Case Study

Explain why the researcher should not include all seven limitations, which specific limitations they should prioritize instead, and what two details they must write about them in the narrative.

Case context: A student researcher is drafting the Discussion section of their APA-style report. They have compiled a list of seven limitations, including minor, routine issues such as the room being slightly noisy on one day. However, they also had a major issue with an ineffective manipulation of their independent variable and an unreliable measurement scale. They plan to include all seven issues in their report to show they were thorough.

Question: Explain why the researcher should not include all seven limitations, which specific limitations they should prioritize instead, and what two details they must write about them in the narrative.

Sample answer: The researcher should not list all seven limitations because readers already assume general, routine limitations exist, and listing everything dilutes the focus of the section. Instead, they should prioritize the two specific limitations that likely influenced the results: the ineffective manipulation and the unreliable measurement scale. In the narrative, they must explain how these two issues might have affected the data and suggest methodological strategies to deal with them in future studies.

Key points:

  • Explain that listing routine limitations is unnecessary because readers assume general issues exist.
  • Prioritize the limitations that likely influenced results (ineffective manipulation and unreliable measurement).
  • Describe the necessity of explaining how these limitations affected the data.
  • Describe the necessity of suggesting methodological strategies for future studies.

Rubric:

  1. Explains that routine limitations shouldn't be listed because readers assume they exist. 2. Identifies that the ineffective manipulation and unreliable scale should be prioritized because they likely influenced results. 3. Identifies the two required narrative details: explaining how they affected the data and suggesting methodological strategies for future studies.

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Updated 2026-05-26

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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