Question

Which of the following things can be done to reduce the effect of individual differences?

Select one:
a. Decrease power
b. Collecting measurements from diverse groups of people
c. Using a between-groups design
d. Using a matched-groups design

Answer 1

A matched-groups design can reduce individual differences in an experiment by pairing similar participants across control and experimental groups. Using experimental controls and diverse measurement groups also helps in valid comparisons and generalizing results.

Step-by-step explanation:

To reduce the effect of individual differences in an experimental setting, the approach that is aimed at ensuring that the groups being compared are similar except for the treatment variable is to use a matched-groups design. This method involves pairing participants with similar characteristics and allocating them to the control and experimental groups, thereby limiting the influence of confounding variables. In contrast, utilizing experimental controls is pivotal as it allows a comparison between groups that differ in only the independent variable, while collecting measurements from diverse groups helps to ensure the generalizability of the findings.