Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a form of interaction that heavily involves technology (e.g., instant messaging, e-mail). Refer to the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (Apr. 2004) study to compare relational intimacy in people interacting via CMC to people meeting face-to-face (FTF), Exercise 8.42. Recall that participants were 48 undergraduate students, of which half were randomly assigned to the CMC group (communicating with the “chat” mode of instant-messaging software) and half assigned to the FTF group (meeting in a conference room). Subjects within each group were randomly assigned to either a high equivocality (HE) or low equivocality (LE) task that required communication with their group members. In addition, the researchers counterbalanced gender, so that each group–task combination had an equal number of females and males; these subjects were then divided into male–male pairs, female–female pairs, and male– female pairs. Consequently, there were two pairs of subjects assigned to each of the 2 (groups) × 2 (tasks) × 3 (gender pairs) = 12 treatments. A layout of the design is shown below. The variable of interest, relational intimacy score, was measured (on a 7-point scale) for each subject pair.

a. Write the complete model appropriate for the 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design.

b. Give the sources of variation and associated degrees of freedom for an ANOVA table for this design.

c. The researchers found no significant three-way interaction. Interpret this result practically.

d. The researchers found a significant two-way interaction between group and task. Interpret this result practically.

e. The researchers found no significant main effect or interactions for gender pair. Interpret this result practically.

Data from Exercise 8.42

Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a form of interaction that heavily involves technology (e.g., instant messaging, email). A study was conducted to compare relational intimacy in people interacting via CMC to people meeting face-to-face (FTF). (Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Apr. 2004.) Participants were 48 undergraduate students, of which half were randomly assigned to the CMC group and half assigned to the FTF group. Each group was given a task that required communication with their group members. Those in the CMC group communicated using the “chat” mode of instant-messaging software; those in the FTF group met in a conference room. The variable of interest, relational intimacy score, was measured (on a 7-point scale) for each participant after each of three different meeting sessions. Summary statistics for the first meeting session are given here. The researchers hypothesized that, after the first meeting, the mean relational intimacy score for participants in the CMC group would be lower than the mean relational intimacy score for participants in the FTF group. Test the researchers’ hypothesis using α = .10.

Design Layout for Exercise 14.38 C Group FTF Group HE Task LE Task HE Task LE Task MM FF MF MM FF MF MM FF MF MM FF MF