validity Flashcards
A researcher wants to find out who would stall out more driving a stick car The people the researcher wants to study are Cubans versus Americans. For the study, the researcher actually went to Cuba and recruited five adults who all had driver’s licenses. He did the same in the
United States. However, the researcher did not take into account that all Cubans drive stick cars. Does this study have internal validity? Why or why not?
No because the research did not account for participant variables and he may have some researcher bias if he only chose Cubans for one condition. It’s like he wants the Cubans to win.
A researcher wants to find out whether sleeping with or without socks helps you sleep longer. For this research, she went to MAST Academy and recruited 20 students between the ages of 14-18. The study was conducted in a sleeping lab in Key Biscayne. Everyone was wearing the same pajamas, the rooms all had the same temperature (70 degrees), same sheets, same bed, same amount of light. At the end of the study the researcher found out that students that slept with socks on slept for a shorter period of time. Does this study contain external validity? Why or why not?
No, because it is not generalizable to people who are not teenagers or people who live in other regions like Scandinavia.
Ten students from Coral Gables High are asked to take the PSAT in the football field in the middle of August. Is this study ecologically valid?
No, because it lacks mundane realism. Students would normally be sitting in a classroom when taking the PSAT and they would not be in the football field.
A researcher wants to see whether olympic runners are more efficient during the day or during the night. For this study the researcher chose 40 American males. Who is this study generalizable to? Why?
American olympic males runners because all things considered, the researcher should get similar results.
A McDonalds has an opening for a cashier position. The manager is asking a series of interview questions in order to find out how confident the participants feel being around so much cash. Will these series of interviews give out objective or subjective data?
Subjective data because the interviewer cannot tell with 100% precision who the most fit if they decide to lie to him/her.
