Han Yuhwa, Lee Wooyeol
Department of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, 1 Chungdae-Ro, Seowon-Gu, Cheongju, Chungbuk, 28644, Republic of Korea.
Behav Res Methods. 2024 Dec 30;57(1):33. doi: 10.3758/s13428-024-02573-3.
This study investigates the performance of mediation analyses, including manipulation check variables, in experimental studies where manipulated psychological attributes are independent variables. We simulated the level of manipulation intensities and measurement errors of the manipulation check variable to test the validity of the analytic practice. Our results showed that when manipulation is successful and measurement error is low, mediation analyses with the manipulation check variable revealed an unstable path coefficient and standard error. Moreover, many of the detected indirect effects were inconsistent mediation situations. However, when individual differences in psychological attributes remained within the condition (low manipulation intensity) and the manipulation check variable contained low measurement error, the indirect effect indicated the validity of the manipulation. We discuss the implications of our findings for the use of manipulation checks in experimental research.
本研究调查了在以被操纵的心理属性为自变量的实验研究中，包括操纵检验变量在内的中介分析的表现。我们模拟了操纵强度水平和操纵检验变量的测量误差，以检验分析实践的有效性。我们的结果表明，当操纵成功且测量误差较低时，带有操纵检验变量的中介分析显示出不稳定的路径系数和标准误差。此外，许多检测到的间接效应是不一致的中介情况。然而，当心理属性的个体差异在条件范围内（低操纵强度）且操纵检验变量包含低测量误差时，间接效应表明操纵是有效的。我们讨论了我们的研究结果对实验研究中使用操纵检验的启示。
