Between-subjects design is described as being synonymous with independent design. Which choice best reflects this equivalence?

• A. True; it is synonymous with independent design.
• B. It refers to designs with repeated measures.
• C. It is used for matched-pairs analysis.
• D. It describes a design with nested factors.

Answer: (A)

Between-subjects design means different participants are assigned to each condition, so the observations in one condition are independent of those in another. Saying it is synonymous with an independent design captures that key idea: each participant contributes data to only one condition, eliminating any dependence between groups.

Repeated measures involve the same participants across conditions, which is a within-subjects feature, not between-subjects. Matched-pairs analysis is a method to create comparable groups within a between-subjects framework, but it doesn’t redefine the design as independent. Nested factors describe a hierarchical structure where levels of one factor exist only within levels of another, not the basic between-versus-within distinction.

So the equivalence holds: between-subjects and independent design share the same idea of independent groups across conditions.