ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Psychology => Topic started by: akay on June 12, 2012, 12:46:49 am
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was wondering what the disadvantages of random allocation were?
all i can think of are advantages :-\
for disadvantages could it be that the participants aren't matched based on their characteristics OR does it cancel out if the researcher arranges the sample so that participants do have the same/similar characteristics, therefore where they go (experiment/control) it doesn't matter and just cancels out the only disadvantage I could think of?
also was wondering if there was more than one disadvantage?
thanks in advance ;D
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I don't think there are any diadvantages of random allocation actually! This is actually what eliminates the confounding variable of participants characteristics, since it ensures that every member of a sample has an equal chance of being divided into the experimental or control condition.
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I think that because of it's random nature, that there's a chance that the experimental group and control group might be unbalanced, for example there might be more males in one group and more females in the other group.
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I think also that unless you have a large sample, participant characteristics won't be extremely balanced, if that makes sense...
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I think also that unless you have a large sample, participant characteristics won't be extremely balanced, if that makes sense...
I think that because of it's random nature, that there's a chance that the experimental group and control group might be unbalanced, for example there might be more males in one group and more females in the other group.
But the likelihood of this is very less I'm pretty sure - that's why experimenters use random allocation. :)