Reading Assignment for Section 5.3

Read the following subsection from our online textbook: Section 5.3: True Experiments.

What You Will Learn

In this section, you will explore the pretest-posttest control group design, understanding how random sampling and group assignment work to ensure the integrity of an experiment. You’ll delve into different true experimental designs, like the posttest-only control group and the Solomon Four-group design, learning about their unique challenges and benefits. Additionally, you’ll grasp essential concepts such as internal and external validity, and discover strategies to mitigate threats to validity, ensuring your experimental results are robust and reliable.

Student Learning Outcomes for Section 5.3

• SLO 1: Understand the structure and significance of pretest-posttest control group design in true experiments, including the process of drawing random samples, assigning treatment and control groups, and the importance of randomization in ensuring initial group equivalence and maintaining experimental integrity.
• SLO 2: Learn about various true experimental designs such as posttest-only control group design and the Solomon Four-group design, their unique features, challenges, and the significance of controlling for pretesting effects, alongside understanding the logistical constraints like the need for larger participant numbers and additional resources.
• SLO 3: Gain knowledge of crucial concepts in experimental research such as internal and external validity, understanding the threats to validity such as historical influences, maturation effects, selection bias, testing threats, and instrumentation influences, and mastering strategies to reduce these threats, including subject matching, statistical controls, and the implementation of double-blind procedures to maintain objectivity and accuracy in experimental outcomes.

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