1. Quantitative Research

2. Types of experiments u True experiment –Has a control group u Quasi-experiment –No control group –Normal style for work in social sciences since the independent variables often cannot be adjusted by the experimenter.

3. Measuring effect u Normal goal of a quantitative study is to measure how a dependent variable changes when the independent variables change.

4. Independent variable u Variables which can be controlled by the experimenter or are used as the measured in the situation (for example, reading ability or class attendance) u Beware of trying to vary multiple independent variables at once. Interactions between them will cause problems with the data analysis.

5. Dependent variable u The measured value of interest which changes as the experiment progresses. u The study may require collecting data on multiple dependent variables. They often interact and can hide important effects.

6. Hypothesis u Write up the hypothesis in terms of both independent and dependent variables. Be specific, so it leads to the data analysis methods.

7. Hypothesis sample u H1:Participants would exhibit more errors when searching for information on the small-screen display than when searching the full-size display. u H2:Participants would exhibit more confidence in answer found when searching for information on the full-size display than when searching the small-screen display. u H3:Participants would take more time to perform the same tasks when searching on the small-screen display than when searching the full-size display. u H4:Overall, participants would experience more difficulty locating information in the middle and end of web pages than at the beginning. This finding would be more extreme in the small-screen condition. u H5:Overall, participants would experience more difficulty locating text information within a body of text than they would numerical information within a body of text.

8. Participants u Group types –Random sample –Stratified random sample –Convenience sample u In the write up, define who they are, how recruited, why recruited, etc.

9. Procedure u Draw the entire set of measures u Multiple conditions can require lots of people very fast

10. Procedure for participant groups u Within subjects –Measures before and after with same people –Measure ability, test, remeasure ability u Between subjects –Measures different people –Each person only gets one measurement or test, not all tests. u Repeated measures –Same person at different times/conditions

11. Order effects u Order of which a person performs tasks can effect later work. u Alternate between or randomize the order in which people perform the tasks. Then analyze the different orders to show there is not effect on the dependent variable.

12. End