A sports scientist investigated whether a new cryotherapy treatment was more effective at reducing post-exercise muscle soreness than a standard active recovery protocol (light cycling).
The researcher decided to use a matched-pairs design. She recruited 20 professional rugby players from a premier league club. Each player was paired with another based on their baseline fitness levels and muscle mass, and then one from each pair was assigned to one of two groups:
All participants rated their muscle soreness on a validated visual analogue scale 24 hours after the workout.
Question:
Explain one strength of using a matched-pairs design rather than a repeated-measures design in this study.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Scientific processes with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 689 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.