In an Experiment, the Researcher Was Unintentionally Talkative to One

question 39

Multiple Choice

In an experiment, the researcher was unintentionally talkative to one of the participant groups. What best describes the threat to internal validity and why is it a threat?

• A) Randomness, since being talkative can make this particular group more relaxed and better able to perform.
• B) Participant-maturation interaction, since being friendly to one group can introduce a confound.
• C) History, since this unintended interaction was not part of the independent variable, a confound was introduced.
• D) Testing, since the other group might feel cheated for being treated more formally by the researcher, and this introduces counterbalancing.

---

Definitions:

Voluntary Deductions

Amounts that employees choose to have withheld from their gross pay for various benefits or contributions, such as insurance premiums, retirement contributions, and union dues.

Accrued Vacation Benefits

The amount of vacation time that employees have earned but not yet taken, which is recorded as a liability on the company's books.

Vacation Benefits Expense

The cost to the company for the vacation time entitled to employees, reflected in financial statements.

Year-End Adjusting Entry

Entries made in the accounting records at the conclusion of an accounting period to allocate income and expenditures to the period in which they actually occurred.