In an experiment examining the effects of background noise on people's ability to understand a verbal message, one group of participants is given a comprehension quiz after listening to a passage being read to them with no background noise. A week later, the same group of participants is given a comprehension quiz after listening to a passage being read to them with 60 decibels of conversation as background noise. This is an example of a ____ design.
A) single-subjects
B) between-subjects
C) within-subjects
D) matched groups

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of a within-subjects, or repeated measures, design because the same group of participants is being tested under two different conditions (i.e., with and without background noise). This design allows researchers to control for individual differences between participants and increases the power of the study by reducing error variance.

In an Experiment Examining the Effects of Background Noise on People's