Identify whether this example has an internal validity problem. If it does, identify (i) whether the problem is a design confound, a selection effect, or an order effect. Finally, (ii) explain how each of the problematic studies might be changed so that it does not have an internal validity problem. A. An applied psychologist wants to test the effectiveness of an intervention to increase awareness of the environmental impact of disposable water bottles. The initiative involves asking students to use a smartphone to track the number of disposable water bottles they use, categorizing whether they reuse them, throw them away, or recycle them. He asks for volunteers in a large geology course. Students must own a smartphone in order to participate in the intervention group. Fifty volunteers who owned a smartphone were assigned to the tracking condition (they downloaded a free smartphone app for this purpose). Fifty more students who were interested, but who did not own a smartphone, made up the comparison group. This group was simply exposed to a short video on the impact of plastic water bottles. At the end of a two-week period during which the students in the smartphone group tracked their water bottle use, the researcher found that students in the tracking program were more likely to have purchased a reusable water bottle in the past week compared with the students in the comparison group. He concluded that his smartphone tracking program raised awareness, causing students to purchase reusable bottles. i. Design confound, selection effect, or order effect, or no problem? ii. How should the design change so that it does not have an internal validity problem (NA if no problem)?
- Identify whether this example has an internal validity problem. If it does, identify (i) whether the problem is a design confound, a selection effect, or an order effect. Finally, (ii) explain how each of the problematic studies might be changed so that it does not have an internal validity problem.
A. An applied psychologist wants to test the effectiveness of an intervention to increase awareness of the environmental impact of disposable water bottles. The initiative involves asking students to use a smartphone to track the number of disposable water bottles they use, categorizing whether they reuse them, throw them away, or recycle them. He asks for volunteers in a large geology course. Students must own a smartphone in order to participate in the intervention group. Fifty volunteers who owned a smartphone were assigned to the tracking condition (they downloaded a free smartphone app for this purpose). Fifty more students who were interested, but who did not own a smartphone, made up the comparison group. This group was simply exposed to a short video on the impact of plastic water bottles. At the end of a two-week period during which the students in the smartphone group tracked their water bottle use, the researcher found that students in the tracking program were more likely to have purchased a reusable water bottle in the past week compared with the students in the comparison group. He concluded that his smartphone tracking program raised awareness, causing students to purchase reusable bottles.
i. Design confound, selection effect, or order effect, or no problem?
ii. How should the design change so that it does not have an internal validity problem (NA if no problem)?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 3 steps
