An Instructor Wishes to Find Out Whether a New Teaching

question 107

Multiple Choice

An instructor wishes to find out whether a new teaching method is superior to his usual procedures, so he conducts an experiment. Everyone in his classes is quite excited about the prospect of learning under the new procedure, but he cannot administer the new teaching method to everyone: a random half of the students receive the new method and the remaining half receive the old method. What is the MOST obvious flaw in this experiment?

• A)Subjects should have been systematically assigned to groups.
• B)The sample is not representative of the population.
• C)Placebo effects or experimenter bias are likely to affect results.
• D)Distortions in self-report will affect results.

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Definitions:

Consumer Surplus

The economic benefit consumers receive when they pay less for a product or service than what they were willing to pay.

Total Surplus

The total societal benefits from trading a good or service, encapsulated by the combination of consumer surplus and producer surplus in a market.

Average Total Cost

The total cost divided by the quantity produced, denoting the cost per unit of production.

Natural Monopoly

A market structure where a single supplier is most efficient in producing the goods due to high fixed or startup costs, making it unfeasible for new entrants to compete.