Hypothetical Reaction Time Data for 2 x 3 Perceptual
Experiment: Example data for chapter 12 of Maaxwell and
Delaney (2004, Table 12.1, p. 574) in long format. Has two
within.subjects factors: angle and noise.
Usage
md_12.1
Arguments
format
A data.frame with 60 rows and 4 variables.
source
Maxwell, S. E., & Delaney, H. D. (2004). Designing
experiments and analyzing data: a model-comparisons
perspective. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p.
574
Details
Description from pp. 573:
Suppose that a perceptual psychologist studying the visual
system was interested in determining the extent to which
interfering visual stimuli slow the ability to recognize
letters. Subjects are brought into a laboratory and seated
in front of a tachistoscope. Subjects are told that they
will see either the letter T or the letter I displayed on
the screen. In some trials, the letter appears by itself,
but in other trials, the target letter is embedded in a
group of other letters. This variation in the display
constitutes the first factor, which is referred to as
noise. The noise factor has two levels—absent and
present. The other factor varied by the experimenter is
where in the display the target letter appears. This
factor, which is called angle, has three levels. The target
letter is either shown at the center of the screen (i.e.,
0° off-center, where the subject has been instructed to
fixate), 4° off-center or 8° off-center (in each case,
the deviation from the center varies randomly between left
and right). Table 12.1 presents hypothetical data for 10
subjects. As usual, the sample size is kept small to make
the calculations easier to follow. The dependent measure is
reaction time (latency), measured in milliseconds (ms),
required by a subject to identify the correct target
letter. Notice that each subject has six scores, one for
each combination of the 2 x 3 design. In an actual
perceptual experiment, each of these six scores would
itself be the mean score for that subject across a number
of trials in the particular condition. Although "trials"
could be used as a third within-subjects factor in such a
situation, more typically trials are simply averaged over
to obtain a more stable measure of the individual's
performance in each condition.