Experimentation
Article outline
- 1.Theoretical approaches to science
- 2.Empirical approaches to science
- 3.Experimentation
- 3.1Issues in experimental design
- 3.1.1Operationalization of the experimental hypothesis
- 3.1.2Independent and dependent variables
- 3.1.3Choosing the dependent variable: how to best tap into the targeted process
- 3.1.4The orthogonal experimental design
- 3.1.5The concept of matching and the necessity of a control condition
- 3.1.6Manipulations within or between participants (or items)
- 3.1.7The counterbalancing technique
- 3.2The rationale behind statistical significance testing
- 3.2.1Basic assumption: the observed difference is due to chance
- 3.2.2Calling a result statistically significant is taking a calculated risk
- 3.2.3Main effects and interaction effects
- 3.3Statistical tests
- 3.3.1Types of measurement scales
- 3.3.2Non-parametric statistics
- 3.3.2.1The chi-square test
- 3.3.2.2The Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney test
- 3.3.3Parametric statistics
- 3.3.3.1Some general remarks
- 3.3.3.2The student’s t-test
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General aspects
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Paired versus independent observations
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One-tailed versus two-tailed t-tests
- 3.3.3.3Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
- 3.3.3.4Measuring the associative strength between variables
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Correlation analysis
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Regression analysis
- 4.Conclusion
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References