Blocked Design
Definition
A blocked design is an experimental design where subjects or items are first grouped into blocks based on certain characteristics, and then within each block, they are randomly assigned to different treatment groups. This helps control for potential sources of variability by ensuring that each block contains similar individuals.
Analogy
Consider organizing a race between students from different grades. In a blocked design, you would first divide the students into separate blocks based on their grade level (e.g., freshmen, sophomores). Then within each block, you would randomly assign students to different running lanes. This allows for fair comparisons within each grade level while accounting for differences between them.
Related terms
Blocking Variable: The characteristic on which the blocking is done; it should be relevant to the study but unrelated to the treatments.
Within-block Comparison: Comparing individuals or items within each block separately.
Between-block Comparison: Comparing results across different blocks after accounting for variability within each block.
"Blocked Design" appears in:
Practice Questions (1)
Are you a college student?
Study guides for the entire semester
200k practice questions
Glossary of 50k key terms - memorize important vocab
Resources
© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.