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A researcher plans to evaluate a new psychology teaching method using a one-group pretest-posttest design, but is concerned that external campus events during the semester will act as a history threat. What design modification should they apply to control for this threat, and why does this modification work?
Question: A researcher plans to evaluate a new psychology teaching method using a one-group pretest-posttest design, but is concerned that external campus events during the semester will act as a history threat. What design modification should they apply to control for this threat, and why does this modification work?
Sample answer: The researcher should modify the design by adding a control group, creating a pretest-posttest design with a control group. This controls for the history threat because both the treatment group and the control group will be exposed to the same external campus events, allowing the researcher to compare the difference in changes between the groups to isolate the teaching method's effect.
Key points:
- Add a control group to the research design.
- Expose both the treatment and control groups to the same external campus events.
- Compare the change in scores between groups to control for the history threat and isolate the effect of the independent variable.
Feedback: To control for a history threat, the researcher should add a control group to the pretest-posttest design. Since both groups are exposed to the same external events during the study, comparing the treatment group to the control group allows the researcher to isolate the true effect of the independent variable.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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