Sample interview questions: What steps do you take to minimize biases and confounding factors in your experimental designs?
Sample answer:
- Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs):
- Utilize RCTs to assign participants randomly to experimental and control groups, ensuring that both groups are comparable at baseline.
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This randomization helps minimize selection bias and ensures that any observed differences between groups are due to the intervention rather than pre-existing differences.
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Matched-Pairs Design:
- Employ matched-pairs designs to pair participants based on relevant characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education level).
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Matching participants helps control for potential confounding factors and reduces the impact of individual differences.
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Counterbalancing:
- Implement counterbalancing techniques to control for order effects or carryover effects in repeated-measures designs.
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Counterbalancing involves varying the order of experimental conditions across participants to minimize the influence of learning, fatigue, or other factors.
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Blinding:
- Use blinding procedures to prevent participants and researchers from knowing the experimental condition of each participant.
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Blinding helps reduce bias and ensures that participants’ responses are not influenced by knowledge of the experimental condition.
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Validity and Reliability Assessments:
- Conduct validity and reliability assessments to ensure that the measures used in the study are accurate and reliable.
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This involves evaluating the measures’ internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and cons… Read full answer
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