Evaluating Design Choice and Threats to Validity in an Experimental Design
Selecting the right design for your research requires you to evaluate why a design is or is not appropriate for your study. Part of your evaluation should be an assessment of the threats to validity that could reduce the strength of your study’s conclusions. In this Discussion, you will evaluate a researcher’s choice in design and assess the validity of the study.
To prepare for this Discussion:
- Review Chapter 5, “Research Designs: Experiments” in the course text Research Methods in the Social Sciences.
- Review the assigned article for your program within the Research Articles document located in the Learning Resources. Evaluate the choice of the design used in the assigned article. Why was that design used and not another one? Assess the authors’ performance in explaining this.
- What are the types of validity presented and the critical differences among them? Assess the authors’ performance in explaining them.
- How would you assess the study’s validity? What information would you need in order to be able to do so, and is that information present in the article?
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 3 a 3-paragraph evaluation of the choice of design and threats to validity in an experimental design. Your response should include an evaluation of the choice of design, the author’s rationale for the design choice, the types of validity presented and the critical differences among them, the author’s performance in explaining them, and how you would assess the study’s validity and the information you would require to do so.
When appropriate, be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the reading(s) and/or video program(s) and use APA format.
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