Question

Compare and contrast:

Between-subjects with within-subjects designs

Small N designs with large N designs.

In what circumstances would you use the within-subjects design and in what circumstances would you use the large N design?

Answer 1

In a between subject design, two or more participant groups are exposed to different conditions of the study and are then compared with one another in terms of their performance. On the other hand, a within subject design involves studying the effect of variable on a particular sample. Within subjects designs are frequently utilised in repeated measures study, wherein the researcher is interested in understanding the how much a participant varies over a stipulated duration of time.

‘N’ is used to denote the sample size in a study. When a study employs less than 30 participants, it is referred to as a small N design, whereas a sample of 30 or more participants represents a large N design. Small N designs are frequently used in qualitative studies (such as observations, case studies) as researchers are able to achieve theoretical saturation with even a small sample size.