Lawson, Downing, and Cetola (1998) tested the effects of audience laughter on the perceived funniness of recorded jokes. After receiving one of four possible manip- ulations (Laughter strength: strong vs. weak x Constraint: constrained vs. uncon- strained), subjects judged how funny they believed the audience found the comedy routine. This question was either first or fourth in a questionnaire. As expected, strong laugher did lead to higher ratings of funniness than weak laughter, but the order of the questions also produced a main effect. Subjects rated the comedy routine significantly less funny when they were asked this question first than when it came fourth. As the authors noted, "This was an unexpected, and puzzling, result" (p. 247).

a. Is this experiment confounded by order?

b. Explain why or why not?