A cognitive psychologist wants to do an experiment to test a variable that may influence the memory of elderly people.She has the following constraints: only 12 people are available as possible participants,and the independent variable she plans to manipulate requires the use of a separate group for each of the two conditions.The psychologist has a reliable and valid pretest she can use to evaluate participants' memory prior to the manipulation.Which design is this psychologist likely to use?

Question

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The psychologist has a limited number of participants (only 12) and wants to manipulate an independent variable that requires separate groups for each condition. This suggests that a matched groups design would be the best choice. This design would involve pairing participants based on their pretest scores and then randomly assigning one member of each pair to the experimental condition and the other to the control condition. Pairing participants based on pretest scores helps to control for individual differences that may influence memory performance.

A Cognitive Psychologist Wants to Do an Experiment to Test