Read This Description of a Study and Answer the Questions

question 47

Essay

Read this description of a study and answer the questions that follow.
A newspaper reporter at a university newspaper sought to gather evidence about the quality of teaching at the university. For one week at the beginning of the semester she attended 5 different classes each day, each with a different instructor. She asked 4 other reporters to do this too (they all attended different classes), and she trained them regarding the ratings they would make. The reporters pretended to be students, but sat in the back of class so the instructor wouldn't notice their observations. Using 10-point rating scales, they rated each instructor on five dimensions: interesting, organized, informative, friendly, and respectful. They summarized their findings and reported that, in general, the quality of teaching at the university is very good.
-Identify one aspect of the procedures in this study that the reporter used to improve the reliability of the observations.

---

Definitions:

Big Historical Projects

Significant, large-scale initiatives or undertakings that have had a profound impact on history, society, or the environment.

Manhattan Project

The code name for the U.S.-led research during World War II that developed the first nuclear weapons.

Popular Culture

The set of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially western culture in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Taboos

pertains to behaviors or practices that are prohibited or restricted by social or cultural norms, often due to superstition or religious beliefs.