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Case Study

Based on the case context, demonstrate your comprehension of this design by explaining what happens to a participant who is assigned to drive with a cell phone during the day. In your explanation, specify whether this participant will ever drive without a cell phone or drive at night during the study, and explain why based on the design type.

Case context: A research group is investigating driving performance using a 2×22 \times 2 study examining cell phone use (with a cell phone vs. without a cell phone) and time of day (day vs. night). The researchers decide to implement a between-subjects factorial design.

Question: Based on the case context, demonstrate your comprehension of this design by explaining what happens to a participant who is assigned to drive with a cell phone during the day. In your explanation, specify whether this participant will ever drive without a cell phone or drive at night during the study, and explain why based on the design type.

Sample answer: A participant assigned to drive with a cell phone during the day will only drive in that single condition. Because this is a between-subjects factorial design, each participant is exposed to exactly one specific combination of the independent variables' levels. Therefore, this participant will never drive without a cell phone or drive at night during the study, as they cannot be tested across multiple experimental conditions.

Key points:

  • The participant is tested in only one specific combination (cell phone and day).
  • The participant is never exposed to other conditions (like without a cell phone or at night).
  • This restriction is due to all independent variables being manipulated between subjects.

Rubric: The response must explain that a participant in the cell phone/day condition is tested only in that condition. It must explicitly state that the participant will never experience the other conditions (no cell phone, or night driving) because a between-subjects factorial design restricts each participant to one and only one condition.

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Updated 2026-05-26

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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