Factorial Design Experiments Involvling Combinations of Independent Variables

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Factorial research designs are experiments that involve factorial combinations of independent variables. Factorial combinations involve pairing each level of one independent variable with each level of a second independent variable. Factorial combinations make it possible to determine the effect of each independent variable alone (main effect) and the effect of the independent variables in combination (interaction effect). The simplest possible experiment involves one independent variable manipulated at two levels. Similarly, the simplest possible factorial design involves two independent variables, each with two levels. Factorial designs are identified by specifying the number of levels of each of the independent variables in the experiment. A 2 x 2 design, than, identifies the most basic factorial design in research. Regardless of the number of independent variables, the number of conditions in a factorial design can be determined by multiplying the number of levels of the independent variables. Factorial designs can also be extended beyond the 2 x 2 design in one of two ways. Experimenters can add levels as the 3 x 2, the 3 x 3, the 4 x 2, the 4 x 3, and so on. Experimenters can also build on the 2 x 2 design by increasing the number of independent variables in the same experiment. The number of levels of each variable can range from a 2 to some unspecified upper limit. The addition of a third or fourth independent variable yields designs such as the 2 x 2 x 2, the 3 x 3 x 3, the 2 x 2 x 4, the 2 x 3 x 3 x 2, and so on (CITE).
Kaiser, Vick, & Major (2006) conducted a factorial experiment using the emotional Stroop task to investigate whether women with an expectation of being stigmatized through sexism would demon...

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... word-type variable. The main effect of word type was statistically significant. Kaiser et al. found that, overall; women attended more to the social-identity threatening cues than to both the illness-threatening cues and the nonthreatening cues. There was no difference, however, between the latter two conditions. These findings indicated that when consciously aware of the word types, women paid greater attention to words indicating a threat to their social identity. Kaiser et al. also tested for the main effect of the social-identity variable by averaging across the word-type variable, the means for the identity-threat condition and the identity-safety condition. Kaiser et al. found that the main effect of the social-identity variable was not statistically significant, indicating that response times were similar for women in the threat and safety condition.

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