What is a disadvantage associated with a matched participants design?

A matched participants design involves pairing participants based on certain characteristics or variables that are believed to be relevant to the outcome of the study. This method aims to control for these variables, ensuring that each pair of participants is similar in important ways. However, a significant disadvantage of this design is that it often imposes heavy logistical demands on pre-testing.

In order to create matched pairs, researchers need to assess each participant on relevant characteristics before assigning them to groups. This pre-testing can be resource-intensive, requiring considerable time and effort to gather the necessary data to create effective matches. For example, if a study seeks to match participants based on multiple variables, the process can become complex and cumbersome, and managing this effectively can be difficult. This logistical complexity can limit the feasibility of using a matched participants design in certain research scenarios, particularly when there is a large number of participants or when the characteristics to match on are numerous.

Overall, while matched participants designs can provide valuable control over variables, the logistical demands associated with pre-testing can be a significant drawback, making it more challenging to implement compared to other designs.