One-way Experimental Designs
One-way experimental designs have one variable and it must have a minimum of two levels (Stangor, 2013). They are the simplest of research designs and a two-level design is the simplest kind of one-way design (Stangor, 2013). In our sample study, we have two levels. We have an independent variable, which consists of the pill, since it’s the variable that I have control over (Stangor, 2013). The dependent variable, or the variable which I am measuring, is how long it takes the participants to get to sleep (Stangor, 2013). The first level is the group that is told that the pill will make them sleepy and the second level is the group that is told that the pill will make them awake and alert.
The type of design utilized is a between-subject design because we have two groups being compared (Stangor, 2013). One group is being told the pill will make them feel “sleepy” and the other group is being told the pill will make them feel “awake and alert”. The researcher is comparing the two groups to see if what said in conjunction with the pill will have any affect on them. The score from each individual will be averaged within their treatment group and compared with the other group. A within-participant design would use the same participants more than once and afterwards their scores are compared (Stangor, 2013).
In the event that an ANOVA was conducted and the f value was significant, then it means that the null hypothesis can be rejected and that there are differences on the dependent variable among the different levels (Stangor, 2013). More statistical tests would need to be conducted in order to determine with aggression was greater in one condition than the other two conditions because a significant f would not tell use how each of them differ (Stangor, 2013).