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A researcher is planning a structured observation study to examine how romantic couples resolve conflicts. Apply your knowledge of the limitations of structured observation to identify one specific design choice the researcher could make that would lower the study's external validity, and explain why this choice has that effect.
Question: A researcher is planning a structured observation study to examine how romantic couples resolve conflicts. Apply your knowledge of the limitations of structured observation to identify one specific design choice the researcher could make that would lower the study's external validity, and explain why this choice has that effect.
Sample answer: The researcher could choose to conduct the structured observation in a highly controlled laboratory setting rather than the couples' homes. This choice lowers external validity because the laboratory environment is less natural, leaving it unclear whether the conflict resolution behaviors observed in the lab will generalize to the couples' everyday, real-world interactions.
Key points:
- Application of environmental control (e.g., choosing a laboratory setting).
- Explanation that the chosen setting is less natural.
- Connection of the unnatural setting to a decrease in external validity (inability to generalize behaviors to the real world).
Rubric: Responses should identify a design choice involving high environmental control (such as conducting the study in a laboratory) and apply the concept of ecological/external validity to explain that this less natural setting makes it unclear whether the behaviors will generalize to real-world environments.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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A researcher is planning a structured observation study to examine how romantic couples resolve conflicts. Apply your knowledge of the limitations of structured observation to identify one specific design choice the researcher could make that would lower the study's external validity, and explain why this choice has that effect.