Steven was participating in a study where the researcher actually interacted with the participants. After several conversations, the experimenter started providing subtle hints about the way Steven should behave. By doing so, the experimenter is running the risk of creating _____.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Providing subtle hints about how to behave can create demand characteristics, which are cues in an experiment that lead participants to guess what the researcher expects or desires and may affect their behavior. This can threaten the internal validity of the study by compromising the accuracy of the results. By providing cues, the experimenter may inadvertently bias the participants, which can result in distorted findings. Fillers and reliability are unrelated to this scenario, and a threat to external validity would require more information to determine.

Steven Was Participating in a Study Where the Researcher Actually