A researcher administered a math test to a group of 9th graders in September.During the school year these students received an intensive program designed to improve their math skills.In May the math test was again given to these students and their math scores improved.A major problem in this research is that the researcher failed to control for:
A)history
B)maturation
C)testing
D)selection biases
E)the researcher failed to control for all of these choices

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The researcher failed to control for all of the potential factors that could have caused the improvement in math scores, including history (any external events that could have influenced the students' scores), maturation (natural developmental changes in the students' abilities), testing (the possibility that students may have improved simply due to familiarity with the test), and selection biases (such as the possibility that only the most motivated students participated in the intensive math program). By not controlling for all of these factors, the researcher cannot be certain that the program was solely responsible for the improvement in math scores.

A Researcher Administered a Math Test to a Group of 9th