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[Phys-l] Vary-One-Variable Protocols (was Psychologists Respond etc...)



At 02:48 PM 11/19/2007, Richard H., you wrote:

... we not only reemphasize the importance of randomized,
controlled experimental tests of competing instructional procedures,
but also indicate that altering one variable at a time is an
essential feature of a properly controlled experiment. ...

The familiar "vary one variable" approach to experiment,
is now in particular situations, substituted by
multivariate experimentation.

If all confounding factors cannot be specified in advance,
methods of varying several factors at a time can extract
useful experimental responses due to these factors, from other,
perhaps unknown or unrecognized variables.

I sometimes think of this as the spatial or parallel approach to
randomizing the protocol, as opposed to the serial randomization
which is familiar.


Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!