Below you will find several descriptions of experiments. You need to a) name the type of experiment described and b) Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each design.

1A major petroleum corporation is considering phasing out premium unleaded petrol. It selects Queenstown, New Zealand, as an experimental market in which the product might be eliminated and decides to watch product line sales results.

2A soft-drink manufacturer puts the same brand of orange drink in two different containers with different designs. Two groups are given a package and asked about the drink's taste. A third group is given the orange drink in an unlabelled package and asked the same question.

3An advertising agency pretested a television advertisement with a portable television set, simulating an actual television program with the test commercial inserted along with the other advertisements. This program was shown to a focus group, and a group discussion follows.

4A manufacturer of a new brand of cat food tests product sampling with a trial-size package versus no sampling and three price levels simultaneously to determine the best market penetration strategy.

5A major fast-food corporation is considering a drug-testing program for its counter workers. It selects its largest outlet in Sydney, implements the program and measures the impact on productivity.

6A mass merchandiser conducts an experiment to determine whether a flexible work-time program (allowing employees to choose their own work-hours between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.) is better than the traditional working hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) for sales personnel. Each employee in the Brisbane office is asked if he or she would like to be in the experimental or control group. All employees in the Perth office remain on the traditional schedule.

Part B

Provide an example for each of the six major factors influencing internal validity. You can provide any example, but they should be different from the book and online lesson.

History

Maturation

Testing

Instrumentation

Selection

Mortality