Ninth Edition CoverGraziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)

Chapter 12 Essay Questions
Factorial Designs

  1. Why was a factorial design used in the children's dark-fears study?

  2. Why should the interpretation of the results in a factorial design always begin with the interaction when there is a significant interaction and a significant main effect?

  3. "Factorial designs are more complex than single-variable designs. For example, they have more hypotheses to test." Explain that statement.

  4. What are the possible outcomes of a 2 X 3 factorial design? (See Figure 12.4 in the textbook.)

  5. When doing research with children, what are the major ethical problems and the major safeguards?

  6. There are several types of mixed factorial designs. Describe each. What are the implications of each type of mixed design for the researcher?

  7. Although there is no theoretical limit to the number of factors in a factorial design, what is the major practical limit to having, for example, five or more factors?

  8. On completing an ANOVA and finding that there is a statistically significant difference, what other statistical procedures are needed? Why?

  9. What are repeated-measures designs? What potential confounding variables are there in repeated-measures designs and what control must be used?

  10. You are the TA for this course, and a student asks you to explain mixed designs.  Explain the cautions in using mixed designs, such as being careful about statistical procedures in some and the interpretation of results in others.

  11. As the course TA  you are to explain the concept of interaction in factorial design. Organize your presentation by first making the distinction between main effects and interaction effects. Be sure to clarify for your students the distinction between additive and interactive effects.

  12. You are the teaching assistant for the course and are to explain to the class that a 2 X 2 factorial study is, in a sense, two separate studies combined. How would you develop your explanation?

  13. What are main effects in factorials?

  14. What is a mean square in an ANOVA table?

  15. What are ANCOVA and MANOVA, and under what conditions would you use each?