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One of the most important requirements of experimental research designs is the necessity of eliminating the effects of spurious, intervening, and antecedent variables. In the most basic model, cause (X) leads to effect (Y). But there could be a third variable (Z) that influences (Y), and X might not be the true cause at all.
Experimental design is the design of all information-gathering exercises where variation is present, whether under the full control of the experimenter or an observational study. The experimenter may be interested in the effect of some intervention or treatment on the subjects in the design.
Effect (of a factor): How changing the settings of a factor changes the response. The effect of a single factor is also called a main effect. A treatment effect may be assumed to be the same for each experimental unit, by the assumption of treatment-unit additivity; more generally, the treatment effect may be the average effect.
For example, agricultural research frequently uses randomized experiments (e.g., to test the comparative effectiveness of different fertilizers), while experimental economics often involves experimental tests of theorized human behaviors without relying on random assignment of individuals to treatment and control conditions.
For example, if the fertilizer was spread by a tractor but no tractor was used on the unfertilized treatment, then the effect of the tractor needs to be controlled. A scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the independent variable (i.e. confounding variables ). [ 1 ]
One example study combined both variables. This enabled the experimenter to analyze reasons for depression among specific individuals through the within-subject variable, and also determine the effectiveness of the two treatment options through a comparison of the between-group variable:
A variable in an experiment which is held constant in order to assess the relationship between multiple variables [a], is a control variable. [2] [3] A control variable is an element that is not changed throughout an experiment because its unchanging state allows better understanding of the relationship between the other variables being tested.
The observer-expectancy effect [a] is a form of reactivity in which a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to subconsciously influence the participants of an experiment. Confirmation bias can lead to the experimenter interpreting results incorrectly because of the tendency to look for information that conforms to their hypothesis, and ...