When conducting an experiment on time management, Jamie assigns everyone who arrives before noon to the experimental group and everyone who arrives after noon to the control group. In the context of experimental research methods, what is wrong with Jamie’s experiment?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The main issue with Jamie’s experiment is that there is no random assignment of participants to either the experimental or control group. In experimental research, random assignment is crucial to ensure that the groups being compared are as similar as possible, except for the variable being tested (in this case, time management). Without random assignment, there may be pre-existing differences between the participants who arrive before and after noon that could influence the results.
For example, people who arrive before noon may have different characteristics (e.g., more punctual, better time management skills, or different daily routines) compared to those who arrive after noon. These differences could introduce confounding variables, which are factors other than the time of arrival that could affect the outcome of the experiment. As a result, Jamie cannot confidently conclude that any observed effects on time management are due to the timing of arrival rather than other uncontrolled factors.
Another problem is that the division based on arrival time is arbitrary and could lead to biased groupings. Time of day is not a controlled variable in this scenario, and the grouping mechanism does not consider other factors that might be relevant to the experiment.
To improve the experiment, Jamie should use random assignment to assign participants to the experimental and control groups, ensuring that both groups are as similar as possible in terms of other variables. This would make it easier to determine whether the experimental treatment (such as a time management strategy) truly caused any observed differences in behavior, rather than differences being attributed to the time of arrival or other unrelated factors.
