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A researcher wants to study the effects of three different cognitive tasks (A, B, and C) on memory retention using a within-subjects design. Describe how a fatigue effect could specifically manifest in this study if all participants complete the tasks in the same order (A, then B, then C), and apply this concept to explain how it serves as a confounding variable that obscures the true effect of the independent variable.
Question: A researcher wants to study the effects of three different cognitive tasks (A, B, and C) on memory retention using a within-subjects design. Describe how a fatigue effect could specifically manifest in this study if all participants complete the tasks in the same order (A, then B, then C), and apply this concept to explain how it serves as a confounding variable that obscures the true effect of the independent variable.
Sample answer: If all participants complete task A, then task B, and finally task C, they may experience physical or mental tiredness, or boredom, by the time they reach task C. This would cause their performance on task C to decline compared to their performance on A and B, regardless of task C's actual difficulty. This decline in performance due to fatigue acts as a confounding variable because it provides an alternative explanation for the results: the researcher cannot tell whether a poor score on task C is due to the nature of the task itself (the independent variable) or due to the participants being tired and bored from the previous tasks.
Key points:
- Participants perform a task worse in subsequent experimental conditions because they have become physically or mentally tired, or bored.
- The fatigue effect occurs as a result of participating in earlier conditions.
- Without proper control over the order of conditions, this performance decline becomes a confounding variable.
- The resulting confounding variable obscures the true effect of the independent variable.
Rubric: Answers must explain: 1) that participants will become physically/mentally tired or bored by the later tasks; 2) that this leads to a performance decline in later tasks; 3) that this decline serves as a confounding variable; and 4) that it obscures the true effect of the independent variable by introducing an alternative explanation.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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