Which of the following statements about matched random assignment of participants to conditions of a between-subjects experiment is FALSE?
A) A major drawback of using matched random assignment is the cost, in time, money, and resources, of pretesting.
B) Assigning participants alternately to the experimental and control conditions as they come to the laboratory is equivalent to matched random assignment to conditions.
C) The pretesting required for matched random assignment might induce a testing confound.
D) Matched random assignment is normally used only when the variable being controlled is known to have a strong effect on the dependent variable.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Assigning participants alternately to the experimental and control conditions as they come to the laboratory is NOT equivalent to matched random assignment to conditions. Matched random assignment involves pretesting participants on a variable that is known to affect the dependent variable, and then assigning them to conditions based on their scores on that variable. This ensures that the conditions are equivalent on that variable, which helps to eliminate its effects as a confound. Assigning participants alternately does not involve this pretesting and matching process.

Which of the Following Statements About Matched Random Assignment of Participants