A researcher is comparing a new and less expensive treatment with ...

[tth]

A researcher is comparing a new and less expensive treatment with an established treatment, in hopes of showing that there is no difference in outcome.
 
  The researcher does not perform a power analysis and, consequently, selects a sample size that is smaller than what would be recommended for an analysis of variance. The results show that there is no significant difference in outcome between the two treatments. Which type of validity is affected by this?
  a. Statistical conclusion validity
  b. Internal validity
  c. Construct validity
  d. External validity

Question 2

John Stuart Mill and the essentialists insisted that a cause be necessary and sufficient for an effect to occur.
 
  In a modern study alcohol dependency is found to lead eventually to permanent liver damage, except when the alcoholic consumes a diet plentiful in the B-vitamins. In addition, liver damage can emerge in the absence of alcohol dependency. What would John Stuart Mill and essentialists say about the causative relationship between alcohol dependency and liver damage?
  a. The proposed cause is necessary, but not sufficient.
  b. The proposed cause is neither necessary nor sufficient.
  c. The proposed cause is sufficient, but not necessary.
  d. The proposed cause is both necessary and sufficient.

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Answer to Question 1

ANS: A
Statistical conclusion validity is concerned with whether the conclusions about relationships or differences drawn from statistical analysis are an accurate reflection of the real world: did the researcher use the right statistical tests in the proper way? Internal validity is the extent to which the effects detected in the study are a true reflection of reality rather than the result of extraneous variables: did the change in one variable really account for the change in the other variable? Construct validity examines the fit between the conceptual definitions and operational definitions of variables: are the study ideas measured in a way that makes sense? External validity is concerned with the extent to which study findings can be generalized beyond the sample used in the study.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: B
A philosophical group known as essentialists proposed that two concepts must be considered in determining causality: necessary and sufficient. The proposed cause must be necessary for the effect to occur. (The effect cannot occur unless the cause first occurs.) The proposed cause must also be sufficient (requiring no other factors) for the effect to occur. This leaves no room for a variable that may sometimes, but not always, serves as the cause of an effect.

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[mcni194]

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