Research methodsLesson 3 of 3 in the course Validity and reliability

Internal Validity: Causal Criteria and Common Threats

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 4 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Internal validity concerns whether a study provides a sound basis for concluding that one variable caused a change in another. This lesson introduces causal inference, its main criteria, and how research design can strengthen or limit causal conclusions.

Internal validity is the extent to which evidence from a particular study supports a claim about cause and effect. A study has stronger internal validity when plausible alternative explanations for its findings have been ruled out.

All flashcards

Internal validity
The extent to which evidence from a study supports a cause-and-effect claim by ruling out plausible alternatives.
External validity
The extent to which findings can be generalized to other people, settings, or situations.
Confounding
A third variable related to the proposed cause that could explain changes in the outcome.
Double-blind design
A design in which relevant participants and experimenters do not know the assigned condition.
Mutual-internal-validity problem
The risk that theories and tests shaped by laboratory conditions may not explain real life.

Quiz questions

  1. What is experimental mortality, also called differential attrition?Answer: Participant dropout whose pattern can bias a study's comparison.
  2. What happens when a treatment spreads from an experimental group to a control group?Answer: Diffusion can make the groups' outcomes appear more similar.
  3. What is compensatory rivalry in a study with a control group?Answer: Control-group members work harder because they know they lack the treatment.
  4. What does experimenter bias involve?Answer: Researchers unintentionally influence participants or outcome judgments differently by condition.
  5. What is a selection-maturation interaction?Answer: Pre-existing group differences combine with different patterns of change over time.

Based on the Wikipedia article Internal validity, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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