Hannah wants to see if her new technique of ping-pong playing can decrease the time it takes to finish a ping-pong game. She asks the U.S. Olympic ping-pong team to work with her. Half of the U.S Olympic team is randomly assigned to be taught by the new style, the experimental group, and the other randomly assigned half are not, the control group. Her technique does not significantly decrease the time it takes the experimental group to finish a ping-pong game compared to the control group, perhaps because they are already so good at the sport. This could be an example of
A) the need for matching groups.
B) a floor effect.
C) the need for determining initial comparability.
D) an internally invalid study.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A floor effect occurs when the participants' scores are so low or their ability is so high that they cannot decrease or improve, respectively, which seems to be the case with the highly skilled U.S. Olympic ping-pong team not showing improvement with the new technique.

Hannah Wants to See If Her New Technique of Ping-Pong