Some Thoughts on Improving Experiments

The execution of experiments in human factors studies can be improved by thoughtful choice of dependent variables, summary statistics, and statistical techniques. Deficiencies in current practice of experimental design are discussed, and some specific suggestions for improvement are made. In particu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human factors 1977-06, Vol.19 (3), p.221-226
Main Authors: Reising, John M., Ward, Sharon L., Rolek, Evan P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dependent variables
Experimental design
Human factors
Multivariate analysis
Statistical analysis
Variance analysis
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Summary:The execution of experiments in human factors studies can be improved by thoughtful choice of dependent variables, summary statistics, and statistical techniques. Deficiencies in current practice of experimental design are discussed, and some specific suggestions for improvement are made. In particular, rationale for a choice of criteria and dependent variables should be documented as fully as possible; summary statistics other than amplitude measures may sometimes be appropriate; and multivariate analysis should be used when more than one dependent measure is used. Multivariate and univariate analysis of variance techniques are compared.
ISSN:0018-7208
1547-8181
DOI:10.1177/001872087701900303