novelty effect

Categories: Site glossary

is a potential confound in an experiment. If participants in one treatment experience familiar conditions, but participants in another treatment experience conditions that are novel, that is quite different to what is accustomed, then differences in outcomes could be due to the novelty of the treatment rather than its inherent nature, and may be found to diminish if the treatment became implemented as normal practice

Visit web-page: Experiments

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.