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QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND CRITICAL THINKING/ANSWERS
1. Define experimental condition, experimental treatment, and experimental group. How are
these related to the implementation of a valid manipulation?
An experimental condition refers to one of the possible levels of an experimental variable
manipulation. An experimental treatment is the term referring to the way an experimental
variable is manipulated. An experimental group is one in which an experimental treatment is
2. A tissue manufacturer that has the fourth-largest market share plans to experiment with a 50¢
off coupon during November and a buy one, get one free coupon during December. The
experiment will take place at Target stores in St. Louis and Kansas City. Sales will be
recorded by scanners from which mean tissue sales for each store for each month can be
computed and interpreted.
a. What is the independent variable and the dependent variable?
The independent variable is the price promotion, either a 50¢ off coupon or a buy one, get one
b. Prepare a “dummy” table that would describe what the results of the experiment
would look like.
Treatment Sales
3. What is the difference between a main effect and an interaction in an experiment? In
question 2, what will create a main effect? Is an interaction possible?
A main effect refers to the experimental difference in means between the different levels of any
single experimental variable. In question 2, there is a main effect for type of price promotion. An
4. In what ways might the design in question 2 yield systematic or non-sampling error?
177
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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter Twelve: Experimental Research 178
Systematic or non-sampling error may occur if the sampling units in an experimental cell are
5. What purpose does the random assignment of subjects serve?
Random assignment to a group is one device for equally distributing or scattering the effects of
extraneous variables to all conditions. The presence of nuisance variables will not be eliminated,
6. Why is an experimental confound so damaging to the conclusions drawn from an
experiment?
A confound in an experiment means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the
7. What are demand characteristics? How can they be minimized?
The term demand characteristics refers to an experimental design element that unintentionally
provides subjects with hints about the research hypothesis. Knowledge of the experimental
8. [Ethics Question] Suppose researchers were experimenting with how much more satisfied
consumers are with a “new and improved” version of some existing product. How might the
researchers design a placebo within an experiment testing this research question? Is using
such a placebo ethical or not?
A placebo is an experimental deception involving a false treatment. A placebo effect refers to the
corresponding effect in a dependent variable that is due to the psychological impact that goes
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter Twelve: Experimental Research 179
9. If a company wanted to know whether to implement a new management training program
based on how much it would improve ROI in its southwest division, would you recommend a
field or lab experiment?
Most likely a field experiment is appropriate in this situation. While a laboratory experiment
allows the researcher more complete control over the research setting and extraneous variables, it
10. [Internet Question] Suppose you wanted to test the effect of three different e-mail requests
inviting people to participate in a survey posted on the Internet. One simply contained a
hyperlink with no explanation, the other said if someone participated $10 would be donated
to charity, and the other said if someone participated he or she would have a chance to win
$1,000. How would this experiment be conducted differently based on whether it was a
between-subjects or within-subjects design? What are the advantages of a between-subjects
design?
Within-subjects designs involve repeated measures because with each treatment the same subject
is measured. In contrast, the researcher could decide that each person will receive only one
treatment condition, which is referred to as a between-subjects design. Each dependent variable
11. What is a manipulation check? How does it relate to internal validity?
The validity of manipulations can often be checked with a manipulation check. It is often
12. [Ethics Question] What role does debriefing play in ensuring that experimental procedures
are consistent with good ethical practice?
Debriefing experimental subjects by communicating the purpose of the experiment and the
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter Twelve: Experimental Research 180
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
1. Consider the following scenario (See text for the scenario):
a. Provide a critique of the procedures used to support the claim that Sea Snapper’s
b. Design an experiment that would provide a more valid test of the research
question, “Do consumers prefer Sea Snapper fish sticks compared to Captain
John’s fish sticks?”
The most obvious changes would be to use the product in the same degree of quality and to use
2. Conduct a taste test involving some soft drinks with a group of friends. Pour them several
ounces of three popular soft drinks and simply label the cups A, B and C. Make sure they are
blind to the actual brands. Then, let them drink as much as they want and record how much
of each they drink. You may also ask them some questions about the drinks. Then, allow
other subjects to participate in the same test, but this time, let them know what the three
brands are. Record the same data and draw conclusions. Does brand knowledge affect
behavior and attitudes about soft-drinks?
This will interesting for students. Some research has shown that in blind taste tests, consumers
CASE 12.1 Tooheys
Objective: To encourage students to think about validity and ethical issues surrounding
experiments.
Summary: Sixty-six willing Australian drinkers helped a Federal Court judge decide that
Tooheys did not engage in misleading or deceptive advertising for its 2.2 beer, which contains 2.2
percent alcohol, compared to 6 percent for other beers leading to a claim that could be interpreted
as implying it was non-alcoholic. Drunken driving laws prohibit anyone with a blood-alcohol
level above 0.50 from driving in Australia. An experiment was conducted to see what happens
when a lot of 2.2 is consumed. However, some subjects couldn’t drink the required 10 “middies,”
an Aussie term for a beer of 10 fluid ounces within an hour. Some got sick and were excluded,
and a few more could not even drink the minimum number of drinks. The judged observed that
consuming enough 2.2 in an hour to reach the legal limit was “uncomfortable and therefore and
unlikely process.” Because none of the ads mentioned such extreme quantities, he ruled that the
ads could not be found misleading or deceptive.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter Twelve: Experimental Research 181
Questions:
1. Would a lab experiment or a field experiment be more “valid” in determining whether
Tooheys could cause a normal beer consumer to become intoxicated? Explain.
If the purpose is to demonstrate, as in this case, that consumers cannot possibly drink enough
within a one hour period to become intoxicated, then a lab experiment would be appropriate. It
2. Describe an alternative research design that would have higher validity.
3. Is the experiment described in this story consistent with good ethical practice? Likewise,
comment on how the design described in part 2 would be made consistent with good ethical
practices.
Students will have varying opinions on the ethical nature of this research. Forcing participants,
4. Is validity or ethics more important?
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
