Spring 2004 – University of North Texas
You are presented with five (5) Experiment briefs that describe research design, research procedures, and research results. For each brief, you will be asked to identify the design elements and identify any problems that exist between what the experimenter did and what the experimenter concluded. In other, words you are to identify any design flaws.
Use only the information given in the brief as the basis for your critique. You do not need to be a subject-matter expert for each brief. You simply need to concentrate on the design and interpretations of the briefs. You will need to state the factor(s) and the variable(s) for each design as well as identify the type of design described. You should then use what you know about the advantages and limitations of experimental designs and your knowledge of experimental control to critique each brief. There is at least one major defect in each brief. You should identify the defect and tell why it is problematic. Finally, you must tell how the defect can be resolved (i.e., fixed). You will submit a typewritten, double-spaced, and stapled (if necessary) paper that describes the following for each brief.
For each experiment brief, you should:
1) Identify the factor(s) and variable(s)…operationally defined.
2) Clearly state the type of design (specific) and the statistic used.
3) Identify the major design defect and give a solution to the defect.