot assign a participant to a condition where his or her health and well-being are
endangered. It would be difficult as well because a laboratory is extremely different than
a causal environment where smoking or risky sex might occur as a result of peer
pressure. It would be much easier to design an experiment that is high in experimental
realism because it would be relatively easy to assess whether or not the participants
were experiencing the effects of peer pressure. The researcher can introduce a
manipulation check to see if the attempts at manipulating peer pressure were having an
effect.

4. It is often said that there is a conflict or trade-off between internal or external validity.
Why is this said? What strategies can be pursued to minimize such conflicts?

It is often said that there is a trade-off between internal and external validity because
people sometimes believe that experimental and non-experimental results are often
conflicting, that a laboratory experiment gains internal validity while lacking external
validity, and that non-experimental methods do the opposite. To minimize such conflicts,
laboratory experiments that lack mundane realism can compensate with high
experimental realism. Ensuring that participants are experiencing the state that you
intend with the manipulation of the independent variable will increase the external
validity of a laboratory experiment. A carefully conducted archival study can have higher
internal validity by measuring variables that do show causality (i.e., temperature and
aggression, since aggression cannot cause temperature). This type of non-experimental
study will gain internal validity that even some laboratory measurements measuring the
same variables will lack. The goal of any study, experimental or non-experimental,
should be to reduce confounds and make the findings as realistic and generalizable as
possible through careful design and measurement.

58
Testbank

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. In addition to the use of manipulation, true experiments must also make use of
____________.

A) statistical testing
B) matching
C) random assignment
D) control groups

ANS: C REF: A Brief History of True Experiments

2. In the early days of psychological research, researchers tried to ensure that experimental and
control groups were identical to one another by using:

A) randomization
B) manipulation
C) counterbalancing
D) matching

ANS: D REF: A Brief History of True Experiments MSC: WWW

3. What advantage(s) does random assignment have over matching?

A) allows for greater internal validity

B) precision
C) easier than matching
D) all of these

ANS: D REF: A Brief History of True Experiments

4. If Tanisha made use of random assignment, this means that every participant in her study:

A) had an equal chance of being assigned to any particular condition of her study
B) was perfectly matched with another participant in the study
C) participated in every condition of the study
D) was assigned to a different control condition in the study

ANS: A REF: A Brief History of True Experiments

5. According to the text, the two most important advantages of true experiments are that they:

A) minimize attrition and maximize mundane realism

B) solve the problem of individual differences and help to minimize confounds
C) solve the problem of induction and maximize statistical power
D) maximize both internal and external validity

ANS: B REF: Strengths of True Experiments

59
6. Isen and Levin’s (1972) study involved giving people cookies to put them in good moods to
see if they would be more willing to help a student in distress. What type of confound did this
introduce into the experiment?

A) operational
B) procedural
C) person
D) experimental

ANS: B REF: Strengths of True Experiments

7. According to the text, the simplest way to avoid _____________ confounds is to allow the
manipulated variable (i.e., the variable of interest) to vary while holding all other variables
constant.

A) person
B) procedural
C) experimental
D) operational

ANS: B REF: Strengths of True Experiments

8. The term ________ confound is the non-experimental equivalent of the experimental term
procedural confound.

A) operational
B) experimental
C) environmental
D) person

ANS: C REF: Strengths of True Experiments MSC: WWW

9. Operational confounds represent a clear threat to ___________ validity.

A) construct
B) external
C) statistical
D) operational

ANS: A REF: Strengths of True Experiments MSC: WWW

10. An advantage of conducting a true experiment in the laboratory (as opposed to conducting a
true experiment in the field) is that in the laboratory, it is somewhat easier to:

A) use random assignment

B) maximize external validity
C) maximize attrition
D) eliminate confounds

ANS: D REF: Strengths of True Experiments

60
11. ____________are important because they identify the limiting conditions of a specific
theory.

A) Deceptions
B) Random assignments
C) Interactions
D) Experiments

ANS: C REF: Strengths of True Experiments

12. People are able to recognize the word “nurse” faster than usual if they have just been
exposed to the word “doctor.” This is an example of:

A) sampling error
B) semantic priming
C) selection bias
D) sampling confound

ANS: B REF: Strengths of True Experiments

13. Compared with other research designs (e.g., correlational designs), true experiments
provide researchers with superior information about:

A) experimental artifacts
B) group differences
C) procedural confounds
D) causality

ANS: D REF: Strengths of True Experiments

14. Asch’s laboratory studies involving conformity in people’s judgments of the lengths of lines
appear to have been low in ______ but very high in _______.

A) mundane realism; experimental realism

B) experimental realism; mundane realism
C) internal validity; external validity
D) objective realism; subjective realism

ANS: A REF: Are True Experiments Realistic?

15. In comparison with Tripletts’ study involving highly trained bicyclists, his study involving
fishing reels was probably higher in:

A) restrictive validity
B) construct validity
C) external validity
D) internal validity

ANS: D REF: Are True Experiments Realistic?

61
16. In a study of alcohol and judgment, MacDonald, Zanna, and Fong (1995) convinced some of
their participants that they had consumed alcohol when they actually had not. Which
technique(s) did they use to achieve this goal?

A) By spraying alcohol into the air of the room in which the study was run
B) By using a confederate who appeared to be mildly drunk
C) By showing participants a fake breathalyzer reading
D) The researchers did all of the above

ANS: A REF: Are True Experiments Realistic?

17. Designing a laboratory study that is high in _______ will usually require the use of at least
some amount of deception.

A) mundane realism
B) experimental realism
C) objective realism
D) subjective realism

ANS: B REF: Is There a Recipe for Experimental Realism? MSC: WWW

18. In which of the following ways is noise different than confounds?

A) Noise is distributed evenly across experimental conditions.

B) Noise influences the independent variable.
C) Noise and confounds can never appear in the same experiment.
D) It is important to reduce confounds but not noise.

ANS: A REF: Strengths of True Experiments

19. Reifman, Larrick, and Fein’s (1991) research on temperature and aggression among
baseball pitchers is an example of:

A) archival research
B) observational research
C) unobtrusive observational research
D) survey or interview research

ANS: A REF: Trade-Offs between Internal and External Validity

20. If you were interested in identifying the precise psychological mechanisms behind a well-
documented phenomenon (e.g., the connection between heat and aggression), you would
probably be better off conducting:

A) a laboratory experiment
B) a field experiment
C) a non-experimental laboratory study
D) a passive observational study

ANS: A REF: Trade-Offs between Internal and External Validity

62
21. Dr. Sekaquaptua conducted an experiment on the effects of alcohol consumption on
helping behavior. To make certain that participants in her sober and intoxicated conditions were,
in fact, sober and intoxicated, she measured her participants’ blood alcohol levels using a
breathalyzer. This assessment of blood alcohol levels was a:

A) dependent measure
B) secondary dependent measure
C) manipulation check
D) pilot assessment

ANS: C REF: Is There a Recipe for Experimental Realism? MSC: WWW

22. Stephen is a researcher who shows up at the laboratory on his skateboard in a dirty old t-
shirt to meet his research participants. Which of the “six commandments of being a good
researcher” does Stephen need to improve?

A) “being suave”
B) “acting like an adult”
C) “being honest”
D) “being educated”

ANS: A REF: The “How-To’s” of Laboratory Studies

23. Which of the following tips is NOT one of the “six commandments of being a good
experimenter” discussed in the text?

A) “be suave”
B) “be honest”
C) “be a good liar”
D) “be punctual”

ANS: D REF: The “How-To’s” of Laboratory Studies

24. In comparison with an original study, a replication study usually:

A) tests a new hypothesis by making use of technology that was not available in the past
B) makes changes in operational definitions without changing the constructs being studied
C) reveals potential problems such as restriction of range
D) helps a researcher to identify new predictors of a phenomenon

ANS: B REF: The “How-To’s” of Laboratory Studies MSC: WWW

63
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