Within-group Study - Counter Balancing

Counter Balancing

This is when two groups in the repeated measures are split into halves and are sent to each condition. The easiest way of explaining it is using ABBA which is when group A is split in half the first half goes to the first condition and the second half goes to the second condition then they swap conditions this happens also with group B which swaps around as well. Because of this the results of each condition are not one sided in order effects and balance each other out in terms of the results. One simple way of negating order effects is to simply use an independent measures design as they use different participants for different conditions however you cannot use this well in longitudinal studies as you are not testing the same people. this diagram will show how this works:

ABBA Counter Balancing | Condition 1 | Condition 2 | \\ Group A & B are split into half's | | | \\ Group A's first half goes to condition 1 & group B's second half goes to condition 1 Group A | 1st half of group A | 2nd half of group A | \\ Group A's second half goes to condition 2 & group B's first half goes to condition 2 Group B | 2nd half of group B | 1st half of group B | \\ The order will go from the first condition which is 1A to 2B then the second condition 2A to 1B 2A = The second half of group A 1A = The first half of group A 2B = The second half of group B 1B = The first half of group B